People’s opinions on what a car “sounds” like are subjective and impartial all at once. We as petrolheads and racing fans seem to agree on many aspects of this, though there are some areas that are very controversial and highly debated. For example, I am of the camp who actually enjoys the way modern F1 cars sound, not because they sound “good” per se, but because they sound interesting. I think that (as an example) is a sound that will eventually age itself into sounding “good” for a number of reasons. It’s human nature to not appreciate something as it sits before you only to look back on it with fondness later on.
I often wonder what people thought of the first Honda V12 RA271 engine, built for their first F1 car back in 1964. It’s glorious, but it sounded quite different from a lot of other engines of that time, and could be thought of as raucous and offensive just as easily. Much like music; while your old man probably loved the sounds of Jimi Hendrix and Cream, his elders likely thought of it as putrid, unadulterated noise. Fast forward 50 years later and who was “right”?
Elsewhere there are certain engine sounds that are as universally appreciated, more like the Beach Boys Pet Sounds or The Beatles Rubber Soul. The thumping, heart warming sound of a beefy naturally aspirated V8 for example or a screaming F1 V10. These sounds are so universally loved that they are still artificially piped into car adverts and promotional racing videos of cars FAR removed from anything even remotely resembling those cars of days gone by.
Furthermore, what constitutes a “noise” that isn’t manufactured or fake? We have seen many examples of an engine which can sound incredibly different based on its exhaust tuning/setup, yet many enthusiasts get offended by “fake” exhaust noise piped into a cabin in an attempt to enhance the driving experience. Isn’t a titanium, carefully measured $10k exhaust system pulling the same parlor trick? I for one do not mind being fooled, even if it is a high quality .wav file being shoved into my ears, so long as it doesn’t sound cheap. Eric Clapton’s guitar solo on Sunshine of your Love is equally appreciated by me whether on vinyl or playing out of a tired old mobile phone speaker. Jayne Mansfield is just as beautiful on google images as she was 35mm black and white.
I appreciate the effort to please my ears and honor that well above settling for organic electrical whining and/or the never ending quest for automotive silence. If that’s your thing, then fantastic, and it should be available to you. But I do hope we can all be open minded enough to not completely deprive ourselves of unique and different sounds, as to me that is a huge part of a car’s personality and one of the main reasons my love for them never grows old.
The Motor Law 