Yaris sensible mods for sensible sound?

April 25, 2016

Hi everyone, I'm new here.

Anyway, I have a 2007 Yaris 1.3L T3 Sedan model. I got the car with 170 000km on the clock and it has now got about 225 000 on the clock.

Something I have been wanting to do for a while but never got around to is improve it's sound. Currently with stock parts it sounds well a little restricted -as if someone is strangling the poor engine when you rev it a little. I would like to open it's throat up a little so it doesn't sound so tortured when it hits that 2500 to 3000 zone and higher.

I am pretty new to fuel injection - and cars - as this is my first car. Previously I have owned several bikes mostly carb models. So when I did a little searching I noticed it's always a simple "plug and play" procedure when installing new things.

What I want from the sound is the following:

A little meatier, but not obnoxiously loud

I want it to sound less restricted

Things I don't really want:

To mess up the engine

Have to do anything that requires major modification

Increase the fuel usage - not noticeably anyway

I am not interested in additional power but I don't want to lose lots of power

After all, this isn't a sports car.

So I am presented with 2 options:

I can either put a cone filter on or get a new exhaust box/ full system. Problem is I won't really know the outcome til I do it. I was worried initially about the CAT since there are 2 sensors in that area (if I read correctly) but then I was told by the garage where I asked that with so much mileage on the car the current CAT is pretty much clogged anyway.

What are the pros and cons of either or even both being done and which would you recommend?

This is almost perfect but could have a little more to it