For most of the 130-ish years of automobile history, most cars could be counted on to make some kind of sound via their propulsion system. The ring-a-ding of a two-stroke engine, the clatter of a diesel, and of course the many variations of four-stroke engines and their equally varied cylinder counts and configurations all provide wonderful mechanical songs to enthrall enthusiasts – not like those silent, souless machines that don’t ignite fuel and air to create motiv power (I’m talking about steam cars, of course). Which sounds are your favorites?
Now, you may find the science-fictiony warble of a Tesla or another EV’s “hello, electric car behind you” sound to be your favorite “exhaust” note, but for the purposes of this Autopian inquiry, I’m primarily interested in the piston-popping sounds delivered via pipe that most entertainingly tickle your tympanic membranes.
I fully expect many answers will be in the vein of tough/cool/powerful-sounding exhausts, and one of my faves certainly qualifies, but I also greatly enjoy engines and exhausts that just sound interesting, or even cute. Consider the Volkswagen Beetle (the “real” ones) and their signature whistling exhaust note (attached here to a Ford Raptor, because I’m a lil’ stinker):
OK, I’m just gonna say it: the Ford Raptor R’s exhaust sounds terrible. Sound up on this clip from @DougDeMuro‘s review ???? pic.twitter.com/djFZ94cVph
— Peter (@Peter_M_V) November 27, 2022
It’s a fun sound, right? Puts a smile on my face every time. On the other end of the sonic spectrum, we have a sound I’ve only heard once: the wail of a North American Aviation P-51 Mustang performing a fly-by at near 400mph, its Packard V-1650 Merlin (licensed from Rolls-Royce) at full deafening song. Man, what a roar – it was like nothing I’ve heard since both in quality and volume. I do get to enjoy the occasional flyover from the T-6 Texans flown by Texas Warbird Adventures, and three or four Texans in harmony is a wonderful sound indeed, but that Mustang was on a whole ‘nother level.
Your turn:
What Are Your Favorite Exhaust Sounds?
Top graphic image: stock.adobe.com
911s
close second, hemi taken out to 500 ci with open headers at idle… sounds like grenades exploding
I picked up an ’07 Aprilia Tuono about 2 years ago, and it quickly became my favorite. 990cc Rotax twin through a pair of LeoVince titanium cans… mmmmmm.
Ain’t nothin’ like an air-cooled flat-four to make me happy. Flat-six is okay, I guess.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq01Q4ivDi8
This is an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage with my favorite: a new edition, Myers Manx Dune Buggy powered by a three-cylinder radial (not rotary, radial) engine. The ride starts at 12:25, although you get a few seconds at the very beginning to demonstrate what I mean. Volume UP!
Maybe skip over the first 12:25 in truth. Jay seemed really uninterested in this car, and frankly a little sleepy. The new owner of Manx Buggies wasn’t able to carry the show himself. FWIW,
Torch and a couple of others from this website got a chance to talk to a real Manx Rep about the all-electric Manx the company was prototyping that was really interesting. It rekindled a desire to have one of these buggies leftover from my youth, but the EV version is $75-100k, depending on options, so I’m out of the running for one of those!
Sadly, the radial engine was only offered for a year or two. You can’t even pre-order it, anymore.
Great question and a really cool top graphic!
As a 68-year-old, I’ve got to say it’s an air-cooled 911 of some flavor. I was so thrilled to hear the sound of the Honda GL1800 Gold Wing I bought used and rode for a couple of years sounded much like it. The 6000-rpm red line was a bit of a bummer considering the red lines of some of their four-cylinder bikes.
Even the ADV 160 I putt around on has a redline up around 9000. Lol
Wartburg 353s with sport exhausts for rallying. Maybe specifying aftermarket exhaust is cheating, but factory exhausts on those cars are too quiet to hear anything other than the two-stroke pops on video. Rally Wartburgs meanwhile scream like the illegitimate offspring of sportbikes, F1 engines, and a kettle full of popcorn, and I’m obsessed with the sound of them. I do also like the Wartburg 311 and 312, but they seem to sound slightly less good than 353s do for some reason, still good just not the best.
Detroit Diesel engines. All of them, really. Most efficient way to turn diesel fuel into glorious noise. The 6-71 is an absolute classic, but I think the best-sounding Detroit Diesel of all is the 12v71, which sounds like it eats dragsters for breakfast.
Nissan 2-stroke inline 5 diesels. These are more obscure, used to be commonly purchased to swap into trucks that didn’t originally come with them after the original engines died. But again, for some reason they sound reminiscent of dragsters.
The Lamborghini Jarama. Yes, Lamborghinis are generally expected to sound good, but the Jarama has the best V12 exhaust sound of any road car ever, change my mind. Go watch the Doug Demuro review of it and skip ahead to the parts where you get to hear the exhaust. He’s right, it sounds like it’s qualifying for LeMans at all times. For one of the strangest and most questionable Lamborghini models, it is embedded in my memory not for its quirks, but for every one of its flaws melting away in the face of its glorious exhaust note.
Bridge-ported rotary engines! This is probably not an uncommon or obscure opinion, but I do love the brap-brap-brap of a bridge-ported wankel 🙂
Chrysler Turbine Car. Specifically the sound of it starting up, and how it sounds when accelerating. Definitely far from the same kind of enjoyment you get from normal ICE engine noises, but I do think turbine engines have a wonderful futuristic sound to them, which sounds powerful in its own unique way.
GMC 637 V8. Old-school commercial truck engine from before diesels completely took over that kind of work, basically a conventional gas V8 of the time, just with a larger displacement than the biggest V8s Cadillac ever used. Hard to even find many videos of them running, but I think they have a lovely deep, mellow burble to them.
2.8 Ford Cologne V6. They sound unreasonably mean, muscular, and V8-like for a small V6 with limited performance potential.
All air-cooled engines. They’re just all good. Especially Tatras though 🙂
Mercedes OM606. Probably my favorite 4-stroke diesel engine noise.
Radial engines and big block v8s are always good.
Jetta with a whistle tip according to Bubb Rubb and Lil’ Sis.
“It’s called a whistle tip and is welded inside a car’s Muffler to make the car screeching loud for nearly a mile.”
“the whistles go WOOO!”
I have always loved the sound of the big John Deere 2 cylinder diesels. Nothing like the sound of a 6.2 L engine idling at 400 rpms or the dramatic putt- putt as it revs to 1200 rpms.
The Triumph Stag with its original Triumph 3.0-liter OHC V-8.
Never has such a tortured engine sounded so damn fine.
The Stag motor makes one of the finest V-8 soundtracks of the 1970s, any car, any price range.
Yeah. It’s that good.
Porsche 911 2010 in Sport mode, Ferrari F12, and Kawasaki Z1300