By Are you one of the 45% of Mustang owners that modifies their vehicle? Do you have not only a need for speed, but also the spicy loud noises that come along with it? Not every Mustang is labeled as a California Special, but they can all be special to their owners, and that almost always comes with uniquity. One of the best ways to customize any new car is a new exhaust: they can help your car breathe, sound, and drive even better. Whether you’ve got a 10-speed automatic GT Premium or a 6-speed manual transmission base model Ecoboost, there are plenty of options to take your ‘Stang from “quiet and reserved” to “heard round the world.” We’ve got a few favorites for every engine tier of the 2015+ S550 Mustang from the rental V6 models up through the GT350R, so pick whatever sounds best on your car!
3.7L Cyclone V6
If you’ve got a V6 Mustang and you’re looking for a slight volume bump over stock, look no further than the Borla Touring cat back. It’s deeper and bassier than the stock exhaust thanks to straight-through mufflers and the removal of resonators, but stays reserved unless you’re really on it. If you’re looking for something a little less tame, Magnaflow’s Competition exhaust system is the way to go. It takes a similar sound to the Borla Touring, and adds all of the shrieking wails and fun trumpety noises you expect from a V6 sports car at high RPM.
2.3L Ecoboost I4
The Ecoboost 4-cylinder shook up the Mustang lineup like nothing has for decades. With only two thirds of the displacement of the previous V6 options, it produced even more horsepower at high RPM and got way better fuel economy across the board. While it may not be stellar in the low-end torque department, it makes up for this with lightness and huge amounts of modability. One of the best modifications for any turbo-engined car is an aftermarket exhaust; while we’re going to suggest a couple of cat-back systems here, we strongly recommend a downpipe and a tune (or even a replacement turbocharger like this one from Turbonetics) to get more sound from the turbo and pump up those numbers.
For a basic cat-back upgrade on your Ecoboost, the MBRP Black Series exhaust provides an improvement over the stock, wheezy, bees-in-a-can exhaust note. It’s deep and bassy at idle, and has a great aggressive sound at high revs; it’s got all kinds of fun pops and crackle when you let off the gas, but it won’t wake up the neighbors every time you come home from the touge at dark-o’clock at night. If you want to go further into exhaust mods, Ford Racing worked with Borla to make an excellent cat back exhaust system for the Ecoboost Mustang that oddly enough makes it sound a lot like the Ford Focus RS and its WRC rally car siblings. That may not be the expected standard for Mustangs, but combined with a good downpipe and intake it really does sound like a racecar.
5.0L Coyote V8
Ah, here we are: back in the safety of V8 engines, the bread and butter of American muscle cars. It’s really hard to make a Ford Mustang GT sound bad, considering it’s got five liters of double-overhead-cam goodness. An entry level upgrade for your V8 mustang is aFe Power’s Mach Force XP exhaust system. aFe has a lot of upgrade options for Coyote motors, but their standard cat back gives you a rounder, smoother tone than a lot of other options. It sounds throaty, giving you a sense of the raw power behind all the pipes, but not to the point of blowing ear drums out. If you want to take the Mustang’s V8 heritage to another level, the Gibson dual split cat back is a wonderful reminder of old muscle cars with two-chamber mufflers. It’s raspy at high RPMs and rumbly at idle, giving you the characteristic “blub blub blub” you expect from a cross plane V8.
5.2L Voodoo V8
The Voodoo V8 was another outside-the-box evolution for the 6th-generation Mustang. While every V8 found in a Ford muscle car before (and in fact in almost all traditional “muscle cars”) was “cross plane,” with a 90-degree crankshaft angle,the Voodoo is flat-plane, meaning its crankshaft is at 180-degrees. This creates a different firing order than we’re used to, and a sound you’ve probably heard more often from Ferrari and McLaren sports cars rather than American ponies. To differentiate their sound from Ferrari in particular, Ford put a ton of effort into giving their flat-plane-crank a roar like we expect from America’s child.
Thus, your Shelby GT350 or GT350R comes from the factory with a pretty angry sounding exhaust. Let’s start there, because there really is no “mild” for a GT350. That system already has a ton of flow and incredible sound. To really amp it up and go full-on racecar, you can bolt on Magnaflow’s Competition Series cat back for the best exhaust flow. This takes your stock exhaust note and gets rid of all the silly little baffles and muffles that keep it “safe for your ears” and “kind to your neighbors.” Because really, if you’ve got a track car, why not keep it ready to lay some rubber down 24/7?
So which one do I pick?
The most important thing to consider with any car upgrades is how you’re going to use the vehicle. Is this Mustang going to be an every day car for you? Does it have to leave at 7AM every morning to get you to work for 2 hours in traffic, or does it stay in the garage until your monthly track day? Custom exhausts are all fun and games on YouTube and Instagram, but as someone who lived with a 3” straight pipe for 8 months it’s not as fun as it seems. Really think about the options available and whether it’s worth it to you to have a super-loud, fun-having exhaust for the 8 hours a week you spend up in the canyons or the 3 hours a month you spend on a track. For all of the custom exhaust goodies you could want and plenty more, check out the Motoroso Marketplace.
