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Me want.
I think if they had to go to six, an amped-up version of the supercharged six would be better. Very few turbo engines sound good.
It seems that the worldwide economic crisis, coupled with oil price volatility, may assign many V8’s to the dustbin. For a car which will cost $70k+, this is a shame. The turbo V6 will never sound quite this good, although BMW’s inline sixes are consistently great sounding motors.
Sad if the RS-5 becomes a V6…
Yeah, but most of those V8s sound exactly the same. Boring.
They don’t have any character!
PeteMoran :
I agree, I had a mid 80s audi coupe – the engine sound was mesmerizing. from a 5 cyl!
PeteMoran:
I agree. Character is key. The flat 4 in my WRX sounds great. Character and lots of it. At any engine speed.
Same goes for motorcycles motors of which the Harley V-Twin is the equivalent of the auto V8. Why anyone thinks a Harley V-Twin sounds good is beyond me. I’ve heard better sounding farts.
In a word, “no”.
Pete, I am sorry to say you couldn’t be more wrong. I can tell a Ford 289 from a small block Chevy from a mile away, and so could anybody who had some gasoline in their veins…the same goes for a small block to big block from a Ferrari to a Porsche and so on and so on. I will say there are some V6’s that sound pretty good like the Buick GN (with a decent exhaust) and maybe even the Nissan VQ, but that’s all I can think of for now. Maybe a Porsche boxer motor too…but that doesn’t count.
TT V6 engines are the thing of the near future because most engineers aren’t going to be building V8’s anymore.
I’ll wait till I hear the Ecoboost Ford engine in the MKS.
The Harley sound is legendary, I think they tried to patent it. I dont have one, but I love the sound.
Supercharged, you mean.
Golf: How come the porsche motor doesn’t count!!? I love the sound of an air cooled flat six with open exhaust.
Turbos generally pollute/castrate the engine noises I like so much. Does anyone really like that chattering squirrel noise a performance BOV makes? The farting from an open wastegate?
I’ll be driving V8’s as long as I can, with regular old shift-it-yourself gearboxes, despite what I’m losing in performance and mileage. Lump me in with those crazed throwback luddite Harley owners.
I like the R class that was out on the ‘Ring. Looked like it was being driven hard.
As much as I think 911s are overpriced and ugly, and I would never buy one, I was at the dealership when they started up a Carrera S and was amazed at how mean it sounded. I actually thought it sounded better than my Vette with a 6.0L V8, which was very surprising. Although Chevy has neutered the sound of the V8 in the Vette far too much for my liking, Mustangs sound a lot better too
@ Flashpoint :
“TT V6 engines are the thing of the near future because most engineers aren’t going to be building V8’s anymore.
I’ll wait till I hear the Ecoboost Ford engine in the MKS.”
I’m not so sure about that. Not really seeing a huge benefit to a TT V6, at least in ecoboost form. It isn’t any better than modern V8’s in fuel economy and will be less reliable and more expensive and difficult to service. For applications where you “need” 300-400 hp, I think the V8 will continue to be the engine of choice. Add in DI, cylinder deactivation, and lighter weight castings and internals that don’t have to be fortified to take boost pressure and V8’s can become more efficient yet.
For those applications where you can get away with a mere 280hp, I see Turbo 4’s being the engine of choice.
V6s can sound just as nice
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7s8ydSTj7bo&feature=related
This sounds a little flat though. The 5s where better but I suppose they reached the end of development.
@ JG
When you lower the compression of an engine for FI its not going to sound quite the same.
I maybe the only one but I do like a 4 cylinder buzz. Add some turbo whine or Webers sucking air and I’m in car heaven.
ARacer :
I agree. Character is key. The flat 4 in my WRX sounds great. Character and lots of it. At any engine speed.
Same goes for motorcycles motors of which the Harley V-Twin is the equivalent of the auto V8. Why anyone thinks a Harley V-Twin sounds good is beyond me. I’ve heard better sounding farts.
We’ll just have to agree to disagree here. If your idea of character is a raspy little Japanese four-banger, go bang away. To equate the legendary Harley sound with a fart is sacrilege to what is the altar of man. Although, given how many of the WRX owners (and a myriad of puking little Civics) have fart pipes, maybe it’s less of an insult from you than I first gather.
As golf4me stated, there are plenty of differences between V8s. A loping 460 big block, a thundering C6.R, a burbling Mustang 289, ah forget it. It’s like trying to describe sex.
I don’t know of anyone I’ve had a beer with who for a minute ever thought that a 4-cylinder anything sounded even remotely as satisfying. And I’m being nice here.
thetopdog:
Although Chevy has neutered the sound of the V8 in the Vette far too much for my liking, Mustangs sound a lot better too.
I wholeheartedly agree. Chevrolet has had a gutless sound in the C5 and C6. I never understood why the C5 had about as noticeable a sound as it did exhaust tips – as in none. The C5 Z06 titanium exhaust was decent. The new C6 with dual-mode is very good.
Aftermarket exhausts for the Corvettes are usually great on the outside, but too much drone on the inside, particularly with aftermarket headers.
The Mustang has always sounded great to me – what the Vette should have been like from the factory. Throw on an H-pipe and aftermarket exhaust and you’re golden. Hard to beat.
I don’t know of anyone I’ve had a beer with who for a minute ever thought that a 4-cylinder anything sounded even remotely as satisfying. And I’m being nice here.
Obviously none of those guys ever drove a Mustang SVO or T-bird Turbo Coupe. Or a Porsche 968, a Caterham, an Alfa twin cam, a Saab 900 Turbo, though I suppose none of them are ‘Murican enough for the guys you drink beer with. I hate to break it to you, but those Budweisers y’all are drinking are Belgian.
What would be sweet is an inline twin turbo 6. A V configuration takes up too much space and is more expensive to make. Look at the E46 M3’s I6. . Won the International Engine Design Award every year in it 3.0-3.2 category from 2001-2006.
detlef:
Obviously none of those guys ever drove a Mustang SVO or T-bird Turbo Coupe. Or a Porsche 968, a Caterham, an Alfa twin cam, a Saab 900 Turbo, though I suppose none of them are ‘Murican enough for the guys you drink beer with. I hate to break it to you, but those Budweisers y’all are drinking are Belgian.
You’re right – I don’t think any of them have driven any of those vehicles. I know I haven’t. I’d still put ’em up against that mighty V8 sound though.
Don’t assume that one is a redneck due to an appreciation of Harleys and V8s. I do know (and could frankly care less) that InBev purchased Budweiser. My beer of choice is usually Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (what one of my more “Southern” friends terms “heavy beer”. He drinks Busch Light, poor fella.) The recent Harvest Ale specialty release was particularly enjoyable. And lest we not forget the alternation with a host of single-malt Scotch offerings, the current being Highland Park 12. With an Illusione cg4, Don Pepin, or an Oliva Series G/V maduro cigar, of course.
I will say that more than one night we have cranked the Harleys after a few beers just to hear them idle/rev in the driveway. That or some burnouts in the Z06. With both my Audi-driving friends and my Dodge Ram driving friends present who all seem to enjoy the activities equally.
By the way Robert, that RS5 does sound sweet!
noreserve:
Fair enough. The way you were piling on with ARacer the “raspy little Japanese four-banger” stuff seemed right out of the redneck handbook, particularly when you started talking about “the legendary Harley sound.” I suspect that if one were to graph out the predilections of Harley riders and kids in the tuner crowd, the point of intersection would be proclivity toward obnoxious exhaust systems backing up poorly tuned engines.
detlef:
Perhaps I was too harsh with the comment. I did go and listen to a couple of online clips of stock and aftermarket WRX exhaust. They did have a raspy sound that didn’t please my ears. I will also agree that a lot of Harleys are simply too loud. Stock, they are ridiculously muted – two-wheeled sewing machine anyone? However, some take the aftermarket pipes too far and are also poorly tuned.
There is always a guy in the group with pipes you simply don’t want to ride behind because of it. Just like the ridiculous fart pipes that always make me wonder how the guys think that they actually sound good in some way. I always want to ask them, even though sound is subjective, just what the hell they’re thinking.
I think one thing to note is that most discussions of engine/exhaust sound centers on how it sounds to those outside the car. I’ve always found this odd, as you are really only rarely going to hear it this way. It’s how it sounds inside that counts. This was never more clear to me than with the Vette where 9/10 discussions and sound clips were focused on the sound outside the vehicle. Wonder what that RS5 sounds like from the inside.
The new RS4 and RS5 are going to be murdering AMG Benzes and BMW Ms left and right.
noreserve
Yea, what he said……….