Hey, guys. Stephanie with americanmuscle.com, here with my review of the Borla ATAK cat-back
exhaust system fitting all 2015 and up V6 Mustangs. There is no doubt in my mind that
the Borla ATAK cat-back is going to be for the V6 owner out there that's looking for
a high-quality system that's going to deliver a ton of sound. The ATAK is by far the loudest
and most aggressive muffler in the Borla lineup, which also includes the Touring and the S-type.
Borla says that ATAK stands for Acoustically-Tuned Applied Kinetics, which is basically Borla's
fancy way of saying that this muffler is going to be loud but it's not going to get distorted
or sloppy.
So a cat-back is obviously going to replace the factory resonator mid-pipe, and Borla
does it with their own midpipe resonator, as you can see right here. Now, this is a
two-and-a-quarter-inch system, which is the same as the factory system. And this is manual
Benz stainless steel tubing. The system is made from T304 stainless steel, which is the
highest-quality material that you can get. And it's also been proven to be the best material
for exhaust components. Finally, Borla finishes this system with the ATAK mufflers, which
we have already sort of discussed.
They're one of the loudest options out there and they're paired with four-inch chrome stainless
steel tips that have the Borla logo embossed on them, which gives them a nice look under
the rear of the car. There also isn't any of that high-end extortion that you normally
hear with loud systems. And I think that makes for a very attractive-sounding system for
the V6. The system does have some raspiness to it and a crackle or gurgle on diesel as,
well as some pops, but it really just reminds me of a GT sound. This is loud, but I think
the tuning of the mufflers keeps the loudness from being just noise. And as you guys already
heard at the beginning of the video, the sound is certainly aggressive.
If you compare the ATAK system to the Touring and even the S-Type, in my opinion, it's more
of a higher-pitch tone. I'd say that the Borla S-Type muffler produces a slightly deeper
tone. Now, with all of that being said, I'm going to give this a four and half out of
five on the loudness scale - with one being a very quiet system and five being your neighbors
are leaving notes on your car asking you to only start it during waking hours. Keep in
mind that if you ever change your headers down the road, this could open up even more
noise for you. So if your biggest deciding factor when shopping for a cat-back is loud,
I'd say that the ATAK from Borla is probably going to be the top choice here at AM. If
you aren't looking for that loud, then Borla does have other options that I mentioned already.
Currently Borla is the only company producing high-end cat-backs for the V6 and naturally
they're going to be the highest-priced. All of Borla's cat-backs are in the same price
range for the V6, which is right in between $1200 and $1300. There are other options from
companies like Mark and Gibson that are available, and on average, those are costing in the price
range of $800 and $900. So if the Borla is a little highly priced for you, you can check
those out as well, but just know that the quality, engineering, and fitment of those
brands is probably not going to be on the same level as Borla, if that matters to you.
When it comes to the installer, you're going to be looking at an easy one out of three
wrenches on the scale when we look at difficulty. This is considered a direct built-on item,
so you won't need to cut anything or modify anything to get it installed. All that you're
really going to need is a socket set, and a lift would certainly make things easier,
but the job can be done on stands as well. You're going to be removing the exhaust from
your resonator back, so an extra set of hands can make things easier for you here. You'll
be moving the rear hangers to the new cat-back, so I'd recommend just taking them off with
the factory exhaust when you drop that. It'll just make the swap a little bit easier.
The only other thing you'll need to reuse are the front cleanse off of the resonator
for the front of the new resonator. When you go to install your new set-up, as usual, it's
probably going to a little bit easier if you started by hanging the mufflers first. And
just in case you're wondering, the cat-back does come with two new sets of clamps for
the rest of the system. You can figure on spending about an hour or two from start to
finish to get all of this done.
To wrap things up with the ATAK cat-back, this is a very loud system, the loudest of
the series of three systems that Borla produces, and it doesn't have a drone or any type of
sound distortion even in the higher RPMs. It's also a high-quality system that's easy
to install and finishes with orange polish tips to give a mean look to go with the mean
sound that it produces.
I'm Stephanie, and for all things Mustang, keep it right here at americanmuscle.com.