Exhaust gasses cool down as they move back toward the tailpipe. The cooling causes contraction of the gasses. Because of this you can usually get away with a smaller pipe at the rear and not see any loss in performance.
Keep exhaust consistent at 2.5"...bigger is not better when car is stock. 3.73 is the sweet spot to me. It's the best street driveability in my opinion, especially if still stock. Those 2.73s are crap.