Catless Downpipe on Daily Driver?
I had an interaction the other day that has me curious where I stand among fellow GTI folks with regard to catless downpipes.
I was rolling down a main thoroughfare in my city, had a nice clean mk6 roll up next to me and give a few revs. I replied in kind, rolled down the window at the next stop and gave a quick wave and said hi. Guy and his girl are friendly and all smiles.
Light changes and we take off, I’m not going any faster than normal (30mph heavily monitored zone), he gives it the mustard and I hear the awesome growl and smell the fumes of an obvious big bore catless DP.
We roll up to the next stop, and I tell him “hey man, I only say this out of GTI brother love, but don’t run a catless downpipe off track. It sounds great but it’s shit for the environment.”
He kind of lamely responded “I didn’t put it in, the last guy did” which whatever, isn’t really the point but to me I wouldn’t keep on any Last Guy Mods I don’t want. shrug
So my question is this - am I in the minority? Would you have said something similar as I did, or maybe told me to F off if I’d said that to you?
IMO running catless for sound and maybe a very small hp bump over nice GESI aftermarket pipe is the wrong trade off. Granted nice cat pipes are more expensive, but nice toys all cost money. I’ll add, let’s assume you’re not actually tracking your car or making runs down to Mexico (this kid definitely isn’t). Cheers y’all.
Edit: it was a mk6 not mk5.
Edit2: as someone already pointed out it’s not moving the needle on climate change globally, so for the sake of argument let’s consider the local environment (sound and exhaust fumes in cities/residential areas).
Posted May 5, 2023, 12:42 AM UTC · edited
Personally, if I had a catless downpipe and someone yelled that at me I'd just roll the window up. It's not that I don't like the environment, my entire job is based around protecting it, but the emissions from a catless downpipe are miniscule compared to real problems. If the rich can have a private jet, I can have a catless downpipe.
That kinda apathy is a slippery slope.
There’s a continent of plastic in the ocean, what difference does it make if i throw my trash out the window on the interstate?
Apathy? No. It's recognizing that there are far worse problems outside of a catless downpipe.
And your analogy is off. Cars still create CO2. Your analogy should be more like "that's like instead of throwing a 3inx3in piece of plastic in the ocean you throw a 4inx4in piece instead, while there are other parties dumping trucks of it right next to you."
Apathy - Indifference. A lack of concern.
I think its pretty close to the mark with the follow up being “why should I care there are worse things”.
My point is, you’re right, one person isn’t going to make a difference. But if everyone thought that way we go back to LA in the 50’s.
You noted you work in environmental protection and its just sad that you’re broken down to the point of indifference.
As I said, my job is enviornemtal compliance so my indifference is non-existent. Downpipe are a niche thing to being with, ill never run one myself but don't care about others that do. We're talking about a very very small subset of drivers that defeat emissions here, not an entire city.
My above comment not withstanding, I do get the appeal and thank you for your reply.
I guess if I wanted to roar, I’d probably still use a GESI dP and go for a cat back that gives me the sound I want. But I’ll admit I’m not sure how that would compare to a 4” TrackSlag.
I dont get the appeal lol. If I ever decide to do the DP on mine it'll be catted.
I agree with you in the sense that it’s definitely not moving the needle with respect to climate change. I should have been more specific about meaning the local environment. Roaring through residential areas and leaving a trail of heavy exhaust fumes in your wake.
Some people don't care about that stuff. I do, it's why my motorcycle hasn't left the garage in years. It's a Daytona 675 with race headers and it sounds mean on the track, but in the neighborhood it's not appropriate.
Damn now that sounds fun!
It's a blast, but im getting old and want to build another cafe/brat bike instead. Probably putting it up for sale soon.