Are noisy ICE cars becoming embarrassing?

[Sagi Badger]

Love the sound of a bike hanging second and third through the lanes near home, usually Sunday morning. Years ago there was a 3litre Capri that I would hear, yep a good few years ago, it had a regular late night run from Hornchurch to Aveley, and probably beyond, defo local and I could work out where he/she was, pushing on as well, was pukka on a still night when the sound travelled. A Tesla humming a servoesque whine just doesn’t do it.
Gonna get the sag motty’d up soon and go out to spread the word early on a crispy morning, maybe in 30 years time someone will remember it fondly. Think non PC now and soon to be ridiculed as old fashioned and polluting.

[T-195]

mehmehmeh said:

Fast and Spurious said:

How was this real observation unreaslistic (sic) ?

Because it's almost double the price, so how can you expect it to be as fast?

It's also completely different marquees aimed at completely different people. Really a Golf R is aimed at boy racers / older ex boyracers who can afford a £400 a month finance deal. Hence the burping exhaust.

If I bought an RS3 I would have the burps mapped out honestly.

This is it. Personally, I have no idea why people would want to advertise they drive a fast car. I don't think many people do.

[RobDickinson]

Watch the second half of this, effortless silent performance..
https://youtu.be/JNUgfoGXYIc

[aeropilot]

I miss hearing induction noise........like the sound of a pair of sidedraught DCOE's every now and then, which was the norm back in the 70's and early 80's, back in the day when adding tuning parts, meant carbs and heads and cams etc., not a fart can exhaust and an IT degree in mapping.....

[Deeman]

icekay said:

But many people take it too far and on top of way too loud exhausts, they drive like tts to make the most possible noise - keeping first gear blaring through town being a common example.

Typically around greater London also minus a front number plate (oh it fell off officer - its so my massive turbo can breath etc etc) - primarily to tail-gate people and avoid detection by the person in front.

Like many have said - too much farty, synthetic sounding stuff (especially Audi's) which just sound awful and make people think bell-end at the wheel, rather than drawing admiring glances. Like real farts, its just anti-social doing one in a confined space - doing it in the open away from people where you can enjoy the experience all on your own is better. I'm far from a car hater and love my V8's, but the aforementioned just crap on our passion and turn people against us

[alec.e]

RobDickinson said:

Watch the second half of this, effortless silent performance..
https://youtu.be/JNUgfoGXYIc

Impressive performance, but that interior is so drab.

[dunnoreally]

simonbamg said:

Not really sure what you mean, but I wouldn’t care what you thought of my car what ever it was or how it sounded, I’m guessing your a typical PH car snob

Yeah, you're right, sorry, that did come across as a bit wnky.

I guess I was thinking if you didn't care what anyone thought, why draw their attention by deliberately making your car noisier? The answer's that you might do that just because you like how it sounds, and sod everyone else. Which is entirely fair enough.

No offense meant, and all that.

[Speed addicted]

alec.e said:

RobDickinson said:

Watch the second half of this, effortless silent performance..
https://youtu.be/JNUgfoGXYIc

Impressive performance, but that interior is so drab.

Meh.
So I can do my speeding while listening to wind noise and tyre roar instead of the V8?
They’re an impressive thing, but there’s just nothing there that makes me want one let alone start looking at classifieds to see how much I can get one for.

I notice that about half the review was spent messing about with gadgets. Again, not interested. I don’t want to unlock my car with my phone or any of that crap.

At the end of the day it’s a fast but dull looking hatchback.

[RobDickinson]

It's not a hatchback.

[CDP]

AC43 said:

Rawwr said:

And triples.

And twins.

And singles.

And fours.

Agree with most except singles. They always sound st. Especially in a scooter or bike with a fart can. Appalling racket.

Some twins are OK or even brilliant - usually in bikes. Not really a fan of the chuff chuff noise of a 2Cv or Twinair.

Triples - always

Fours - diesels sound grim to shockingly bad.. Petrol cars vary from humdrum to amazing. Japanese fours in bikes give some of the best sounds known to mankind.

Just about all 5, 6, 8, 10 or 12 petrol is the bollx.

Some diesels in those configurations sound OK to pleasant (when warm) but rarely (If ever) hold a candle to the equivalent petrol in terms of sound.

Better economy and less range anxiety if you're bothered about things like that.

Steam locomotives seem very popular yet they make a big noise and who knows what pours out of the funnel.

I suspect in years to come as they become rare ICE cars will raise more smiles than grimaces.

[406dogvan]

simonbamg said:

Only embarrassing if your bothered what someone thinks of your car

Almost EVERYONE cares what people think of their car - outside of people who buy 'white goods' cars to get around which is probably <10% of all car owners.

If we didn't care about that - we'd all drive the same car in the same color y'see

[Onehp]

dunnoreally said:

simonbamg said:

Not really sure what you mean, but I wouldn’t care what you thought of my car what ever it was or how it sounded, I’m guessing your a typical PH car snob

Yeah, you're right, sorry, that did come across as a bit wnky.

I guess I was thinking if you didn't care what anyone thought, why draw their attention by deliberately making your car noisier? The answer's that you might do that just because you like how it sounds, and sod everyone else. Which is entirely fair enough.

I think you just defined the term antisocial. I don't care if a car is too loud because the owner/driver wants to be seen like that and cares a lot about getting attention, or is simply antisocial, it is disturbing/annoying either way. Yes I live on a road with lots of traffic. A 25mph road in a city centre, it's not normal traffic that disturbes, it's the idiots that think it's a good idea to show how loud/fast their cars are past 10pm in a city center. From old banger BMWs to Lamborghinis... And bikes of course. Time and place folks...

How was it again? Someone had estimated long time ago that one very loud bike driving through Paris by night could wake up to half a million people. Sorry forgot the source. Doesn't matter, anybody who can reason understands one person with poor judgements can make a very negative impact.

I love a nice exhaust sound, can get the hairs up on my arms, but it wears thin very quickly in the above scenario...

[Killboy]

406dogvan said:

Almost EVERYONE cares what people think of their car - outside of people who buy 'white goods' cars to get around which is probably <10% of all car owners.

If we didn't care about that - we'd all drive the same car in the same color y'see

Where do you live where 90% of people drive interesting cars?

[Onehp]

Codswallop said:

The fact that a quiet EV or comparatively quiet Golf R could out accelerate me may also have been a factor that started to diminish the enjoyment of my snarling V8. Oddly, I now drive a slower quieter car, and feel a lot more discreet and happier to drive quickly

I drive the Golf equivalent in estate form with stock a very quiet exhaust. Manual so no pops. Switched of the fake sound from the soundaktor (speaker on firewall) quickly, annoying sound. After testing with various exhausts over the years, I am back to the original one. Then the engine is surprisingly refined and quiet. Before I would say deadly boring but I think the prevalence of EVs around me is changing my perception indeed.

The aftermarket exhaust would sound glorious on a b road blast with heat in them. But on a commute, there was no enjoyment to be had from the driver seat, unless I made it antisocially loud once the heat was in. And by the architecture of the car, it sounded like 2x-3x more on the back seat, annoying my passengers on long motorway runs.

Also, I know what really engages me in driving is the cars handling. The nice engine note is an added bonus to the experience. It's more when you cannot savior the handling that a nice engine note adds most to the experience. But I notice my ideas are indeed changing:
- A loudish car in city/traffic means I actually drive slower not to be antisocial (the EV thing, but also the Maranello effect - stock Ferraris annoy the inhabitants no end with tourists renting them)
- On long motorway trips, we want a quiet drive and again, I can drive the speed I want without alerting non-petrol head passengers
- On B-road blasts, as do enjoy a nice exhaust note as said, but also here it increases self-consciousness as your basically annoucing before your arrival to anybody a good bit out of sight up front, hear hear now someone is coming that *might* not adhere to the speed limit. I very much am a proponent of safe driving to circumstances, but if it sounds fast, it simply doesn't look/sound good in case someone decides to question your driving... Don't want to contribute to such perception even if it has been without consequence in the past (I lose all speed if there is no clear view or there are others around).

Or maybe just getting old, anyway, my current car is a sleeper by how it looks and now also by how it sounds, and in practice it has enhanced my driving enjoyment most of the time. Sound familiar to your experience?

Edited by Onehp on Tuesday 16th April 02:02

[otolith]

aeropilot said:

Actually, I'd be in favour of it being a driving offense to wear headphones while driving.

Should it also be an offence to drive a high end luxury car with superb sound insulation, double glazed windows, etc, and a great sound system?

I sometimes drive my Elise with earbuds in. I can still hear more exterior noise than I can in my Merc, and that’s only an old E-class.

[RobDickinson]

Deaf people drive too you fkwits.

[MDUBZ]

What?

[Baldchap]

406dogvan said:

simonbamg said:

Only embarrassing if your bothered what someone thinks of your car

Almost EVERYONE cares what people think of their car - outside of people who buy 'white goods' cars to get around which is probably <10% of all car owners.

If we didn't care about that - we'd all drive the same car in the same color y'see

I disagree. Take colour - personal preference. I don't want a grey car because I prefer other colours. Everyone else seems to like them and buys them in huge numbers. Hell, if we're talking about perceptions, according to folk on here our two main cars make me a PCP farty scroat (Golf R) and a boring idiot who hates driving and sits about for hours (Tesla). Surely if other people's opinions were of concern I'd have bought neither.

[Stu08]

RobDickinson said:

Watch the second half of this, effortless silent performance..
https://youtu.be/JNUgfoGXYIc

That puts me off them even more to be honest, I appreciate we are all different but that is so dull.

Whilst the acceleration is impressive it reminds me of Stealth at Thorpe Park from the POV camera - even that gets dull after several rides when the novelty of acceleration has worn off. Don't get me wrong, I really get what Tesla have done and think they have really changed the EV game to where it is today, just misses that sense of occasion with no sound.

Edited by Stu08 on Tuesday 16th April 08:27

[Jonno02]

I think we can summarise this thread as:

VAG cars sound crap and are try-hard asbo machines, especially the louder ones.
But if it's got more cylinders, who cares about speed, as long as it's noisy.

I mean it's hypocrisy at its finest, but what else do we expect from here...