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I drove a 1983 nissan maxima 10 years ago, and that thing is super quiet on the highway. If I closed my eyes (when I was a passenger) and the car is going 60 - 70 mph, and the radio is off, I hear nothing. It was extremely quiet and comfortable, I did not feel that the car is moving at all and if a small bump came, I feel something. I swear that the car must be very heavy, and made of real steel.
after that, I have driven current accords and camrys, an 07 gs 350, sebrings, and a ford taurus. none of those even came close to that. maybe a avalon? or does a person have to spend tons of money to buy a bmw or mercades, top of the line to get to that point?
I drove a 1983 nissan maxima 10 years ago, and that thing is super quiet on the highway. If I closed my eyes (when I was a passenger) and the car is going 60 - 70 mph, and the radio is off, I hear nothing. It was extremely quiet and comfortable, I did not feel that the car is moving at all and if a small bump came, I feel something. I swear that the car must be very heavy, and made of real steel.
after that, I have driven current accords and camrys, an 07 gs 350, sebrings, and a ford taurus. none of those even came close to that. maybe a avalon? or does a person have to spend tons of money to buy a bmw or mercades, top of the line to get to that point?
Avalon's are super quiet. You can get a nice CPO Avalon for the cost of a new Maxima. Also, tires make a huge difference. My 05 CRV was very noisy on the road. I replaced the tires when they were due and the difference was amazing. It was not Avalon quiet, but I could drive with the radio off and not be annoyed.
I think some of the problem these days are also the roads. Especially in the NE and along the coasts, different road types are being used due to the weather conditions and salt. I can drive around Columbus and find several a different black top for each road it seems. We even have miles of experimental roads. A few of them are really quiet.
The previous generation Camry (2007-2011) was extremely quiet on the road. The current generation (2012 model year) is noticeably louder-- not sure why, but after test driving both several times I definitely noticed the difference. Going up the corporate food chain, the Lexus ES 350 (not the GS which you say you drove, but the ES) is an extremely quiet car-- it's so quiet you can't even tell the engine is running.
I've found that the quietest sedan on the road is the one with the quietest tires. Nothing else makes quite as much difference.
I can stand some tire rumble, what gets on my nerves is wind and engine noise. I remember the days when most 4cyl cars only had 3-speed automatics or 4 speed manuals, and the constant engine buzz at highway speeds was horrible.
There are multiple ways to measure sound (sampling frequencies, harmonics, etc.) so just using dBA is only one way to look at it. Surprisingly there are some sounds that are more comfortable than others even when measuring higher dBA. One of the auto magazines did a summary in recent years and there are various papers on acoustics.
Road test dBA results is the place to start but back to back tests with your own ears is what really counts.
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