Can diesels sound good?
Discussion
TazLondon said:
With some diesel cars getting into performance leagues of very fast petrol cars - with acceleration times of 0-62mph in under 5 seconds, there's still the issue of a crap exhaust noise. So, can diesel cars ever sound as good or even close to the sound of a V8?
No. The I6 sound a million times better than the 4 bangers - though Suburus 4 pot boxer unit is pretty good. I've hardly heard any of the v8 diesels but it will never sound as lovely as say a C5 RS6 simply not possible.
Yes, but they need to be rather large, with lots of cylinders and fairly unsilenced.
You may find reasonable examples in a redneck's semi (lorry), an airport fire-engine (often 2 stroke V8s) or a tank.
https://youtu.be/lcREW_WRvak
You may find reasonable examples in a redneck's semi (lorry), an airport fire-engine (often 2 stroke V8s) or a tank.
https://youtu.be/lcREW_WRvak
Edited by jamieduff1981 on Saturday 6th February 08:02
V8 or V6 diesels can sound good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzU7HqhkyYs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN0Zc2CaYYU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzU7HqhkyYs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN0Zc2CaYYU
Generally by far the biggest problem with diesels in terms of sound is the fact they are essentially throttled by metering the fuel only (though the introduction of swirl flaps have changed this slightly), whereas a petrol's is metered by both fuel and air. This means in a petrol a whole load more sound is released when the butterfly valve in the throttle body is opened which is very satisfying. It also means they are inherently quieter when driven under part load and therefore don't need as much sound attenuation measures to be civilised when cruising. As a result petrols tend to have more of a bark when under full throttle which is again more satisfying.
So conversely the big issue with a diesel is the fact they barely sound any different going up through the revs under full throttle than they do at part throttle. So no matter how pleasant the sound, it's the way it's portrayed in terms of volume and pitch change with respect to the load change that's the issue.
That said, the fake sounds that are pumped into the cabin such as on a Golf GTD go a good way to address this. But whether you can live with knowing the sound's artificial is another matter.
So conversely the big issue with a diesel is the fact they barely sound any different going up through the revs under full throttle than they do at part throttle. So no matter how pleasant the sound, it's the way it's portrayed in terms of volume and pitch change with respect to the load change that's the issue.
That said, the fake sounds that are pumped into the cabin such as on a Golf GTD go a good way to address this. But whether you can live with knowing the sound's artificial is another matter.
Edited by VeeFource on Saturday 6th February 10:05
5-cylinders sound pretty good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJkjdJQLe3o
As said above though, it's idle and low speed where they sound dreadful, universally imo.
As said above though, it's idle and low speed where they sound dreadful, universally imo.
My previous car was a diesel Merc SLK (yeah, I know, but I wanted a convertible, the lease was cheap....) and I handed it back early, mainly because I couldn't stand the dag-dag noise at lower speeds. Because of the noise, I will never drive another 4 pot diesel; however I do think some of the 6 cyls (e.g. VW Touareg, Porsche Macan) are........OK. Just.
Mike.
Mike.
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