Well, I’ve been going back and fourth on exhausts for a few months now. I wanted a bit more noise, but don’t want drone and want to be able to have a valve to have it quieter when I want as we do long highway drives between FL and NH and like it quiet sometimes, loud others.

I was really between:

Quicksilver: mainly for the valves (I didn’t like the look of the tips themselves, and thought they stuck out too far, and hated the price)

Milltek: resonated or non resonated p400 exhaust, or getting the valved v8 rear muffler and tip extension, both inlet pipes that go around the rear diff and then modify from there to go into one pipe, add a hanger, etc. So again modifications, high cost, and have honestly had spotty luck with milltek stuff. Have had milltek headers on R53 minis that are god besides constant leaks at the joints, have had full systems on vw’s in the last that start out great and seemed to corrode, look like crap, welds break, one started a hole in the muffler and was just plain trash at that point. So that had me on the fence.

Fully custom: something like the valvetronic universal 1 in 2 out sub muffler and then custom piping to the tips and forward to the downpipe. (Didn’t love this, the whole fully custom thing, just feel like it won’t look great, won’t be right, could potentially get costly and worth absolutely nothing if I wanted to sell)

OEM V8 exhaust: Can be pricey, don’t love the pointed down tips, and worried it would be all for nothing based on a video Simon from powerfulUK did, his face at the end when he said no not really any different turned that option off.

I’ve seen people on other forums with the p400 in other applications who deleted the resonator and saw little to no sound difference, and that would be a custom pipe, hanger, etc, so that was out.

I ended up taking the exhaust off from the resonator back last night and didn’t get a video, I’m sorry in advance. It was loud, like LOUD LOUD, and not really good, just what you would expect with no exhaust, farty hollow and obnoxious. But there was noise! I tied the downpipe up to the hangers with wire and took it for a ride and there was quite a dramatic increase in buttdyno power. When I’ve got on it in the past the front end lifts and goes, when I did that last night you really felt the turbo spool and boost, and it was very loud again, pops and bangs and backfires. Lol

So back to the drawing board I go, figuring out what I would need to make a customized milltek v8 exhaust for it, adding it up and said forget that. AliExpress here I come, looked up reviews on bmw and vw forums, seemed to have some positive feedback, of course the haters with “Chinese junk” who would never put it on their car, which yeah, I agree. Certain parts, cheap Chinese vs quality made products, I will pay more. An exhaust…. I mean, it’s not going to damage the engine, or transmission or electronics, if it rots out after a year or two, whatever, at least it’s 1/3 price of others. So I will be back in a few weeks once I get it and post some pics and video of my new chinatronic exhaust once it comes in. I reached out and asked for black tips and electronic valves. Great customer support so far.

I just found this on AliExpress: $1,059.00 | ECCF Valvetronic Catback Exhaust For Land Rover Defender P400 110 3.0T Aggressive Exhaust Sound Performance Upgrade
https://a.aliexpress.com/_m0v09kp

 

It appears you are set and wanting to change the exhaust to something louder. I get it, and I also wanted to do that but at the end of the day I decided against this while my Defender is still under warranty. My dealer said that any emissions related claim could be denied if the exhaust is completely modified. Just a heads up.

 

You want it louder ?
Drill baby Drill

Holes in your exhaust..

 

I have a 2020 and am at 52k miles, been out of warranty for some time now, have been doing all my own maintenance and preventative stuff already. (Oil changes 5k, front and rear diff and xfer case service, plugs, headlight drl board repair, turbo coolant feed abd return lines, overflow tank, water pump, trying to find matrix lights to upgrade to, other mods, coding stuff, paddles, etc) So no care for me about warranty, paid off and don’t have to worry about that.

 

Emissions warranty are usually longer than the 4 years 50k miles depending on which state you live in. But warranty not being an issue for you, and given how expensive the militek one is, I would be tempted to try the one from Ali express. It is a third of the cost of others. Let us know what you decide on. Good luck.

 

Exactly, and it’s easy enough to just unbolt and bolt the factory one back on if push comes to shove. The factory one took my all of 20 minutes to have off last night, kind of crazy. Cleaned it up and got it back on in about 35 mins.

If it gets delivered and gives me some smiles for a few months, I’ll be happy.

 

Looks interesting and a bit like a knock-off of the Plumb system

 

All of the p400 exhausts you mention have downsides IMO that have prevented me from pulling the trigger on any of them too.

So, this is the only one I would consider: https://newdefendermods.com/products...2bbd46bc&_ss=r

… it sounds the best… looks good, doesn’t drone and it’s the cheapest of the lot, although it doesn’t have valves.

But, I’d counter that adding a valved exhaust to a car that doesn’t already have a valved system integrated into the engine mgmt systems is a fiddly process and I as a rule don’t do it. Who wants something like an “app” for your exhaust?. Not me.

 

Totally understand that.

I’ve seen that exhaust also and didn’t really care for the way it looked. I don’t want big ghetto tips, but I wanted to have a decent set of tips that fit the overall look. That one is just kind of hidden again like factory, which might be what some people want, and I get that, making it as if nothing is changed. I just wanted to have visible tips.

The valves on this exhaust are electric, could also opt for vacuum. I am not integrating it into the Pivi or anything like that. It comes with a button to tell the valves to open or close. I will likely leave them open and just flip the switch or push the button, whichever I end up going with once it gets here to shut them and make it quieter.

 

A little off-topic, but I wonder about the value of an aftermarket exhaust when most of the sound you hear inside in a stock P400 is from the speakers? Real sound on top of fake sound? Hmm.

(I think fake sound is insultingly ridiculous and ultimately tiresome.)