If that guy is so fired up about an aftermarket exhaust and he claims to soon be getting the car anyway then why worry about badgering the parents over this?
Once his vehicle he can do what he wants I guess but IMO that’s a lot of money for something so useless. That 800 bucks would be better served by spending it on something called maintenance.
I can’t see anyone being impressed by an Xterra with a throatier exhaust; either running in traffic or on a tow truck being hauled in because fluids were never changed or checked.
I think you summed it up well yourself, but added a whole lot of misdirection related to your parents not understanding “why”.
The elephant in the room is that there aren’t ANY real and valid reasons to put an aftermarket exhaust on an Xterra. You didn’t even suggest or explain why YOU even want it. I doubt you even have a reason beyond seeing that it’s available. Not at all uncommon consumer behaviour.
You’re not the only one. I read a comparison test a number of years ago in one of the bike mags, they found the majority of aftermarket systems did nothing for hp. Lighter, yes, louder, yes, but no more power for most of them.
I was just like you when I was young. My parents bought a 1964 Chevy Impala which was the one I drove. I was also a budding garage mechanic, as were my friends. It had a 283, 2 speed automatic and 2 barrel carb with single exhaust. Not too exciting. I changed the oil every 2000 miles to clean it out, greased it and did whatever I could to make it more mine. As I got money saved, the more I wanted to do to it. I got a 4-barrel manifold and carb, new exhaust manifolds and put on a nice dual exhaust system with cherry bombs. Now, believe it or not, when I took it out and floored it, it would actually (although little) squeal the tire(s) when it shifted into second (high) gear. Then one day, my dad took it in to the garage he always dealt with for routine service and then, bad news. The ball joints and tie-rods were in desperate need of replacing. Long story short, he didn’t want to spend the money to replace them and traded the car in. All the time and money I spent flew out the window. That’s what can happen if the title doesn’t have your name on it.
lol … Reminds me of a co-worker’s story. He said when he was a teenager he’d tune his car every weekend. After he got married he no longer had time for car maintenance. Eventually the car sprung a oil leak. He’d just top it off once in a while, and referred to it as a self-oil-changing car.