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...exhaust that's not too loud? It's only a 4 banger and I'm a senior citizen but I would like to get a little more oomph without sounding like the souped-up Civics running around. A little louder than stock is okay. A hornets nest in a tuna can is not. I recognize that to get less restriction there has to be some increase in noise level.

 
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First off, Glad to hear that you dont want to sound like a Riced Civic. My friend had a 2002 Accord with a K&N Intake which He liked. Not only did he get better Economy, but the Re-Usable element Saved him money in the long run.

 
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AEM makes a dry flow filter which I have in my car now. It's much less dirty than the K&N style filters with the oil. I do feel that I get better acceleration with it, but it's pulling from the inside of the engine bay which means warm air which is not optimal for performance. The flip side to that is that a true cold air intake will only give you about a 5 HP gain which isn't much.As for your exhaust, headers or a new y-pipe might give you a good amount of power, but it will be loud.Have you ever noticed that 4 bangers all sound alike for the most part? It has to do with their engines and how the pistons blow at 90 degree angles providing less than smooth operation.The bees in a can is usually obtained by getting a "glass pack". Fiberglass in some of these exhausts make them loud and crackly. A magnaflow exhaust will put you back about $250 and will give you around 10hp.

 
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I had a 2000 Accord LX 4cyl and all I wanted was for my performance to improve, and for my Honda not to fart down the road, like so many other Honda's I've heard locally. the best sounding and performing exhaust was keeping the stock exhaust diameter, but replacing the piping with a mandrel bent piping, then I had the high performance muffler from Meinekee with an aggressive tip added. The meinekee muffler sounded great and not farting at all. Then I had a short ram intake and a DCSport 4-2-1 Ceramic header. I saw a noticeable increase in power and fuel economy.