68 NO STAINS ON ME...

I've gone down an exhaust wormhole.  I expect the garage to confirm my fears and tell me the exhaust is shot and needs replacing.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been looking at cheap alternatives to get me over the hump as a good preloved unit is coming in at £500 with an 'old stock' official replacement tipping the £600 mark.

I was sure I was getting a unit from an independent manufacturer, so I did a little online digging, and I'm glad I did. There is a guy with a Toyota Aygo who put an aftermarket exhaust on and reviewed it after 18 months; it wasn't what I was expecting.

The YouTuber confirmed that it looked good when new, sounded brilliant and brought a smile to his face every time he went out in the car.  But that was where the good points stopped.  The exhaust has corroded severely to the point where, after a year and a half, it is on the cusp of needing replacing.

Also, because of the design of that particular exhaust, it started melting the rubber mounts keeping it on the car, forcing him to replace the originals with heavy-duty units. Then, he resorted to wrapping the whole thing in chicken wire to try and keep it on. Not good.

I mentioned this to Lisa, who said, "Buy shite, buy twice".  She was right, but sometimes budgets dictate what is available.  I want to do a like-for-like swap, but it is a bit of a stretch right now.

She also pointed out that buying the same exhaust would put us in the same position in a few years and asked if there was an exhaust that would last. I confirmed that stainless steel pipes last much longer as they don't rust. She said, "Just buy one of those then."  Yeah, right, they will be hellishly expensive… won't they?

I'm back online, back to scouring forums and tuning websites. After some digging, I came across a Scorpion unit made from T304-grade stainless steel with a lifetime warranty. It also costs about £650, which isn't far off an official exhaust. It is still too expensive, to be honest, but then Lisa said she would give me £200 towards the cost—blimey!

I mentioned this to Carl, and he just replied, "Spoilt." He is right, though. Lisa will own almost as much of the car as I do at this rate!

Let's see what the garage says first, but if it needs replacing, I might be rocking a stainless steel system that will last for years. If I do decide to sell the car when I get back, not only will it pay for itself, but it will actually add value to it.