[Drivingforfun]

I thought the other day that despite being really quite enthusiastic about driving, including driving swiftly, often I’m not overly fond of the sound of an engine revving at several thousand RPMs yet this is often supposed to be one of the appeals of cars and driving

Even a Ferrari or something screaming, is just a noise??

I do admit to enjoying the sound of a Muscle car but that’s more that slightly unsettling growl they make at low speeds, just reminding you what they’re hiding 😆

I don’t know if it’s the association with kids driving cars programmed to make those silly pop-pop-pop noises from the exhaust or fart noises when they change up a gear

Maybe it’s time for an electric car 😳

[Nick]

I think I'm the same @Drivingforfun - I've never really got the point of revving for no reason either. I get it's a power thing (engine not driver) so when driving in normal circumstances the noise is the noise, and when starting up etc. My dad used to have a Triumph Stagg as his weekend drive, when that started up in the garage outside my bedroom window on a Sunday morning it was like a tank in the garden!

Having said that, there's been some debate on the EV front for some time about the lack of noise. My neighbour's Tesla sounds like something out of Star Trek when he reverses into his drive!

[Drivingforfun]

I might be wrong but aren't the sounds EVs make totally artificial and in response to a requirement to make some kind of sound for safety/legal reasons?

They do all seem to choose that sci-fi whirring sound, though!! I don't know if the law specifies the type of sound they have to make? Could they use the sound of a supercharged Mustang engine if they wanted? Or some kind of totally different sound, like birdsong?? 😆

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Drivingforfun

I might be wrong but aren't the sounds EVs make totally artificial and in response to a requirement to make some kind of sound for safety/legal reasons?

They do all seem to choose that sci-fi whirring sound, though!! I don't know if the law specifies the type of sound they have to make? Could they use the sound of a supercharged Mustang engine if they wanted? Or some kind of totally different sound, like birdsong?? 😆

Yeah, I believe they make the sound because it was thought to be dangerous for pedestrians that couldn't hear them, whilst both driving normally and reversing. I guess technically they could do what they want with the sound as long as it makes the other road user be aware they're there. Not sure what the rules are though.

[Rolebama]

Foolish me, I thought that what the horn was for.🙄 A normal car on the over-run is just as quiet, if not in some cases quieter, than the tyre noise produced by some EVs. One of our local boyracers used to drive round in a RR, and he was not shy about 'booting' it, and although I may well be wrong, I think that was on a par with tyre noise.

[NMNeil]

Originally Posted by Drivingforfun

I might be wrong but aren't the sounds EVs make totally artificial and in response to a requirement to make some kind of sound for safety/legal reasons?

They do all seem to choose that sci-fi whirring sound, though!! I don't know if the law specifies the type of sound they have to make? Could they use the sound of a supercharged Mustang engine if they wanted? Or some kind of totally different sound, like birdsong?? 😆

If it were an actual problem you would think that bicycles would be required to make a noise to warn others of their approach.

[NMNeil]

@Drivingforfun It's a human quirk. Fit a loud exhaust to your car simply because you want everyone to pay you attention. The same applies to 'cherished' number plates, expensive wheels or a stereo which is cranked up so loud it stuns sparrows as the car passes.
"LOOK AT ME EVERYBODY, PAY ME ATTENTION"

[Drivingforfun]

@Rolebama I agree about tyre noise and such, I'm more on about excessive noise i.e. when driving enthusiastically
@NMNeil Interesting, I know what you mean but I'm the opposite, not sure if that's a minority or not...I hope to own a Mustang one day and love bright colours when it comes to clothes or decorating or whatever, but as much as I'd love a Yellow Mustang I'm worried about it being overly shouty! I'll probably settle for white with blue stripes, it's more interesting than grey but not too loud

[olduser]

EV's have to have a noise generator up to 40 MPH, to help pedestrians, and particularly the blind.
From what I saw, driving an EV the blind took notice but sighted pedestrians behaved as usual.

In the 50's -70's the club racing cars that I hung around helping where I could, did not usually have silencers. (some cars were driven to races with silencers, and the extreme racers would take the silencers off once at the track.)
These guys would have put a lot of effort or money into exhaust manifolds to assist gases out of the engine, so giving the gases an easy run to atmosphere was the obvious thing to do.
The exhaust pipe could also be made to resonate at max power giving even less resistance.
In the early 70's silencers became mandatory at the tracks.

Because speed became linked with power, and noise in the publics mind, car manufacturers began to use noise to suggest high power.
But as with Johna and the Whale, "it ain't necessarily so".

[Rolebama]

I must admit, I do like the noise some cars make. Not the under-powered box on wheels with a tacky tailbox. I was on the A1(M) earlier this week doing 70, and I heard a very loud, clean-sounding* exhaust note coming up behind. A very sleek-looking AMG past me at around 75. Not sure of the model, but I opened my mouth to say something about it, and my wife cut in with: "No, you can't have one!"
*I can't find the word I would like to use, but I hope this suffices.

[olduser]

Harmonious?