Product Reviews

STaSIS Catback Review + Sound Clips

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About 6 months ago I replaced my Milltek Resonated exhaust for a STaSIS resonated one as I thought the Milltek was too quiet, so it’s long overdue that I share my thoughts here on how that went. If a picture is worth 1,000 words then I’m hoping this video is worth a few more:

The Sound

Overall, the sound was exactly what I was hoping for – much more aggressive than stock, slightly more aggressive than the Milltek, but overall still refined and not over the top. The exhaust is actually loudest below 2,000 RPM and has a deep bass/baritone note to it, but at cruising or highway speeds it is actually pretty quiet unless you’re accelerating. It comes with four different resonators, which may be slightly restrictive but it definitely keeps the sound civil. It’s certainly loud enough for you to know it’s there, but rarely drones or bothers you when you’re just commuting around town. This is the major advantage over my former setup with Milltek.

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Looks

Looks-wise there are nice 3.5″ polished tips that have the STaSIS logo engraved. As you can see from my pictures it fits nicely in the rear bumper and hangs well underneath the car – no alignment issues or the tips poking out, although I’ve heard others have some minor fitment issues with the tips lining up. The exhaust is fully polished and after several months it is still holding up nicely.

Performance

This is a catback exhaust that has 2.5″ piping over the OEM (and Milltek) 2.25″ piping, so it flows more freely than OEM. STaSIS estimated an additional 10-15 TQ and HP, but I haven’t dyno’d to confirm…my guess is that is fairly optimistic (and at the crank), but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect some decent gains from this. My only gripe here is the exhaust does not have an X-pipe, whereas the JHM/Fast Intentions exhaust does, so while this exhaust has performance advantages over Milltek (namely piping size) it is still inferior to the JHM/FI offering. Likewise the quad resonators that keep the sound civil may also rob of some power. Last but not least it goes without saying that downpipes or piggie pipes will have an even greater impact than a catback exhaust, so do those at the same time for optimal results, especially on a car like the B6/B7 where the OEM downpipes are so restrictive.

Price & Alternatives

The real downside to this exhaust is that they don’t make it anymore – STaSIS went out of business. When I bought the exhaust it was only $800, but this was the beginning of the end for STaSIS and may have been on sale for that reason.

My primary recommendation if you’re shopping for an exhaust for the B6/B7 Audi S4 would be to check out the Fast Intentions exhausts offered by JHM. Although they are a bit more expensive, they’re extremely well built from what I’ve read and they have an X-pipe and various options for resonator sizes depending on what you’re looking for.

Nick Roshon

Nick has been an Audi owner and fanatic for the last 10 years, and started Nick's Car Blog in 2009 to share DIYs and pictures of his A4. Currently he drives a 2012 Audi TT-RS, and has previously owned a B7 S4, B7 A4, and an 82 Audi Coupe (GT) LeMons race car. In his day job, Nick is a digital marketer and lives in San Diego, CA, USA.

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