[zthrowaway]

I think it’s worth pointing out that there’s a subset of people who have loud exhausts because the engine actually needs it. They’ve supped it up to an insane spec for performance reasons. You can’t have 500+ horsepower try to breathe through a straw. There are sports cars that are loud from the factory because of this.

Now is it smart to do all of that just to drive 35mph in traffic? That’s another discussion :)

[altairprime]

Somewhat second this: high flow exhausts that are also appropriately catted & muffled will lose a few horsepower compared to an equivalent exhaust that is not. Laguna Seca and Sonoma iirc and other raceways ended up putting into place strict decibel limits, but I believe the only city applying serious decibel enforcement for retail street cars right now is NYC (where flooring a Porsche can actually break the noise laws, as Porsche sells cars from factory that way). You certainly can make the straw Even Bigger to compensate but generally both drivers and manufacturers tend to take the cheaper-louder or maxxer-louder paths if vehicle horsepower is their primary concern, unless externally pressured otherwise.