That's why the cast iron Fenton "headers" are so popular.
Tube headers? My daily driver 96 Jeep Cherokee 4.0 6 has short tube sheet metal headers,came that way from the factory like a million others just like it.I believe the common 2.5 4 cylinder engine used in older S10's also had a sheet metal manifold.Many new high perfomance vehicles have fabricated sheet metal exhaust manifolds,many are made of stainless steel to deal with heat and rust problems.
A set of well designed short length tube headers can be a definate advantage on a hi performance street engine.Long tube"tuned" headers tend to produce power in a narrow RPM range,fine for racing engines.And the long tubes lose a lot of heat and gas flow,needing a wrap job which is ok if the headers are designed for it.