...so I put on the 17159s today. Didn't bother with the X pipe because the space looked a little too tight. Drove home from the shop....
...and took them off 10 miles later. thank god I asked the muffler shop to mate them to the stock exhaust flanges so I could go back to stock easily. I put the stock units back on in my garage to avoid the embarrassment of going back to the shop with my tail between my legs. Thankfully this only took about 30 minutes with me on my back.
While the sound they produce is lovely, the AMOUNT of it, even with the windows closed, is too much, IMO, for a 'grown-up' sedan. I was hoping for
Infiniti G35/37 stock exhaust notes, but these were far louder than that.
This video, which I thought was the 17159s with all the other stock parts removed, I suspect is just the 17159s axle-back, with the stock H-pipe and the two canister-style exhausts still in place. Clearly the stock equipment front of the rear axle doesn't do much.
The 17159s had no drone, that's true. Steady-speed cruising was silent. The second you wanted more speed, however...even with the windows up, the noise was considerable. I'm surprised at how little insulation there is between the passenger cabin and the exhaust area. I guess the car is silent because there's no noise coming from the stock mufflers.