I have an RM on my '00 Civic and it can be loud as heck on the highway. I guess if you set the cruise control and just go at 65-75 the whole time you'd be ok. I remember one night I got ticketed right before I was going to go to the casino out in the desert, about a 45 minute drive. Drove pissed off and got there in about 30 and the ears were really buzzing for a while after. But, it does come with a silencer, but that seems to kill power from 5K to redline, however it makes the car feel torquier beneath 5K.

About the exhaust install, the shop I took it to charged me $65 to install it, but that was also partially because I spent a grip of money on that trip. Honestly, after changing my oil filter so many times and getting underneath the car, it doesn't seem so hard.

How hard is it to torque down the bolts as hard as you can? I'd have more trouble not forcing that shiznitz in. About the only thing I'd worry about is making sure the exhaust is hanging properly on the hangers. A mechanic who installed my camber kit ****ed up somehow and knocked the piping off of the hanger, the one near the catalytic converter. I didn't notice until a few days later while I was standing behind my car. I was like "How come I can see so much of the piping today?" I swear there was less than the 3 inches of clearance between the piping and the ground. If I had hit a nasty bump at speed, bye bye exhaust...