Ok, I obviously need to get some recordings of it at some stage. Installer reckons lots more low down torque compared to before. I guess that's possible with 2.5" all the way instead of 2" and various squished oval bits, but it's a bonus rather than a goal. Having only had the car for a week now (and of that 4 days in the shop) that is hard to judge, but certainly in sport mode with the valves open it is really reactive - almost too reactive to drive in traffic. Anyway, that's anecdotal, not scientific. He might have just been selling it a bit.
The smart box has an app to control it, with manual control, or 4 adjustable presets with variable openings controlled by rpm, throttle and speed. Quite a bit of experimentation required there. What would really be nice is if it worked through
Android Auto so you could control all that through the touchscreen.
There is some resonance with the valves open at freeway speed (~90-100) if you are not on the throttle, and I also wouldn't use eco throttle mode with the valves open either, as it changes up early to a high gear and becomes quite boomy. But that's not the point right? Sounds very nice higher in the rev range as you're powering on. I think I'll play with the mappings so it closes at lower throttle or rpm (need to experiment which works best) and opens up when you get on it.
There is even a bit of lift off burble which is pretty cool. We probably should have had the stereo off so I could analyse it a bit more, but my son was in charge of the audio (we are still playing with the nice sound system too).
I didn't drive much with valves closed. It's definitely got a deeper note and slightly louder than stock system in closed mode. I'll drive tonight with it closed and take note if normal around-town-eco-mode driving is suitably quiet for the wife. If not... oops - I guess she can drive the Mazda 2.
Anyway, this is just a bit of a stream of consciousness brain dump of my first impressions from the first drive on the way home.
