the bad thing you probably heard about the ex-mag was probably about the ex-mag 2. its known to rust easily and also get damaged really easily due to the fact that it is almost a straight pipe and hangs LOW as hell. it doesn't follow the stock routing for exhaust, as soon as you bolt it to the cat you notice that it has a mild curve towards the driver side of the car and goes UNDER the rear axle and gas tank. even with stock ride height, it only has like 4 inches of ground clearance. the regular ex mag is the ultimate sleeper exhaust. i'm not getting it though because i'm going turbo and i'm going ALL OUT, 2.5 pipe aint enough for what i'm going for. though if i weren't going turbo, i'd get it in a heartbeat. it has a GREAT tone, only a little louder than stock and has a nice deep tone to it. even though its price is in the neighborhood of 500+ i'd still say go for it if you want good performance without all the attention from the police and those nasty ricers with their stupid 4 inch custom exhausts on their N/A motor with NO internal motor work at all.