Are noisy ICE cars becoming embarrassing?

[Stu08]

urquattroGus said:

I prefer a V8 or V6, but I don't mind the sound of my alfa 4 Banger, suits the car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvmdCrm-jQw&t=...

Just wow! Beautiful sounding engine regardless of cylinder count.

[urquattroGus]

Thanks guys, it's a lot of fun, 155bhp in a fairly light older car, you can drive it hard and use a lot of it without too much worry

[juice]

urquattroGus said:

I prefer a V8 or V6, but I don't mind the sound of my alfa 4 Banger, suits the car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvmdCrm-jQw&t=...

I know those roads well. I grew up in Little Baddow

There's a great Carp Lake on the right, here https://youtu.be/mvmdCrm-jQw?t=347

Edited by juice on Saturday 27th April 10:29

[irocfan]

urquattroGus said:

Thanks guys, it's a lot of fun, 155bhp in a fairly light older car, you can drive it hard and use a lot of it without too much worry

it is a problem with today's cars... too wide, too heavy and waaay too powerful to really make use of these days

[anonymous-user]

It’s quite amazing that very soon an entire generation will not understand much, of anything at all about the ICE. Soon, flames on the over run, feathering the throttle for a lumpy cam, or with monster ITB’s, the bark of an induction and whine of straight cut gears will be resigned to the history books. Replaced by effortless, linear power trains with zero character. It’s depressing. The mere fact this thread exists just shows the general apathy in respect to driving these days. One of the first motoring memories was a passenger ride around Brands in a Lola, must have been about 7 or 8 yrs old. What have the next generation got to look forward to?

[AC43]

urquattroGus said:

I prefer a V8 or V6, but I don't mind the sound of my alfa 4 Banger, suits the car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvmdCrm-jQw&t=...

Ah yes but a Milano always sounds glorious. As did the BDA's back then. Alfa also made a great job on the noise the later TwinSparks made. And I heard a great 10 year old CTR the other day singing away. It can be done - or at least it could.

But back in the day the hotter engines had wilder cams. And engineers (especially Italian ones) would play around with air boxes, inlet manifolds and exhaust manifolds to extract both power and tuneful sounds.

I had an Alfa twincam in a Spider and it sounded lovely. As did the flat 4's in various Sud's. And the heavily modded A Series in my Mini. But moving forward every single 4 I've since had has sounded, at best, a bit dreary.

I think a lot of (or all of) the character has been mapped out of most modern 4's due to emissions and other requirements such as turbos which really bugger up the exhaust noise. An example of that would be my second S14. It ended up with a full HKS induction kit and cat-back exhaust which got rid of the horrible off-the-line turbo lag and gave it a lot more power. But it sounded bang average.

EDIT; anyway, noise has always been a major part of my enjoyment of any car. I grew up with Alfa and Fiat/Lancia twin cams, Alfa flat 4's and Bussos and, of course, my lairy A-series'd Mini. I can forgive a car quite a lot if I can play tunes on it.

Edited by AC43 on Saturday 27th April 11:03

[Rat_Fink_67]

yonex said:

It’s quite amazing that very soon an entire generation will not understand much, of anything at all about the ICE. Soon, flames on the over run, feathering the throttle for a lumpy cam, or with monster ITB’s, the bark of an induction and whine of straight cut gears will be resigned to the history books. Replaced by effortless, linear power trains with zero character. It’s depressing. The mere fact this thread exists just shows the general apathy in respect to driving these days. One of the first motoring memories was a passenger ride around Brands in a Lola, must have been about 7 or 8 yrs old. What have the next generation got to look forward to?

This reflects my feelings entirely! I just find it all quite sad really, I can't get excited or enthusiastic about electric vehicles at all.

I'm still hanging on to the late 90s or early 00's when you could get sensible saloons or run-of-the-mill hatchbacks with oddball V6 and I5 turbo engines etc. I like turbochargers, superchargers, cam profiles, side-draughts, downdraughts, ITBs and head porting! The excitement of a first drive after a remap or a new turbo or exhaust. All that kind of stuff will die out in the future and I'm not particularly excited about it.

[Mr E]

otolith said:

There's some throbber round Swindon in an old S3 which is mapped to backfire loudly while shuffling about in traffic.

Is it a black S3?

[cerb4.5lee]

yonex said:

What have the next generation got to look forward to?

Not having to constantly fill a car up with petrol!!

[otolith]

Mr E said:

otolith said:

There's some throbber round Swindon in an old S3 which is mapped to backfire loudly while shuffling about in traffic.

Is it a black S3?

I think it was, yes. Moved up North last March, so I have been spared it since then.

[thebraketester]

cerb4.5lee said:

yonex said:

What have the next generation got to look forward to?

Not having to constantly fill a car up with petrol!!

I can’t wait.

[Turn7]

Rat_Fink_67 said:

yonex said:

It’s quite amazing that very soon an entire generation will not understand much, of anything at all about the ICE. Soon, flames on the over run, feathering the throttle for a lumpy cam, or with monster ITB’s, the bark of an induction and whine of straight cut gears will be resigned to the history books. Replaced by effortless, linear power trains with zero character. It’s depressing. The mere fact this thread exists just shows the general apathy in respect to driving these days. One of the first motoring memories was a passenger ride around Brands in a Lola, must have been about 7 or 8 yrs old. What have the next generation got to look forward to?

This reflects my feelings entirely! I just find it all quite sad really, I can't get excited or enthusiastic about electric vehicles at all.

I'm still hanging on to the late 90s or early 00's when you could get sensible saloons or run-of-the-mill hatchbacks with oddball V6 and I5 turbo engines etc. I like turbochargers, superchargers, cam profiles, side-draughts, downdraughts, ITBs and head porting! The excitement of a first drive after a remap or a new turbo or exhaust. All that kind of stuff will die out in the future and I'm not particularly excited about it.

You are not alone guys, I feel exactly the same way.....

Yonex said EV's are soulless and I agree wholeheartedly with that.

They may well be the future but you dont have to like them !

[soupdragon1]

Aren't even the most ancient modes of transport still easily accessible even now. Bicycles, horses, steam trains etc.....even if EV overtakes ICE, it doesn't mean the end of ICE, just that it's no longer the most popular?

[anonymous-user]

cerb4.5lee said:

Not having to constantly fill a car up with petrol!!

But where will the modern day cad meet his filly, the pumps are one of the last outcrop of places where one can stand robustly, whilst penetrating the fuel filler with car juice, dominating the forecourt in a suitable motor vehicle, and attire.

[culpz]

AC43 said:

culpz said:

I love how a 30 grand, 300 BHP, 4WD performance Golf is classed as being a barry-boy car these days.

It must be those outrageous quad exhaust pipes, or the cheap lease deals that people simply cannot afford, that causes certain individuals to uncontrollably froth at the mouth.

Only on PH, eh?

As I've said, nothing wrong with Golfs except for the farty noise they make.

The noise which appeals to the throbbers round here with a mental age of about three who proceed to demonstrate their flatulence over and over and over again as they drive up and down the high street.

Fast 'n Furious innit bruv.

Even with the 8-speed ZF, as apposed to DSG, the M135i/M235i/M140i/M240i also make the fart noise on upshifts.

[RoverP6B]

There are very few great noises out there now. In terms of current production cars, I can't think of anything much that I like. Ford Coyote is about it. Farting, parping fours, sixes and even V8s are just embarrassing. Last time I was at Dunsfold Wings & Wheels, the best sounds I heard were the Merlins, the Vulcan, an E46 M3 and a Jag D-type. The E46 sounded remarkably similar to the old Jag racer, and they were easily the two loudest cars on the runway that day. A proper big-block V8 running hairy cams is a fabulous sound, but the last great-sounding V12s were the M297 in the Zonda and the Bizzarrini in the Murcielago.

[A1VDY]

schmalex said:

My wife has a 5.0 Mustang. It sounds bloody gloriius when she opens the taps wide

Quite... Probably like a sausage being thrown up the M20, doesn't touch the sides just rebounds off them occasionally..

[anonymous-user]

RoverP6B said:

There are very few great noises out there now. In terms of current production cars, I can't think of anything much that I like. Ford Coyote is about it. Farting, parping fours, sixes and even V8s are just embarrassing. Last time I was at Dunsfold Wings & Wheels, the best sounds I heard were the Merlins, the Vulcan, an E46 M3 and a Jag D-type. The E46 sounded remarkably similar to the old Jag racer, and they were easily the two loudest cars on the runway that day. A proper big-block V8 running hairy cams is a fabulous sound, but the last great-sounding V12s were the M297 in the Zonda and the Bizzarrini in the Murcielago.

Yeah, whatever you say gramps.

[RoverP6B]

yonex said:

Yeah, whatever you say gramps.

Such a mature, substantive counter-argument. You can't tell me you think today's turbocharged 2-litre fours, 3-litre sixes and 4-litre V8s sound good.

[RDMcG]

OF course they are noisy but sometimes they are good to hear. I have al old Mezger-engined 997RS which is amazing when wooden up..just the beginning of the vid below gives you the idea.. Sadly, I have only been able to do this on Germany or on race tracks. Much more fun than the new ones....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgoU6tebIHA