Review: Corsa Sport on 12 Denali

[Agent WD-40]

I just installed Corsa Sport on my 12 Denali. I have to say I love this system. It is everything advertised.

IDLE: It is a bit louder than stock at idle, but it has a deeper and smoother sound.

STEADY CRUISE: At steady state city/highway cruise it is perhaps 5% louder than stock. You wold have to listen closely to notice the exhaust at cruise (with the radio on you won't notice). There is absolutely no drone. It does a fantastic job of canceling out AFM noise as well. Again, if you listen very closely you can tell it switches but it is nearly stock.

CRUISE UNDER LOAD: Cruising with a bit of a load, say holding your speed up a hill, it is a bit louder than stock was, but still far from obnoxious. Very mild and refined and wouldn't ever be bothersome to me. Perhaps 10-15% louder than stock in this situation.

ACCELERATION: This is where it really wakes up. From outside it sounds pretty beefy. It has a smooth and deep tone. Not wake the neighbors noisy though, but still enough so you can hear it. Inside the car it definitely sounds deeper and louder. You can hear the V8, but it is far from obnoxious and never has a hint of drone.

Regular around town acceleration is still pretty mild, but with a bit more burble. It wakes up a bit above 2.5K RPM when you stand on it though. You can hear it more windows down for sure, but inside, with the windows closed it is very refined.

OVERALL: Overall I love the sound of the Corsa Sport. It is deep, smooth, and never louder than I would want. It really fits the luxury character of this vehicle perfectly. As I see it, this system is all upsides. Again, true to form, there is absolutely no drone ever.

If I have one small complaint, there are times I wish the Sport system were a bit louder. Perhaps a 3rd cat delete is the answer here. I'm coming out of a vehicle that had Corsa + Long Tube headers + a cam, so I know I have a bad reference. I did speak with Corsa on the phone and they said they intentionally designed the Sport system for this vehicle to be a bit more conservative given the luxury nature of the vehicle. I definitely wouldn't have wanted the Touring system.

OTHER NOTES: The Corsa system is a bit lighter than the stock system.

I got the split side exhaust and it also looks fantastic.

It feels a bit faster to me as well, but this could be in my head. I'm not sure I would notice the additional 11 HP and 14 lb-ft of torque.

PS: For a reference the exhaust on the 11+ 6.2L V8 with AFM is quieter than the 2010 and earlier 6.2L ones that didn't have AFM. To me my stock exhaust was basically silent. The 2010 and earlier exhaust sounded pretty good to me.

 

[OHSIXX]

Nice review-glad you like it-love mine as well

 

[Leonidas]

Can we get some pics and a sound clip?

 

[Agent WD-40]

Here are a few pics of the setup. The car is a bit dirty but you get the idea for tip placement and size.

I'll have to figure out how to get a video posted (it didn't allow any movie extension to be uploaded and the file size limit for .zip was prohibitive). I have a few video's of the exhaust as it was out of the box.

I have since removed the 3rd cat. It sounds about 30-40% louder now under throttle. After having it on for a few weeks I decided I wanted a bit more sound without having to press deep into the throttle to get it.

It is still nearly silent on the highway and it isn't too loud idle. It only got louder when I wanted it louder not when I didn't (which is exactly what I was going for). I can hear the grumble of the exhaust a bit more when doing normal around town driving. It was a bit quiet for my taste previously. Now it is prefect!

 

[mlgreen]

Nice, I wish Corsa still made the side exit exhaust for the NNBS 5.3 Tahoe/Yukon

 

[Yukancount]

Solid review, they do sound pretty good.

 

[shundal]

Makes me wonder how mine would sound if I removed the third cat. A little louder than it is right now would sound awesome. Mine is a 5.3 however with side exit.

 

[Agent WD-40]

I made a video of my setup. This is when the vehicle was stock and still had the 3rd cat on it. I'll try and get another one soon with how it sounds now.

http://youtu.be/JYHf70JM10g

---------- Post added at 01:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:06 PM ----------

Makes me wonder how mine would sound if I removed the third cat. A little louder than it is right now would sound awesome. Mine is a 5.3 however with side exit.

I'm sure it would have the same effect as it did on mine. It will probably be louder under throttle, slightly louder at idle, and still nearly silent and completely drone free when cruising.

I also feel like I gained a bit of power but it may be the added sound tricking me. On other vehicles that had 3rd cats for 50 state emissions and only 2 cats for the 49 state setup the difference was typically around 5 HP. I think my MPG went up a little bit too. Hard to say for sure because I've only had about a tank since I did this but it was up at least half a MPG. I've seen some of the 5.3 pickup guys say they gained up to 1 MPG.

If you want the exhaust to be a bit louder but not annoying this is the perfect way to get that and a little bit more power and MPG too. The only minor downside is that you can hear the switch in and out of 4 cylinder mode a little more than before.

 

[Agent WD-40]

Here is another video without the 3rd cat. I'm not sure how different it will sound in the video but it is easy to tell in person there was a difference.

http://youtu.be/wUvmseoeI6k

 

[OHSIXX]

You can tell.......its deeper and a tad raspier--sounds good!