If my car has less power, it's certainly not evident in normal driving ... perhaps if I were using my car to compete at the track, that could be a different story ... but, from my perspective, there's no diminishment in top end performance ... I can still go from 80mph to triple-digits with very little effort while going up a grade that slows other traffic to a speed well below the limit ... if there is a difference, I can't discern it ...

your observation IS interesting, though since just yesterdayI had a telephone conversation with another member who has been looking into a muffler switch and we were talking about this very point ... he told me that a small amount of difference such as this, that far back, would not affect performance ... he said that if it were FORWARD in the system, maybe ... but not at the back ...

that said, I'm certainly no expert ... just a guy who enjoys driving his car.