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For safety, best the car engine and exhaust be quiet. Then you can hear things which could be a danger to you or others. Emergency vehicle, wheel about to fall off car, drive shaft about to fall off, brakes grinding, etc.
And good to remember what the car/engine NORMALLY sounds like. If it suddenly begins to sound differently, there may be a problem and best to check the car.
I have caught many mechanical problems by keeping my stereo low and being able to hear something about to go out.
Some cars actually do a little bit of sound engineering to get a pleasant exhaust note played into the cabin. Some use special valves or noise pipes that let some of the exhaust noise into the cabin under certain circumstances. Others use a prerecorded soundtrack stored on the cars hard drive and play the appropriate exhaust note through the speakers.
From a car designers point of view there is a certain logic to this. Sometimes drivers want peace and quiet and other times they want to hear the engine roar. How do you provide both?
Most loud exhausts are just annoying because they do nothing for performance. It's just loud to be loud. I can cut off the muffler off my truck and straight pipe it. Now its loud. But it does nothing for performance or power. It's just loud but has absolutely no advantages.
I've had vehicles with "loud" exhausts. Not one time has that exhaust been in any way a deterrent to people cutting me off or some safety addition. My horn does more to get people's attention than a loud exhaust ever did or would.
My 6.2 in my Mercedes sounds just awesome with the top down. AMG spends $$ on the the exhaust sounds. The SLS is the best sounding car I've ever heard.
Let’s delve into the psychology of sound, and the car.
I was just thinking this may be of some interest.
How important is the sound that a car makes?
Do you think that it adds to a car's safety?
Can you describe the feeling you get from a certain car's, or engine's sound?
Hmmm, well it depends on the car. If I am driving a Corolla then I would want something quiet and simple but if I am driving a Corvette I would want a throaty loud V8 exhaust. Just something about having that muscle car with a sick exhaust, along with other possible upgrades, just makes me enjoy the drive that much more.
I love the tictac sound of small diesel engines at low speed...and even more the huge torque capabilities...
Don't care about sound pollution through modified mufflers of insecure/immature drivers.
The true adrenaline pumping engine sound when accelerating can only come from an 8 (or more) cylinder. The Northstar engine had a nice sound in the Aurora (short lived model).
Well, since I grew up on hot rods and muscle cars, the sound a car makes is VERY important to me. Like the saying goes, " If you have to ask you wouldn't understand anyway." My Sons and don't have a quiet car in the bunch.
I also subscribe to the philosophy that loud pipes save lives. At least they know we are coming.
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My Sons and don't have a quiet car in the bunch.
