As the title says really. I know that one has a Cat whilst one is just a section of pipe. I am told that they both allow the same flow through and both offer similar/ same performance figures, and the cat one is about double the price.

Basically, i have an 01 wrx and am going to get ecutek to remapp, is it worth getting the sports cat or am i spending too much cash on a simple mod where the straight old downpipe will do with the remapp?

Does a normal downpipe cause problems on a new shape (bug eye) and that is the reason to have the sports cat?

would the sports cat help with resale in the future


cheers,

andy (currently scratching his head)

The only differance (apart from price)is the sports cat will enable you to pass emmisions test at mot time.With straight through downpipe you will have to refit cat for mot.Oh you also have no worries if you get pulled.
Thinking about a sports cat for mine as well but price does put you off a bit.

yes thats my main concern too. What would be the price to swop a cat back on for the mot, and what happens if you get pulled by the fuzz, tested and then fail?

My mate has an MY02 without any cats at all, even the up-pipe one removed. His check engine light is now lit all the time, I think there is a sensor the checks the operation of the cats (but it CAN be turned off with the ECUTEK remap). It doesnt bother him and doesnt seem to affect his cars performance + it sounds very nice.

Im soon going to be getting a full system for my own MY02, im going for the Power Engineering one that has the cat included because I dont want the CEL on all the time and dont want hassle with MOT or roadside testing.

correct me if I'm wrong , but I thought providing that the centre cat was hot enough you should still be able to pass the MOT with up-pipe cat removed. The CEL can be turned off with a little fix for about £40 i think ,and it doesnt effect any other error being shown

not sure mate, but in my case i have already replaced the center section so its just the downpipe left.

When I replaced the downpipe on my MY01 I was advised to do the uppipe at the same time to protect the turbo (something to do with exhaust gas temperature). I think this potential problem is specific to MY01/02 so it's worth checking with someone knowledgeable before putting your scooby at risk.

I looked into sports cat downpipes at the time but couldn't find a supplier with enough depth of experience with the MY01 to make me feel safe with the mod.

FWIW my scoob - which already had the PPP - went from 238 to 265 bhp after decatting the uppipe and downpipe. Have done 10,000 problem-free miles since.

Hope this helps,
Gareth

..... likewise I took the decision on my MY02 to go for a sportscat downpipe - I didn't want the hassle at MOT time, I didn't want to be running an illegal car, and I certainly didn't want to have to pay to get the downpipe changed before each MOT (just replacing the centre section with a catted section does NOT guarantee an emissions test pass).

Mine was from TSL, but there are many makes out there.

(edited 'cos I can't spell)

[Edited by DaveR - 9/10/2003 9:12:33 AM]