Are noisy ICE cars becoming embarrassing?

[Johner]

bloomen said:

Nowt on Earth sounds better than a straight 6 to me.

As for sound elsewhere I always favour function over form. A road car that's been specifically modified to make a sillier sound always seems deeply tragic. If it's a by-product of greater performance then that's a different matter.

The difference between an XR3 with a hollowed out dustbin tacked on the back and a mk2 with a BDG under the bonnet is rather radical.

I have an SL500 and love the understated burble I get as I gently(ish) open her up, but I do agree with you about a straight 6.

I had TR6 for 4 years and never, never tired of the music it made, on start up, just idling along or booting it from about 2500rpm in second gear.

Just the most marvelous sound

[anonymous-user]

There was a mustang convertible parked outside the pub this afternoon, where I was enjoying lunch. A tt (for tt he was) got into it and booted it down the road to the sound of....

utter disappointment

It was a the farty four pot version, and sounded crap with it's backdrop of turbo whistle. How the man isn't too ashamed to face his family I'll never know. I love electric cars to drive, but this has made me reflect on what we'll lose when they are ubiquitous.

[James NF]

Overun popping and banging through exhaust (I guess ‘chipped’ to do it) is pretty anti social. Normally happens with older cars and a certain genre of user.

For what I term a ‘nice’ noise from a car would require a good 6, V8 or V12!

However yes, people these days seem to frown on any such noise, but I do wonder what contrived noises will be emitted from EV’s etc.

Think of this all as an era passing.

[urquattroGus]

Am I the only one who thought of a loud and slow ICE car as a car with loads of Subs and heavy bass, aka Max power!?

In Car Entertainment etc

[hungry_hog]

Is it partly because of the switch to turbos?

In the past it was pretty much guaranteed a "nice" car (above the base model) would have a decent sound, and would be packing a 6 or 8 cyl engine. BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, Alfa romeo etc. Smooth engines with a gentle rumble were the order of the day. I don't even think sports exhaust were an option most of the time.

As an example the mid range E30 and E36 320s had a lovely sound and people bought these engines for refinement.

Nowadays this mid level spot is occupied by 2 litre turbo cars and most don't sound that nice despite the excellent performance. The A45 I think sounds awful, Golf R not much better and even the Porsche 718 isn't great.

Add that to the craze of modifying exhausts (both OEM and 3rd party) in an attempt to introduce "character" which most of the time just increases volume

[Onehp]

James NF said:

For what I term a ‘nice’ noise from a car would require a good 6, V8 or V12!

A nice 5-pot qualifies too...

[anonymous-user]

Got a thumbsup overtaking a white van today. There's still some who like to hear engines making a noise

[Etypephil]

Baldchap said:

I drove a mate's 355 the other week. Sounded great and 9000rpm from a low-slung V8 is always going to be an event. But 0-60 takes longer than my Golf.

I'm sure we all agree a noisy Ferrari is OK, but a noisy Golf isn't. However, in this situation, the Golf is the faster car, so surely the Ferrari needs to pipe down and the Golf can speak up?

I'm playing Devil's advocate to a degree, but how does a noisy car qualify as being 'worthy'?

Your Golf can better 183 mph? Really? And the (rather irrelevant) 0-60 mph of 4.5 seconds? Is it one of those special high performance diesels we keep hearing about?

[Etypephil]

T-195 said:

Or an 80k Nissan GTR.

Or a used Nissan GTR. Unlike EVs, ICE engined cars tend not to lose power over time.

Edited by T-195 on Monday 15th April 07:38

Or even a £300 old banger when it comes to refuelling / recharging time, after a few miles.

[Riley Blue]

T-195 said:

Or an 80k Nissan GTR.

Or a used Nissan GTR. Unlike EVs, ICE engined cars tend not to lose power over time.

Edited by T-195 on Monday 15th April 07:38

Not only do ICE engines lose power over time but they get noisier in the process due to wear. In extreme cases wear noise can become very embarrassing.

[Baldchap]

Etypephil said:

Baldchap said:

I drove a mate's 355 the other week. Sounded great and 9000rpm from a low-slung V8 is always going to be an event. But 0-60 takes longer than my Golf.

I'm sure we all agree a noisy Ferrari is OK, but a noisy Golf isn't. However, in this situation, the Golf is the faster car, so surely the Ferrari needs to pipe down and the Golf can speak up?

I'm playing Devil's advocate to a degree, but how does a noisy car qualify as being 'worthy'?

Your Golf can better 183 mph? Really? And the (rather irrelevant) 0-60 mph of 4.5 seconds? Is it one of those special high performance diesels we keep hearing about?

Where do I mention top speed?

0-62 on the 355 according to Ferrari is 4.7 seconds. That's longer than it takes a Golf R.

And neither is the actual point of my post, as you well know. What is the entry point (is it even about performance) where a noisy exhaust is acceptable?

Edited by Baldchap on Wednesday 24th April 07:47

[Etypephil]

Baldchap said:

Etypephil said:

Baldchap said:

I drove a mate's 355 the other week. Sounded great and 9000rpm from a low-slung V8 is always going to be an event. But 0-60 takes longer than my Golf.

I'm sure we all agree a noisy Ferrari is OK, but a noisy Golf isn't. However, in this situation, the Golf is the faster car, so surely the Ferrari needs to pipe down and the Golf can speak up?

I'm playing Devil's advocate to a degree, but how does a noisy car qualify as being 'worthy'?

Your Golf can better 183 mph? Really? And the (rather irrelevant) 0-60 mph of 4.5 seconds? Is it one of those special high performance diesels we keep hearing about?

Where do I mention top speed?

0-62 on the 355 according to Ferrari is 4.7 seconds. That's longer than it takes a Golf R.

And neither is the actual point of my post, as you well know. What is the entry point (is it even about performance) where a noisy exhaust is acceptable?

Edited by Baldchap on Wednesday 24th April 07:47

You did say faster, without qualification; a Golf won't do more than 183 mph, even thrown off a cliff, you actually stated to 60 mph, not 62 mph, and Volkswagen claims a 0-62mph time of 5.1sec for the R. What it can actually do is a matter for conjecture, given VW's reputation for honesty. :-)

Your main point seemed to be that a shopping trolley is faster than an old Ferrari, which it isn't.

[urquattroGus]

Faster and Quicker pedantry at it's best, but phil does have a point.

As a footnote, the Golf R has become the latter day "Mapped 335d" of pistonheads

[Parsnip]

Had a 350Z with a Nismo exhaust - very loud - loved it.

Swapped that for a Cayman and put a Remus exhaust on it (and removed it after a week) - loved driving it quick, hated reverse parking and the general annoyance of having something that sounded like a gt3 cup car at 7am.

Current BMW does the full artillery salute on the overrun - you can switch it on and off - I sometimes have it on, sometimes have it off. If any of you combovers want to tell me your postcodes, I'll make sure it's switched on when I drive there, just so you can write it in your pocketbook next to your MPG figures.

None of my cars have ever "embarrassed" me - I drive a orange convertible in the north of Scotland - the threshold for caring about what people think of me in my car just does not exist...

Edited by Parsnip on Wednesday 24th April 08:49

[Jonno02]

G30001 said:

Current driveway consists or 08 Golf R32 and B8 RS4 both have stainless exhausts.......I think you can guess my opinion on the matter!

Current Pet hate 4 pots with mapped in pops and bangs please stop, it isn't cool, we all know it's a map not a highly tuned engine

So it's fine for a 5 cylinder or a V6+ to be obnoxiously loud, but not a 4pot, albeit in a slightly different manner. Some might say LESS asbo and the farts only occur under heavy acceleration, whereas neighbours can hear a loud car permanently. And again, it's alright for your R32, which is down on power compared to these 4 pots, to be a lot louder? But that's not a highly tuned engine either?

Hypocrisy in its final form. "My car can be loud because of the number of cylinders it has, but your 4pot cannot be loud because I don't like the noise." Verging over the line of hypocrisy into idiocy.

[Rich Boy Spanner]

The point is that some poppy bangy cars simply sound juvenile and stupid to anyone with a level maturity over the age of 12, and they attract owners of that ilk.

[Avdb]

Parsnip said:

None of my cars have ever "embarrassed" me - I drive a orange convertible in the north of Scotland - the threshold for caring about what people think of me in my car just does not exist...

Agreed - I drive an orange Mustang EcoBeast - very quiet!

[Jonno02]

Rich Boy Spanner said:

The point is that some poppy bangy cars simply sound juvenile and stupid to anyone with a level maturity over the age of 12, and they attract owners of that ilk.

But loud cars don't? To you, a loud car might be a bit of fun, but to joe-public, it's a nuisance and unnecessary. I'm not saying that poppy 4 pots are any different, to most people, the are annoying and BOTH are juvenile. I guarantee you when people on the street hear an RS3 et al, they just think "stupid loud car." I like loud cars, of all engine types, but there's an aston martin owner near my estate. I think it's stupidly loud and unnecessary and that's coming from a car lover. I would take the young guys in their golfs hearing a 0.1second fart over that any day. Both types of noise, driven in a "look at me!!!" way are totally embarrassing.

I for one am for car manufacturers trying to spice up the bland 4 pot sound. It's hardly an exotic sounding note, so a little spice in there isn't a bad thing. Maps that produce 20 seconds of popping every time the driver lifts off the throttle is embarrassing. Just as is thrashing round your loud V6 etc to get people to look at you.

Soon enough we'll all be in electric and won't have this issue.

[otolith]

Jonno02 said:

Some might say LESS asbo and the farts only occur under heavy acceleration, whereas neighbours can hear a loud car permanently.

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

[Varelco]

There is nothing wrong with loud cars as long as they are the right cars. When your average Golf GTI/ A3 comes into sight farting, popping and burping its just makes you want to cringe. Its the modern day version of a Nova with a cherry bomb exhaust.