CP-E Mazdaspeed 6 Dual CBE Austenite Review

[Thor Hammer]

I love my new exhaust but it took some time to get it right. I have a CP-E catted downpipe mated to the Austenite dual exhaust. The sound is incredible. When first installed it was so loud and sounded mean as hell. I thought "oh no, what have I done! My six year old and I are going on a 1500 mile xmas journey in 4 days! He is going to complain and Ill kill his little eardrums!" But after it built up with soot it got quieter, or I got used to it.

At maintenance throttle on the road just cruising along there is no drone and surprisingly quiet for a full 3" turbo back system. Win.

Get on the gas however and it comes alive. No ricer sound, just a deep low frequency roar. Sound is same when off the gas in gear under load. Yes, its loud in these conditions and the cabin vibrates at times. I would add a Vibrant reso but really don't want to cut into the piping. Overall I love the sound and my girlfriend nor son have any complaints.

I tried to post an honest review on CP-E's website but it did not get posted. Ill go over the finer details here. Keep in mind this is my own experience and yours may vary. I was upset when first installed as the tips would not line up evenly at the back. Off center on both X and Y planes. I was working with a master mechanic and we left it all loose and tried our best to make it right. But it just wouldn't budge.

I want to give a shout out to RPM who I bought the system through as Donny was amazing in support and patience in helping me get it right. Much appreciated!

Finish:
Most beautiful welds I have ever seen. Very light and well made. High quality stainless steel.

Fit:
Had issue with the muffler inlet connection pipe to Y pipe on passenger side. Turns out the inlet pipe was not perfectly round. We got it into place however. Not a big deal. It did make it hard to adjust however. Driver side was cake and moved freely at the connection point.

As stated no manner of loosening and adjusting would get the tips in the center of the rear valance outlet holes. I also need to mention my stock heat shields in the lower valance were not present. This is due to the previous owner removing them and me not knowing they ever existed. He had custom tips welded on the stock exhaust. I thought it was factory. I had to add extension pipe to prevent the plastic from melting as the CP-E muffler outlets sit a bit behind the valance. CP-E intends for you to retain the stock heat shields on the lower valance. Lesson learned and some melted plastic. But I'll live with it.

The exhaust would on occasion make contact with the rear differential when stopped at idle. At this point I knew my best option to get it solid and the way I wanted was to hit up a custom exhaust shop.

Final Result:
Drove north to Vancouver, WA from Santa Cruz, CA. to see family with my son. Had a lot of fun and the exhaust did its job. Scaring off Prius drivers and offering up some carbon credits from my outlets

Hit up Hazel Dell muffler at my brothers suggestion on New Years Eve morning. They were amazing.

At first I was very concerned as they said they would need to cut the passenger muffler off! I asked they use stainless steel wire only. I hated cutting into my shiny new system. But I trusted them and they did not disappoint!

They added an inch or so of length to the passenger muffler hanger and rotated the muffler flat. They then welded the clamp connection points on the Y-pipe on both sides. Perfect welds too! Not booger welds like some exhaust shops. This tech was a craftsman and took his time. He got the tips perfect and tacked on some stainless tips flush with the valance. Awesome. Not sure what he did but the pipe near the differential was solid and no longer making contact at idle. Nice! Cost me a couple hundred but I did not mind at all.

Overall I love this system and highly recommend it! Well worth the $$$!

Ill post pics when I can.