Stillen CBE owners regret?

Originally Posted by semtex

I have no regrets over buying the Stillen exhaust, but you have to look at the context as well. I've had my Z since the second week of Jan 09. I had my Stillen CBE by March, I think? By the time I get the F.I. exhaust, I'll have had almost a good year and a half of usage out of it. Well worth the money. Now, if I only had my Stillen since January of THIS year, then I'd probably feel differently. But the Stillen was the best option at the time, so I have no regrets about going with the then-best option. A better option has now come to market, and I have data that strongly suggests that, when the LTH comes into play, the advantage of F.I.'s CBE over Stillen's is sufficient to justify the expense of switching (which is entirely subjective, of course).

Regarding the above quotes, where I currently stand is that Tony makes a logical argument about the Stillen CBE being a bottleneck. That doesn't mean I believe him 100%; what it does mean is that I think his reasoning is sound enough to warrant taking a chance and spending the money to find out for sure either way (besides, it gives me an excuse to buy a shiny new toy for my Z). It should come as no surprise to anyone that I plan to dyno his CBE when I get it. It will either prove him right, or it will prove him wrong. Notice that Tony is taking a risk too. He knows full well that if he's wrong, I'm going to have dyno sheets to prove it and I'm going to share them with the world. So Tony is risking the possibility that I will have solid independent evidence demonstrating that when his LTHs enter the equation, there is nothing to be gained from F.I.'s CBE over Stillen's.

Going back to the question of whether or not one regrets buying the Stillen CBE, I think we need to take a step back for a second. I think the question presupposes to at least some degree that if you buy something today, and something better comes along tomorrow, that's cause for regret. This is just my personal opinion, but that kind of thinking will only make your life full of regret. Because let's face it, no matter what you buy today, something better will come along tomorrow. If an exhaust system comes out next month that surpasses F.I.'s, does that mean everyone who bought an F.I. should be kicking themselves with regret? Heck, the 370Z will one day be surpassed (hopefully). Does that mean we should all regret buying the 370Z instead of waiting for the Z35? So I guess maybe I'm getting a little philosophical here, but the point I'm trying to make is that there will always be something better around the corner. Don't let that ruin the enjoyment of what you have today with unwarranted subsequent regret.