Posted on 01/21/2015 1:07:39 PM PST by Second Amendment First
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.
Fake engine noise has become one of the auto industry’s dirty little secrets, with automakers from BMW to Volkswagen turning to a sound-boosting bag of tricks. Without them, today’s more fuel-efficient engines would sound far quieter and, automakers worry, seemingly less powerful, potentially pushing buyers away.
Softer-sounding engines are actually a positive symbol of just how far engines and gas economy have progressed. But automakers say they resort to artifice because they understand a key car-buyer paradox: Drivers want all the force and fuel savings of a newer, better engine — but the classic sound of an old gas-guzzler.
“Enhanced” engine songs have become the signature of eerily quiet electrics like the Toyota Prius. But the fakery is now increasingly finding its way into even beefy trucks and muscle cars, long revered for their iconic growl.
For the 2015 Mustang EcoBoost, Ford sound engineers and developers worked on an “Active Noise Control” system that amplifies the engine’s purr through the car speakers. Afterwards, the automaker surveyed members of Mustang fan clubs on which processed “sound concepts” they most enjoyed.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I'm done with new vehicles, don't want or need the gadgets or govt spy equip.
Just like our Prez.
What? You don’t like the $70K full size new truck? I guess that we will continue to by $3K beaters. Besides, I can park anywhere.
No playing cards in the spokes tho
Nothing really new. Cherry Bombs and such have been used to enhance exhaust noise for a great many years.
Is nothing genuine anymore? Our whole world is mirage and fabrication.
Enhancing existing engine roar with pipes is one thing, running fake sounds through the speakers is gay.
From the White Hut on down.
” don’t want or need the gadgets or govt spy equip. “
A guy I know owns a car dealership, and he told that 90% who want their gadgets disconnected are in the military.
LOL
Mrs. Lesh’s Subprime Barney Cars. Back-stopped every year, by Extortion-Care April 15th.
I went to high school with a guy who could make his truck backfire anytime he wanted. He used to make a lot of crowds duck.
I had lots of fun with straight pipes in the 70s.
Although not a speedster some of the best fun was a Datsun 510 wagon. I could turn the ignition off with the engine in gear, fill the exhaust system with fumes, and restart with a boom and a mighty fine flare.
Speakers worth more than whole car but that’s another story. Underdash cassette decks ROCKED!!
See my #13
Sparkplugs in the exhaust goes way back to the 50s.lol
Not really the same. This is about adding resonators, etc, to change the actual exhaust note as heard inside the car, as well as actually piping fake engine sounds through the car stereo. When you put a Cherry Bomb in a car you heard the same sound as everyone else around you (and boy did they hear it).
The sound is also adjusted depending on the size of your appendage - the smaller the louder.
Max's blower was a prop spun by an electric motor.
Many years ago (early nineties) I read an obscure scientific paper that analyzed of the acoustics of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle engine that concluded that the engine was purposely mis-designed in order to emit a large amount of energy in the the form of odd acoustic harmonics, thus giving it the characteristic ‘sound’.
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