Video: 2018 Ford Mustang GT Active Valve Performance Exhaust

But Ford has brought the Mustangs tailpipes into the 21st century with the available active valve performance exhaust system. Not only does the system include various loudness modes like we've seen in other performance cars, such as the Chevrolet Corvette, but it also includes a clever quiet start mode to help you avoid getting the stink-eye from your neighbors who don't share your love for loud V8s. Here's how it works. The active valve performance exhaust is an $895 option for the Mustang GT. And the system includes built-in butterfly valves in the tailpipes that open and shut to vary exhaust flow and loudness. And the ranges include a muted, verbal and quiet to an all-out thunder when you're in track mode. And between those two extremes, you also have normal and sports settings for a total of four different sounds. And it's all controlled by the instrument cluster. With quiet start, Ford has acknowledged that even though a loud exhaust might be enthusiastically received when pulling away from your local cars and coffee. It could produce an entirely different reaction when leaving for work at 6:00 AM. So if you're the considerate sort, and we know our viewers are. You can create a window of time, say from 9:00 PM to 8:00 AM that whenever you start the Mustang, it starts in quiet mode. And like the exhaust modes themselves, it's all configured from the instrument panel. So just how quiet is the Mustang's quiet mode and how much louder is the car when it's off? To get a sense for the variation between them, we used the sound level meter and measured exhaust loudness at the back of the car and found some significant differences between the two. (car starting quietly) We ran the test twice and the max readings in quiet mode were 72 and 75 decibels. When we repeated the tests with quiet start off, the readings jumped to 86 and 84 decibels, a 14 and 9 decibel difference. Well, anything that hushes the sounds coming from a Mustang runs the risk of being labeled un-American. If this was my car, the active valve performance exhaust in the quiet start feature would undoubtedly saved me from waking the neighborhood some early Sunday morning. With quiet start You never have to run the risk of being that guy. (car engine roaring)