AWE Touring vs Track Edition on the BMW M340i: What the Names Actually Mean

The G20 M340i is one of the best-documented exhaust decisions we have. We hold 23 sound clips on the car, 2019 through 2025, covering both AWE configurations — which makes it the cleanest same-car, same-brand comparison in the whole gallery.

It's also the one people get wrong most often, because AWE uses two words that sound like they mean the same thing and don't: Touring/Track and resonated/non-resonated. Those are two separate decisions, on two separate parts of the exhaust. Get them confused and you can order a system that behaves nothing like you expected.

First, what this system actually is

The AWE M340i system is a downpipe-back, not a cat-back. Dual 3" T304L stainless, from the downpipe flange all the way to the tips. AWE quotes a 65% increase in flow over the factory system — deliberately oversized so it still works if you later fit aftermarket downpipes.

That's a meaningful distinction if you're cross-shopping. A downpipe-back replaces more of the car than a cat-back does, and on a B58 that's where a good chunk of the sound change comes from.

The two decisions, separated

Decision one: Touring or Track — this is about the rear section

Both versions share the same front end, the same merge, the same mid-pipes. The difference is in the rear sections.

  • Touring Edition uses AWE's 180 Technology resonators in the rear. AWE describes 180 Technology as routing exhaust gas "through strategically located ports, and into reflection chambers," timing the re-entry to produce "a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree out-of-phase sound wave that cancels out problematic frequencies." It's phase cancellation, targeted at the drone band, not general-purpose muffling.
  • Track Edition deletes those and puts straight sections in their place.

That's it. That's the whole Touring-versus-Track difference: cancellation chambers in the rear, or pipe.

AWE's own language about the Track Edition is unusually blunt — it is "known to get (really) rowdy in mid-range acceleration and deceleration." They also state that Track Edition exhausts cannot be returned based on sound preference. A manufacturer putting that in writing is the clearest possible signal about what you're buying. Take it at face value.

Decision two: resonated or non-resonated — this is about the mid-pipes

Here's the part that trips people up. On the Touring Edition, AWE sells both a Resonated and a Non-Resonated version. Both have 180 Technology in the rear. What changes is whether there are bullet resonators in the mid-pipes.

And AWE's guidance is the opposite of what most people assume:

  • Non-Resonated Touring is the recommendation for a car with the stock downpipe.
  • Resonated Touring is the recommendation for a car with an aftermarket downpipe.

The logic is straightforward once you see it. The factory downpipe contains a catalyst that does a lot of quiet work. Take it out for a high-flow or catless downpipe and you've removed a large silencing element, so you add the mid-pipe resonators back to compensate. Leave the stock downpipe in and you don't need them.

So "non-resonated" here is not a loudness setting you pick by taste. It's a compensation setting you pick based on what's upstream. Choose it by what's on your car.

Worth knowing: the Track Edition does have bullet resonators in the mid-pipes. It is not a bare straight pipe from end to end. The rowdiness comes from deleting the rear 180 sections, not from having no silencing at all.

What this does at your cruise RPM

The B58 is an inline-six. Firing frequency for a four-stroke is (RPM × cylinders) ÷ 120, so at a 2,000 RPM highway cruise the M340i is pushing a 100 Hz pressure wave down the pipe. At 2,400 RPM it's 120 Hz.

That band — roughly 80 to 140 Hz — is where cabins are worst at absorbing energy and where drone lives. 180 Technology is aimed squarely at it. Delete the 180 sections and there is nothing specifically addressing 100 Hz, which is why the Track Edition gets described the way it does on deceleration and mid-range cruise.

None of that makes the Track Edition a bad system. It makes it a system for someone whose driving isn't dominated by steady-state highway.

Hear both, on the same car, same year

This is the part that no spec sheet gives you. Our M340i clips let you A/B the two configurations on the same chassis with the only real variable being the rear section:

If you want to check whether anything drifted across model years, we also have the 2019 Resonated Touring at the start of the G20 run and the 2025 Resonated Touring at the current end of it.

Two things to listen for, and they're different things:

Tone — play the pulls. This tells you whether you like the character of the B58 through this system. Both versions share it; the Track is simply less filtered.

The low end at steady throttle — this is the one that decides whether you're happy in six months. Any part of a clip that isn't a full-throttle pull is the useful part. Use headphones with real bass response; laptop speakers physically cannot reproduce 100 Hz, and 100 Hz is the entire question.

How to choose, in one paragraph each

Take the Touring Edition if the car is a daily driver, if you do meaningful highway miles, or if there's any chance of passengers who didn't choose this modification. You still get the full note under throttle — the 180 resonators are frequency-targeted, not volume-limiters. This is the default recommendation for most M340i owners, and it's the version most of our clips are of.

Take the Track Edition if you've heard it, you want it, and your driving is short trips and back roads rather than interstate. Go in knowing AWE won't take it back because you changed your mind about the sound.

Then pick resonated or non-resonated by your downpipe, not by taste: stock downpipe → non-resonated Touring; aftermarket downpipe → resonated Touring.

One more thing worth knowing

AWE sells a Track-to-Touring conversion kit on several applications — you swap the straight rear sections for 180 Technology sections rather than replacing the whole system. Check whether one exists for the G20 before you decide the choice is permanent. It makes the Track Edition a less frightening bet if you're genuinely torn, though it's obviously cheaper to get it right the first time.

Browse all M340i sound clips or see what AWE Tuning currently has available for your year.

Sources

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