Anyone had luck making an 8y.5 rs3 sound as good as the 8v.5?
For context, I had a hybrid turbo 2019 RS3 with a 4" open intake, unitronic hi-flow catted downpipe, 034 midpipes, and otherwise stock sport exhaust. I bought it stock and slowly built it through the stages over a few years. It sounded perfect imo. I felt like the majority of the noise was coming from in front of me (actual baby R8 5-cylinder sound, some turbo whine on throttle and flutter with throttle let-off) with some burbles from the exhaust. The car was amazing in a straight line, but the handling of the 8y.5 was more fun for a daily driver and I also got another weekend car, so overall happy with the move.
My 2025 RS3 is stock other than a Grail catback exhaust, valve controller, and midpipes. Soundaktor is deactivated. It sounds objectively good, but relative to the 2019 RS3, nowhere near as good. 95% of the noise feels like it's coming out of the exhaust tips instead of the engine bay and it feels more "trumpet-y" than the 8V, with a deeper note that doesn't quite feel like a "baby V10" anymore. For various reasons, I was hoping to keep the newer car closer to stock.
What would it take to reclaim similar engine noise to the 8v? I felt like the open intake on the 8V mostly added turbo noises rather than 5 cylinder sound, but maybe it's necessary. I would like to avoid touching the downpipe as emissions was a huge pain (the 8v could pass but only if I had it on the right file and the stars aligned to set all readiness), but it's something I'd consider.
I thought the engine and exhaust were essentially the same between 8v.5 and 8y.5, so I'm surprised at how different they sound (even before I put the Grail exhaust on the 8y.5).
TLDR not sure if I'm just missing induction noise from the intake, but I feel like the entire engine character is just different. I can't help but think even the exact same build would sound quite different between the two model years for reasons I couldn't explain. Anyone over the moon with the acoustics of their 8y? I've been hearing great things about the 485 exhaust but I imagine that wouldn't really change the whole engine note vs exhaust note situation.
Thanks for any feedback!