America’s best-selling cars and trucks are built on lies: The rise of fake engine noise

[mahatmakanejeeves]

America’s best-selling cars and trucks are built on lies: The rise of fake engine noise

Economy
By Drew Harwell January 21 at 11:17 AM
@drewharwell
[e-mail]

Stomp on the gas in a new Ford Mustang or F-150 and you’ll hear a meaty, throaty rumble — the same style roar that Americans have associated with auto power and performance for decades.

It’s a sham. The engine growl in some of America’s best-selling cars and trucks is actually a finely tuned bit of lip-syncing, boosted through special pipes or digitally faked altogether. And it’s driving car enthusiasts insane.
....

Which raises a more existential question: Does it matter if the sound is fake? A driver who didn’t know the difference might enjoy the thrum and thunder of it nonetheless. Is taking the best part of an eight-cylinder revv and cloaking a better engine with it really, for carmakers, so wrong?

Not everyone is so diplomatic. Karl Brauer, a senior analyst with Kelley Blue Book, says automakers should stop the lies and get real with their drivers. ... “If you’re going to do that stuff, do that stuff. Own it. Tell customers: If you want a V8 rumble, you’ve gotta buy a V8 that costs more, gets worse gas mileage and hurts the Earth,” Brauer said. “You’re fabricating the car’s sexiness. You’re fabricating performance elements of the car that don’t actually exist. That just feels deceptive to me.”

[F4lconF16]

1. Much prefer the gentle hum of an electric engine

or the slight whine from outside as you floor it, if you ask me. It's the sound of progress.

(That said, there was a guy in a v-12 lambo the other day that passed by, revved it to around 8-9000, and dangggggg.)

Also, I'm looking forward to the face clueless mustang owners will make when they turn the car on and find out their speaker is dead

[Glassunion]

4. You could always put cards in the spokes.

[pscot]

2. This isn't really new

For decades people have installed Glass Pack mufflers because they sound "cool". If fact Glass Pack used to sell one called Honey Tone IIRC. Marketers have always sold the sizzle rather than the steak.

[Thor_MN]

3. Marching Morons

[47of74]

5. I think the government is actually requiring cars to make some noise...

Especially electric vehicles like the Volt, Leaf, Teslas, etc. I know my Volt is very quiet when the fan is not running to the point that you might not think it's even running.