Your favourite engine sound?

Hofmeister · Oct 19, 2012

Bruce · Oct 19, 2012

All of these sounds amazing. Honestly choosing one over another is like choosing between children.

That all said...M3 CSL is my choice. God that's a good sounding machine.

Sunny · Oct 19, 2012

You missed the best one - LFA V10.

Unless the V10 was catch all, but that is not right either, a Viper V10 doesn't sound anything like the LFA V10.

klier · Oct 19, 2012

^ Carrera GT and M5 V10 sound brilliant too. V10 in LFA is the winner.

330CIZHP · Oct 19, 2012

Nothing touches a well built racing derived V10. Even from a physics stand point, V10 especially 72 degrees is closest to how musical octaves and harmonies work.

Lexus LFA (72 degrees), BMW S85 V10 (90 degrees) and Porsche Carrera GT are the three of the best sounding cars.

Gianclaudio · Oct 19, 2012

330CIZHP said:
Nothing touches a well built racing derived V10. Even from a physics stand point, V10 especially 72 degrees is closest to how musical octaves and harmonies work.

LOLWut? Do you even have the minor idea what are you talking about?

Still, I completely agree with your choices; the Carrera GT and LFA are IMO two of the three best sounding cars ever, the third one being the Zonda F/Cinque/etc. IMO is impossible to tell which of the three sounds better.

The highest pitch from what I've heard, is the Carrera GT, but on most of the rpm band the LFA has a higher pitch. The Zonda is not as high as the other two, but has a bigger dynamic range.

BTW guys, don't forget the engine sound per sè is half of the equation, the way the exhaust pipes are made and tuned deffines a lot of what we heard. Going back to the Zonda for example, that large AMG isn't a particulary revy engine, and had a lower power/displacement radio than many others of their rivals, but IMO sounds much better than an Enzo or Lambo, b/c of the fine audio tuning done on the exhaust design:

Regards!

330CIZHP · Oct 19, 2012

Yeah, I know it comes off too strong. I would probably take that out, if I could.

Gianclaudio said:
LOLWut? Do you even have the minor idea what are you talking about?

Regards!

Gianclaudio · Oct 19, 2012

No problem, and as I told on the LFA thread, I had the wonderful good luck to hear one in person some weeks ago at a fair. It's out of this planet.

Regards!

klier · Oct 20, 2012

I have never heard an LFA in real life yet. Carrera GT and M5 quite a bit, LFA, never. But it already sounds more spectacular on the net than the V10 in the CGT and M5 in real life....

K-A · Oct 20, 2012

This will be too hard to answer, and a lot of you, especially Europeans will think I'm crazy for saying this, but IMO almost nothing beats the sound of a V8 Mustang with free flowing exhaust.

klier · Oct 20, 2012

^^^^ Eeeewwwww

I'll raise you a BMW V10 with Akrapovic

Tumbo · Oct 20, 2012

From my own experience, the V10 from R8 and S8, is the greatest sound Ive ever heard so far.

Deckhook · Oct 20, 2012

I love most of them with the exception of the inline 6, it's high pitched scream annoys the hell out of me.... great engine though. Out of all the other engines here its the one that harks back to my time as a youth straining to listen for it coming in the distance and that noise as it powered past, the Audi 5cylinder noise is a classic IMO.

After that its any of the v12 motors, all of them true exotics, the V10 sound good but not generally as good as either as a v8 or v12.

Bartek S. · Oct 20, 2012

V10 no contest. Sound is very natural and powerful.

Mr Robert · Oct 20, 2012

The V8 from the Ferrari F355. Simple and glorious. That and the M3 CSL.

Never heard an LFA.

Sunny · Oct 20, 2012

Gianclaudio said:
BTW guys, don't forget the engine sound per sè is half of the equation, the way the exhaust pipes are made and tuned deffines a lot of what we heard. Going back to the Zonda for example, that large AMG isn't a particulary revy engine, and had a lower power/displacement radio than many others of their rivals, but IMO sounds much better than an Enzo or Lambo, b/c of the fine audio tuning done on the exhaust design:

Good that you made that distinction. People like to club all the sounds coming from a car together. I am probably in the minority in preferring the sound emanating from the instake side of things vs exhaust - it is like singing vs farting

. It is the reason why I am not a big fan of loud exhausts - yes they can sound good, but they just end up drowning the intake and the engine itself. Also the fact that exhaust can be easily tuned to sound good makes it less authentic in my book.

And one of the cars with the best intake noise - M3 CSL, just listen to it in the OP. Goosebumps!

Giannis · Oct 20, 2012

Sunny said:
Good that you made that distinction. People like to club all the sounds coming from a car together. I am probably in the minority in preferring the sound emanating from the instake side of things vs exhaust - it is like singing vs farting . It is the reason why I am not a big fan of loud exhausts - yes they can sound good, but they just end up drowning the intake and the engine itself. Also the fact that exhaust can be easily tuned to sound good makes it less authentic in my book.

And one of the cars with the best intake noise - M3 CSL, just listen to it in the OP. Goosebumps!

May I add, that sadly turbocharged cars can't produce a decent sound from the air intake. There's too much pipping and of course the turbo, that make some proper sound engineering, impossible.

330CIZHP · Oct 21, 2012

Sunny said:
Good that you made that distinction. People like to club all the sounds coming from a car together. I am probably in the minority in preferring the sound emanating from the instake side of things vs exhaust - it is like singing vs farting . It is the reason why I am not a big fan of loud exhausts - yes they can sound good, but they just end up drowning the intake and the engine itself. Also the fact that exhaust can be easily tuned to sound good makes it less authentic in my book.

And one of the cars with the best intake noise - M3 CSL, just listen to it in the OP. Goosebumps!

I don't think they are mutually exclusive. Any well tuned engine will definitely have a great intake sound. M3 CSL does have a deep intake noise, but it really is a cold air intake on a slightly more tuned S54 engine. It is because the engine sounds very good already and the airbox amplifies it. However, the raspiness of the exhaust for S54 has always been contentious, but the great engine sound makes it a non-issue.

AP1 F20 Honda S2000s is another car that very well known for a very deep stock intake noise.

What I mean is, you can never make up for a bad sounding engine through magical exhaust tuning. Yes, it will probably improve the sound, but it will never sound very good or great.

A car sounds great because of the engine tuning characteristics and not inspite of it, in my opinion.

We were talking about the LFA and it sounds like it does only because of the engine, you can see this video where you can hear LFA's intake noise from over 1.5 km on Dottinger Hohe at Nurburgring coming towards the camera. The exhaust is only heard when the car is pulling away from the camera

All intake sounds in the cabin coming from the engine bay you hear in this video:

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Monteverdi · Oct 21, 2012

Cannot vote, no Mclaren F1 option in the poll.

mini_cooper4 · Oct 21, 2012

Ok it depends a lot on the exhaust system and I'll name a few cars:

Mclaren F1
Golf MK5 1.4FSI
E39 525TDS
D3 S8
My car

BMW M3 CSL
S65 AMG W221
997 GT3 - Most probably the car I'll keep until I die.
and here comes the video that made me cry(literally) over and over again:

0:05 - 0:10

Your favourite engine sound?

Whats your favourite engine sound?

Audi RS 5 Cylinder

BMW ///M Inline Six

Porsche Boxer Six

Ferrari V8

Mercedes AMG V8 (NA)

V10

Aston Martin V12

Lamborghini V12

Ferrari V12

AMG V12 (NA)

Hofmeister

Guest

Kraftwagen König

Gearshift Guru

Velocity Virtuoso

Chicane Challenger

Aerodynamic Artisan

Chicane Challenger

Aerodynamic Artisan

Velocity Virtuoso

RPM Ruler

Velocity Virtuoso

RPM Ruler

Autotechnik Ace

Aerodynamic Ace

Kraftwagen König

Gearshift Guru

All-Wheel Wizard

Chicane Challenger

Schwarzwald Sprinter

Autotechnik Ace

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