Like many on this forum I was wanting a bit more out of the exhaust system than the stock 600 cell exhaust delivered. I didn't want anything too loud which eliminated a lot of systems, I just wanted some better exhaust sound and any bonus performance that came with it. It seemed like the Kline or Markski exhausts would fit the bill but I just couldn't bring myself to drop $4-5K for something I didn't really "need" but only "wanted". So I found the Topgear Linked Silencers Performance exhaust based out of England. They are a well established company, it was in the right price range and there were some video clips online that sounded like what i was looking for. Even after shipping and paying the Trump Tariff (which I had to pay directly, and hope to get back) it was still way cheaper than buying domestic. My apologies to the guys on here that are making excellent exhaust systems, it just wasn't in the cards for me.

After buying the system Topgear shipped it via DHL super fast, like it hit US Customs in 3 days after purchase which is crazy. After paying the tariff to release it from customs DHL had it to me in another 2 days. I unboxed the exhaust and it looked great. So far so good.
I had a lot going on at the time so I wasn't able to get to installing the system for about a month. When I went to install the system I tried to get it in as a complete unit with the cats somewhat loosely installed to the exhaust. Well, the system didn't fit, it was too narrow by about 2CM even with all the play in the connections maxed out and trying to flex the system to the danger point. I tried everything I could think of, in every order of install and triple checked if I was doing something wrong but it's really pretty dummy proof. It either fits or it doesn't, and mine didn't.

So I reached out to the support email address that came with my purchase emails. No responses. I went through the Contact page on their website. No responses. Yes, I could try calling them but that costs like $2/minute and I was annoyed they hadn't responded to my emails or Contact page. So I searched for every email address I could find for their company and basically spammed them (with a nice email, not being a jerk). Fortunately a very nice lady in their Finance department took pity on me and connected with their Operations Manager.
At this point I will have to condense the story. Over the 4 weeks I sent 17 emails trying to get my problem resolved. They never initiated an email to me, they would only respond to my email and then go dark. Their responses were basically brushing me off and trying to make me go away. They were along the lines of:
"we have sold 100s without issues"
"You need to loosely fit the cats to the turbos then loosely fit the system to the cats then tighten up slowly and evenly" (the closest they came to actual advice, but of course I had already done this)
"they are all made in the same jig" (got that one multiple times)
"I would suggest if you are unhappy to get them modified" (yes, they actually said that)

They really wanted me to go away but I was relentless and I kept copying in their Managing Director whose email I had gotten.
I bombarded them with pictures, measurements, angles, you name it.
I made my own jig using the stock exhaust system and sent them pictures showing how their system didn't fit into it.


It's a bit hard to tell but in the picture above you can see the passenger side cat/turbo connection doesn't come close to lining up. Also the tailpipes were too long and didn't quite line up.

At one point I thought one of the cats was the problem so I 3d modeled and printed my own cat (which was not the problem).
After 4 weeks he finally relented and said he was contacting the factory where they are made in South Africa to consult with them on the information I had provided.
I kept reaching out and finally they said they were going to make me a new one because they no longer had confidence in their existing stock. I finally had confirmation that I wasn't crazy and an admission the problem was on their end.
It took another 3 weeks but they shipped me a new exhaust (not the cats). Fortunately this resolved the problem and the system installed perfectly.
Honestly if I hadn't just retired and had the time to do all the investigation and stay on top of them I don't know if I would have been able to get this resolved.
At the end I did see the owner of the company, Steve Kilcoyne, was copied into the the email so it looks like this had to go all the way to the top for resolution.
Interestingly I just looked at their website and the system is now listed as Out of Stock. Not sure how to interpret that but it makes me wonder...

So am I happy with the system after all that? Yes, totally happy. The sound is just what I was looking for.
And I know you guys are going to want to a video so I put one together and posted it to YouTube.

Just wanted to share my experience with the community.

 

surely you could of found a used one stateside?

i get that these cars are not that popular and its kind of difficult to find parts but they do pop up every now and then

 

I recently put these 47mm headers on my 2003 X50.