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The Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge was one of the more underwhelming concepts at NAIAS. Apparently we’ll find out what’s under the hood at the Geneva Auto Show. The video above shows off the concept’s engine sounds, and it has a distinct exhaust note that certainly doesn’t sound like a V8 engine. What’s most striking are the very audible wastegate sounds, confirming that it is a turbocharged engine. In the Baby Boomer era, the V8 rumble was the audible manifestation of speed and horsepower. For the new generation, it’s the wooosh and psshhhtt of turbochargers and blow-off valves.
34 Comments on ““Pssshhtttt”: The New Sound Of Performance...”
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Definitely sounds like a turbo 4. Oddly, I think I heard pneumatic shifting, too.
Nah, doesn’t sound like a 4-cylinder at all. It’s clearly a turbo 6. Can’t really tell if its an I6 or V6, as modern V6s sound pretty close to I6s these days.
Its probably a turbo VQ37 or something similar.
I would agree with that. it definitely has the nissan/infiniti v6 sound. perhaps mated to a dsg?
it sounds somewhat fast and furiousy for a stock vehicle with all that squeaky blow off valve noise.
The is definitely a replacement for displacement these days.
….The is definitely a replacement for displacement these days….
This is more true than before, but cubes are fun and frankly, most people I know prefer grunt off the line. My Probe’s six is weak off the line, but performs remarkably well on the boil. Given a choice, I’d trade some of that 7K RPM goodness for some real torque down below. Sure, technology has made for better tradeoffs than my dinosaur, but sometimes I get into my real Jurassic era dinosaur and feel that old school 40 year old V8 grunt and realize how much I miss it. Not to mention the sound of an American 8 is awesome. I recorded the sound of my Fury with a pair of mikes at the dual exhausts…at idle it is glorious…punctuated with an occasional miss…and a face full of unburned hydrocarbons. Yeah, it would be horrible if all cars in traffic smelled like that, but here and there it is rather nostalgic…
V8s sound good as long as they’re overhead cam monsters like the Ford Coyote 5.0. Pushrod engines sound like garbage or Nascar to my ears.
There is no replacement for displacement.
We will not go silently into that night.
MOPAR will never forget.
The new 200 AWD with the Pentastar is looking good. It looks like MOPAR is onna roll.
Omni GLH/GLHS, Shelby CSX, and SRT-4 mean anything to you? We seem to have different definitions of “never forget”.
SRT-4 is coming…eventually.
If I was working there, there would be a Dart and Cherokee SRT-4. With optional manual…
G37 and FX cars have such a distinct farting noise from their exhausts. This is clearly a departure.
The French name is just to say that Renault is paying for it?
Any excuse to watch this again:
youtu(dot)be/kM_1KP24T-A
This car probably won’t be able to do that, though.
The “Eau Rouge” is a famous part of the Belgian GP circuit at Spa-Francorchamps. Aside from delivering engines to some F1 teams (e.g., Red Bull) Renault is not involved.
I know what it is…Its a twin turbo,single supercharged, 5v per cylinder, diesel with battery pack assist. 600hp 800lb feet or tq.
40mpg…
And! You can get it in a brown, rwd, manual wagon that costs $18k out the door.
I’m not even interested unless it comes with AWD.
What ever it is it sounds pretty good on surround sound. There’s a definite rumble, but I don’t think it came from the car
GT-R engine ?
Probably the old VQ engine with some tweaks for boost of twin turbos.
The high output VQ with a turbo most likely.
Just imagine a 4 door GT-R.
I’m in the “new generation” and I prefer the V8 rumble to the wooosh of a turbo blow-off valve. A big n/a V8, V10, or V12 just sounds much more impressive than a turbo 4 or 6.
Finally, someone with some damn sense! :-)
ah.. i remembered going to the 1/4 track and hearing a 4.6l mustang rumbling madly with a turbo blow off. very nice
All of a sudden every luxury brand needs a sport division.
Given the re-branding of /M and AMG (and -F and -R and -V and and and…) as top trim models, you would be an idiot to own a luxury marque and not be pursuing a ‘sport’ division. When your base model has nice leather and a media center and great seats, you have to go somewhere else to charge more.
Engine programs are typically the biggest cost on something like this, and you can charge a premium far above the cost of the parts when you can up-sell the people who were already walking into your upscale dealer. You also can’t understate the benefit of having a psudo-halo car for a brand – hell, the GTO existed to get people to buy more Tempests, and it worked for a mass-market brand 40 years ago.
Well, they did have SR20DET or whatsitsname… TAAABO!
Yea Im gonna stick to the N/A one. With the base G… Q… whatever… closing in on 3800lbs, I can only imagine how much this will weigh in at. No thanks
I grew up in the V8 camp but have come around to the other side. However, while of the cars I have owned the Mazdaspeed MX5 with some work done ranks as my favorite motor (it needed an early NA Miata wrapped around it however), my favorite drive was probably an S2000. Turbo whooshing is fun, but there is really no replacement for an NA motor that lives to rev.
I respectfully disagree. As someone in my 20’s, I very much love forced induction (and have a boosted car). HOWEVER – I realize the way the world is going, and so bought an Audi V8. Because it has a small displacement DOHC V8 that sounds just right going up to 7000rpm, and rumbles smoothly at idle.
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some time in my lifetime, driving is going to be so regulated and expensive it won’t be worth it or attainable to anyone but the uber rich. So I’m getting my fun in now!
How could the hum and whine of hybrids and ev’s be overlooked? Efficiency is going to displace “performance”. Smooth efficient driving is going to replace frenetic jolting on the roads.
Sounds like a VR38 (GT-R engine) without the GT-R Tranny.
I know I’m in the younger age demographic (I still love the sound of a V8), but I think that sounds pretty good. Always been a sucker for a sweet sounding six. Too bad Infiniti has dropped manuals from their sedans and are getting in bed with the worlds worst steering system. All the six cylinder music in the world can’t make up for those two glaring flaws.