Your favourite sounding car?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

This is not an 'all modern cars are crap' thread, because NU CARZ R GR8.

 

But fuck me, don't they sound dull? You've heard one four cylinder diesel in all its harsh blandness, and you've heard them all. 

 

Remember when cars sounded different? When you could tell a Marina from a Cortina from a Viva from a Herald? When a 1275GT sounded different from an 850?

 

My fave is this, the Mark 1 BMC 1100. A cheerful wee car with a cheerful, willing sound. I can smell the vinyl from here. Bring it on:

 

[Guest Breadvan72]

Fave four cylinder noise:  Lotus Excel or anything else with a Lotus 900 series engine.

 

Fave five cylinder noise: Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo.

 

Fave six cylinder noise:  Any Alfa with a Busso V6.

 

Fave eight cylinder noise: Jensen Interceptor.

 

Fave twelve cylinder noise: dunno, probably a 70s or 80s Ferrari.

[twosmoke300]

Tvr cerbera! Good lord

 

Favourite diesel - Fiat 110/90 tractor

[tommotech]

I remember being in bed and knowing who, in the street, was leaving for work by the sound of the car starting and driving off. As mentioned, this rarely happens these days.

My favourite has to be a V8 burble, although an acquaintance at work has a Ghibli diesel - now that sounds awesome, even though the noise is somewhat manufactured.

[blakey79]

Audi Coupe 5 cylinder does it for me.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

And whatever happened to whining gearboxes? The Marina box and the Ford Type 3 used in 1600 Cortinas are so distinctive. I used to hear the local 1.8 Marina coming down the street - ear nectar.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 

 

Fave six cylinder noise:  Any Alfa with a Busso V6.

 

 

 

I'm with you on that one. BMW sixes can only dream of sounding that good.

[Fabergé Greggs]

I watched a norton with a flat plane crank at Bo'ness hillclimb and the sound difference between on and off the throttle was incredible.

 

Golden era F1 cars are something that goes beyond sound into an out of body experience for me- something like a nice Ferrari flat 12.

 

And the ring ting ting of a two stroke on a trailing throttle takes some beating..

[blakey79]

You didn't need to turn your head to recognise a 1980s fiesta.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Today I've been driving both my V6 3.0 diesel W211 Merc and my new 2.1 4 pot diesel W212 Merc. The 4 cylinder has 201bhp ,the V6 190 bhp. The performance is very similar, but the sound....

The new one sounds like our Freelander the old one my e34 520i. For this reason , I feel the new one might not be sticking around for long.

 

The Audi 100 I had in the summer sounded like an urQuattro even though it was a gutless 2.0 auto.

 

I used to like the noise straight six Mercs and BMWs made more than V8s although I'll concede AMGs sound epic.

But the best noise ever is a humble Pinto, well, if it's breathing through a pair of Webers and got a single box exhaust.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I watched a norton with a flat plane crank at Bo'ness hillclimb and the sound difference between on and off the throttle was incredible.

 

Golden era F1 cars are something that goes beyond sound into an out of body experience for me- something like a nice Ferrari flat 12.

 

And the ring ting ting of a two stroke on a trailing throttle takes some beating..

 

 

Ford DFV and a Saaab 92.

 

Jaguar V12 - the whine of the big Lucas starter, and the smooth, distant hum with a hint of timing chain whine. That's what thoroughbreds used to sound like.

[Junkman]

  1 cylinder - Tempo Hanseat

  2 cylinder - Morgan Super Sports with the J.A.P. engine

  3 cylinder - DKW or Wartburg

  4 cylinder - all 4 cylinders sound meh

  5 cylinder - Audi 100 5E

  6 cylinder - BMW 3.0 Si

  8 cylinder - Triumph Stag

10 cylinder - Dodge Ram

12 cylinder - Lincoln flathead

16 cylinder - Auto Union Silberpfeil

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Great thread. I have many favourites, and this is up there:

 

https://youtu.be/pOKdguuXl2g

 

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

List of faves changes every minute but know what you mean by distinctive engine sounds.

A few local ones from my childhood I can still remember, good and maybe not so good, - we used to play a game like guess the car -

Old knackered Daimler 250V8 saloon, car was one step away from the bridge but sounded lovely,

Mk1 Consul Granada with the wheezy V4, or a Transit Mk1 ice cream van struggling along with same engine,

VW Type 3 fastback,

Austin 11/1300,

Citroen GS flat 4,

Starter motor sound on a Ford 2.8 Granada,

Chrysler Alpine or that Simca 1301 thing,

Imp,

Ford Pinto on which oil changes have been neglected,

Rover P6 V8,

Triumph 2000/2500,

Peugeot 504 or Merc 200 diesel,

RS2000,

Lotus Sunbeam,

Jeep Wagoneer estate V8 thing,

Mk1 Cappa 3000E sapphire blue owned by the pub bloke, usually accompanied with wheelspin noises,

Marina 1275 pick up. We could tell it was a pick up because of the barking dog in the back.

 

 

 

Ford V4 - our 3 year old washer drier sounds just like one and even makes a similar whining sound.

[dollywobbler]

This thread needs more evidence. I'm a HUGE fan of Daihatsu triples.

 

Or engines in multiples of three.

 

https://youtu.be/jbBevDHJP14?t=6m45s

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Favourite straight four - early BMC Mini or 1100. Or an Alfa twin cam - the real one, not the iron block Fiat based nonsense.

Favourite straight six - BMW M30 , naturlich.

Fave V6? Ford Essex 3.0 or Alfa

Fave V8 - Stag.

Fave V12 - the Jag of course

 

Flat 12? Jesus. Porsche 917.  How did they get from this to a diesel Cayenne?

 

Example:

 

[They_all_do_that_sir]

As far as bikes go, the 6 cylinder Honda CBX1000 is particularly good on the ears

 

https://youtu.be/MBbskqcgs_o

 

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

This thread needs more evidence. I'm a HUGE fan of Daihatsu triples.

 

Or engines in multiples of three.

 

https://youtu.be/jbBevDHJP14?t=6m45s

 

 

Sweet. Is that a PRV?

[andy18s]

[Squire_Dawson]

Well the Morris Minor has a famous sound. Anything where some of the noise from the rev range can be heard in the exhaust is good instead of it all being silent and hum-drum. I understand many modern high-performance cars have the sound artificially amplified.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 

 

Christ!!

[andy18s]

The Audi brings back memories of standing in Welsh forests at stupid o'clock,30 yrs ago......jesus.

Comes a close second to this though,but the op did say cars....

[solid61]

To me you cant beat the sound of a small block ford or chevy but a tuned ford kent with twin sidedraughts takes some beating.

[SiC]

I used to love the sound of V8s. Then I went to America and after the first week of constantly hearing straight through pipes from v8 pickup trucks wore that novelty off. Even though our 4-cyls moderns here in the UK sound boring and dull, at least they're almost always kept stock and quiet by their owners.

[Cavcraft]

Cars:

 

Cav Mk3 SRi (130 engine) with a PCS exhaust system being utterly hammered in 3rd gear

 

Capri V6 being wellied

 

 

Motorbikes:

 

KH250 screaming through the gears, Suzuki GT380/550/750 with a 3-1 Piper

 

 

Diesel. Let's be honest, there's only one:

 

 

[sierraman]

950 pop Fiesta.

[doobietoo]

While I love the burble of a big yank V8 I was reminded of my favorite ever engine/exhaust sound while picking up some tabs at my local newsagents this morning when a 2.9 cosworth scorpio slowed down for the roundabout and wound it up going up the hill..... IMHO no other car comes close that sound is perfect, exactly how a car should sound....

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

The sounds a car makes in important to me too; it is an central part of the way the car feels - and the way I will feel about it. The engine is the biggest part of is, but by no means the only one. I love the way each make of old car's doors sound different. There was a time when that was distinctive too, rather then the engineered in thunk of all modern cars. I love the strangely mechanical clack Jaguar doors made - and the Rolls-Royce even more so - and the way some other car's whole structure would ring out when the door was slammed. A friend's fiesta would do this. Then there is the trim. Creaky rattles in a Jag; buzzy rattles in a VW is my memory. Starter motors too. I have two favourites - the one used top start the Ford 2.8 V6 and the one fitted to the Jaguar V12. Both are mechanical music. And smell. Each make of car had its own distinctive smell: Jags were sweet - with a slight overlay of leathery bubble gum and woody tones. BMWs smelled of glue - a nice glue though. Mercedes smelled of old people. Fords had an odor I am struggling to describe, but quite pleasant - whilst I remember Vauxhalls smelling of glue, but not such nice glue as a BMW.

 

This disconnected dribble of verbiage hasn't  much to say about my favourite sounding car though.

 

Favourite four - probably the BMC 1100

 

Favourite five - Audi 100 5E

 

Favourite six - probably the Jaguar XK in a decent state of tune

 

Favourite eight - the V8 is my favourite engine sound - my favourite is probably the Alfieri V8 Maserati used in the Khamsin and others. Honourable mention goes to the Stag though - I am always amazed by how good they sound. There are plenty of lovely sounding V8s from the USA of course.

 

Favourite twelve - Jaguar V12. A wonderful sound from the starter onwards.

[cort16]

BMW E46 M3. They sound more metallic than the normal straight 6.

[Jerzy Woking]

Morris Minor is so distinctive, even though I don't particularly like the car, the noise of the engine and a gear change is soothing.

 

As for bikes, what could ever be better that the TZ750 four cylinder two stroke. Not any TZ, but the flat tracker Kenny Roberts rode. Here it is in all its glory and its a great story too

 

 

Still makes me get goose bumps.