Car guys: Best-sounding 4 and 6 cyl engines?

[Ron3]

Do you mind sharing what your price range is?

We've been thinking of getting a 911 for a long time (well, I have any way ) probably won't happen till the wife goes back to work full time in a few years.

Will likely be looking at either mid 80s or early 2000s car. The later air cooled ones can get pretty expensive as someone mentioned. Some don't like the early 2000s, 996s as they look similar to the boxters, but I still like them and they can be found pretty reasonably prices.

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Depends if I sell what I have. Under $30k. Yea I'm looking used.

[Mjolnir]

Both, but mainly exhaust note.

Believe it or not... MOST of the sound you hear (and adore) is the INTAKE.


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[Mjolnir]

It’s a COMBINATION of:

1 - Intake Sound Source
2 - Exhaust Sound Source
3 - Acoustic Transfer Function (between air intake and cabin and tailpipe and cabin).

Most of, if not ALL, Euro sports cars are predominantly air intake that you hear INSIDE the vehicle - or at least what we identify as “powerful” while accelerating heavily is due to the air induction portion of the combo mentioned above.


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[C-grunt]

My best friend had a BMW 335i for a while. Sounded pretty nice, a little muffled because of the turbos, and was pretty quick. It would walk my G37 without issue.

[Artos]

Believe it or not... MOST of the sound you hear (and adore) is the INTAKE.

Hell, I keep mine in tour around town & ride the supercharger whine rpm window to the very edge before the exhaust opens up & drowns it out...limited as my hearing is, I enjoy the whistling of that little eaton SC wind up & she goes away if the girl wants more 02 & the sport/track exhaust opens up...must be nice to be young. Bout the only way I can tune into & enjoy my RUSH spotify station is with the car in tour but I love playing the giddy-up & trying to keep her quiet.

Again, finding an appealing 4/6cyl song is much more difficult & there is such a variety of HP out there...you want a fun short track car then the miata is a great choice. It can smoke my heavy 650hp on most shorter x-crosses & mini tracks but chase the car for her performance & nature of the application you want & not the tone. That can be found later so focus on the driving experience you desire as your primary. I'm not calling you out as not acknowledging as you clearly understand the HP / weight / car enthusiast. I just wanted to tie the intake note you mentioned to the sound I appreciate & most want to drown out.

[Mjolnir]

Hell, I keep mine in tour around town & ride the supercharger whine rpm window to the very edge before the exhaust opens up & drowns it out...limited as my hearing is, I enjoy the whistling of that little eaton SC wind up & she goes away if the girl wants more 02 & the sport/track exhaust opens up...must be nice to be young. Bout the only way I can tune into & enjoy my RUSH spotify station is with the car in tour but I love playing the giddy-up & trying to keep her quiet.

Again, finding an appealing 4/6cyl song is much more difficult & there is such a variety of HP out there...you want a fun short track car then the miata is a great choice. It can smoke my heavy 650hp on most shorter x-crosses & mini tracks but chase the car for her performance & nature of the application you want & not the tone. That can be found later so focus on the driving experience you desire as your primary. I'm not calling you out as not acknowledging as you clearly understand the HP / weight / car enthusiast. I just wanted to tie the intake note you mentioned to the sound I appreciate & most want to drown out.

Oh, I’m intimately aware of performance cars and their application.

Usually, sports cars sound good. Some sound better than others.

What a person professes to like will depend on many things - most will be subjective.

Without digging deeply one must have strong firing order and it’s harmonics in the sound spectrum. It’s some of the 1/2 orders that give you the “rumbling” or “powerful” sounds - even at idle. It sounds great. But so do the flat plane Ferrari V8s which have none of those half orders. In fact, it sounds just like what it is: two inline four cylinder engines, albeit two DELICIOUS sounding ones.

There’s a LOT that goes into Sound Quality and I miss that work.


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[TheAlsatian]

Do you mind sharing what your price range is?

We've been thinking of getting a 911 for a long time (well, I have any way ) probably won't happen till the wife goes back to work full time in a few years.

Will likely be looking at either mid 80s or early 2000s car. The later air cooled ones can get pretty expensive as someone mentioned. Some don't like the early 2000s, 996s as they look similar to the boxters, but I still like them and they can be found pretty reasonably prices.

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I have had a 99 model 911 for a dozen years now. IMHO it is the best year for the early 996s. Mechanical throttle control and the car is a bit smaller, more true to the air cooled models. It also has a more durable IMS system. I've had zero problems with it over the years. I did sell my 77 air cooled 911, those things have gone up astronomically. It was a nice car, but not as fun to drive or as practical as the 996. Both sounded great (for you audiophiles..)

[pinzgauer]

Little do you guys know that manufacturers tune the acoustics for that sound inside the cab in performance cars. Sometimes even supplementing it via audio (GM).

forget which model it was want to say it was a Chevy V8, the old trick was the turn the air cleaner shroud upside down so you could hear the air intake noise under full throttle.

Did not make a bit of performance difference but it sounded oh so cool.

As to preferences, six-cylinder 5.9l with a 5" stainless factory exhaust. Dodge got it right with the 3rd gen ram Cummins HO.

For my model year, all the aftermarket air & exhaust stuff just make it louder but did not increase performance as the factory did a decent job just start with.

As to the classic Porsche 911 sound, much of that is the nature of air cooled cylinder jugs with fins. (As heard in the beginning of Kraftwerk Autobahn).

My Pinzgauer has similar jug construction and sounds a lot like a Porsche 911 even though it's just a big (2.5l) slant 4.

I'm sure the water cooled Porsches have a different sound, just a lot of ringing and harmonics from the fins on the air cooled.

[Ron3]

Little do you guys know that manufacturers tune the acoustics for that sound inside the cab in performance cars. Sometimes even supplementing it via audio (GM).
.

Oh, we know, but thanks.

Yea, Porshes usually sound very good. As do other performers-oriented horizontally-opposed engines like those from Subaru.

[Adrenaline_6]

Sounding good on the inside doesn't necessarily translate to sounding good from the outside. Some do both. Sixes and fours have a harder time.

Being at the Rolex 24 for awhile will change your tune about Porsches and how good they sound.