What’s Your Favorite Car Sound? Autopian Asks

Autopian Asks Favorite Car Sound
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Throughout history, cars frequently marked their character by soundtrack. After all, who didn’t make racecar noises as a kid? Even today, under the watchful eyes of noise, vibration and harshness targets, cars still make a wide array of satisfying noises, so let’s celebrate some of them. Today we want to know what your favorite car sound is.

As for engine sound, there’s nothing like the organ notes of induction noise. Sure, forced induction is cool, but indulging your senses in the sheer intake of internal combustion is pupil-widening stuff. It’s especially scintillating in a McLaren 600LT with a roof scoop, or a 718 GT4 RS that pulls air from vents in the quarter glass, or anything with open velocity stacks. Exhaust noise is so last decade, induction noise is pure selfish hotness.

However, there are also many car noises that don’t come from an engine, yet are equally mesmerizing. The tuk of an old Porsche door, the rifle-bolt confirmation of the power door lock actuators on a Mercedes-Benz G-Class, the flexing of old leather seats, the brashness of a Cadillac four-note horn, I could go on.

I shan’t go on, though, because I want to turn it over to you. What’s your favorite car sound and why? Whether it’s the whirr of a V12 starter motor, the ground-shaking roar of a nitro dragster, the clink of a gated shifter, or something else entirely, we want to know.

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134 thoughts on “What’s Your Favorite Car Sound? Autopian Asks”

  1. If you put a s2000 on its lowest wiper speed there is a click that occurs when the wiper moves only at that speed. I find it so damn endearing.

  2. I know it’s a bit out of favor these days, but I love the snap-crackle-pop from the exhaust on my Corvette. Except when I’m trying to sneak back into the garage late at night and don’t want to piss off the neighbors. 😉

    A random one that has almost nothing to do with the sound and everything to do with context is the sound of the locks unlocking on my Prius when I use the passive entry. Mostly because when I first got it that wasn’t working consistently so the fact that it works perfectly every time now makes me smile.

  4. When I was a kid, I loved the whine/upshift/ of the Ford C3 transmission when under acceleration.
    I also enjoyed the sound of the vacuum-actuated HVAC dampers when redirecting airflow within the dash of Mom’s ’72 Monterey.

    When I lived in SF in the early oughts, I often wore a black leather car-coat from Banana Republic – which made a delightful, rich-sounding creaking noise when rubbing against the leather seats in the back of the Lincoln Towncars which were the first Uber/Uber Blacks….

    Today I love the sounds of the fully-automatic convertible roof opening and closing on my Mercedes – particularly the thump of the roof hitting the header, and the thwomp the tonneau and roof make when the tonneau engages the trailing edge of the roof, the canvas tightens and the entire thing completes closure.

    I also love the sound of heavy rain on the canvas roof.

  5. Silence, in a way.

    I really like how you can hear the tires clawing for traction when driving an EV hard. With the windows down anyway. It’s not something you can even remotely hear with any other car. It really gives a sense of how hard those tires are working AND if you listen really closely you can tell when they are starting to slip.

    Oh I also like the whine of old blowers, the lub lub of a cammed engine, and the whine/hiss of a bypas valve of a turbo under boost. But those are all old hat.

  9. I may just be dull and mundane- but i *really* like how my car’s exhaust sounds with all the windows open.

    Deleted and straight piped x5 diesel- on cold start, its a muted burble with subtle notes of whistle while the turbo spools up to idle speed, with the smell of diesel wakes you up right along with the last of the cup of coffee in the car

    idle under load and low speed driving through the neighborhood to drop off my kid at daycare sounds like clips from the podrace montage from star wars: episode one

    city driving to my one of two office days is a mix of low speed driving and WOTs from a stoplight for longer drags, barking burble cresendos like an old cummins with a college degree as the ZF shifts from 1-2 and then 2-3, slight plumes of soot at the higher end of the rev range cuz no delete tune is perfect

  11. The steady roar of a old Jenseb Healey. Not to loud or soft, not to tinny, it just seemed to reverb through my seat and massage me as i drove. The same pipe noise through all 4 gears. It even worked as a mild laxative gently massage the colon working everything loose. It was a miracle cure for what aimed you. Even a cure for depression.

  12. Pops and bangs and blowoff valves…. I’m getting all fizzy just thinking about it

    Also, something happens at 4K rpm in a 996 that is heavenly

    Bonus points: the new Tacoma V6. Not because it’s the best sound ever, but because it’s got no right to be great and it is

  13. All of the weird whirrs and clicks under the hood of my (former) GTI that would happen just because I opened the door to grab my sunglasses. Still no idea what was going on in there.

  14. I’d have to go with a 7.0L V8 pulling hard to 7k RPM (LS7), particularly in 3rd gear plus (90mph+) when it’s starting to work a bit. Even with the stock bimodal mufflers it’s a real treat.

  16. This is a weird one, but the first sound I could identify as being from a distinct vehicle was the power steering whine from an 80’s Ford passenger car. My Mom’s ’81 LTD made such a distinct noise, to this day, if I hear it (which is getting rare), I still know it.

    1. You reminded me of a not-so-favorite car noise but one that is/was identifiable: Denver Police Crown Vic brake squeal. Not sure if it was unique to the Interceptor or just from cops mashing on the pedal all the time (probably both); but I knew they were rolling up instantaneously hearing that sound. Kind of miss it after they started switching to Explorers.

    2. I think the trucks made the same power steering whine. In my memory that sound belongs to when my dad or uncle were backing a trailer into a parking space, which usually leads to memories of a fun dump run, a camping trip, or going fishing. It still makes me smile a little bit when I hear it!

      I’m also fond of the “Doo-doodoo-DAH doo-doodoo-DAH!” sound that VW Golfs/Jettas made in the 80s (Mk. I and Mk. II). My parents had a 79 Rabbit and then a 91 Jetta, and that noise pairs with the distinctive instrument cluster in my head. If I could easily customize my Mk. VII Golf to make that noise, I’d be a happy man!

  19. For me, I think it’s got to be the bark of a responsive engine heel-toeing into a corner. The rapid, on-throttle rev climb on the blips contrasted with the off-throttle silence (or pops depending on the car) makes for an exciting interlude, it’s a brief moment I always relish, and the anticipation it builds for the roar on corner exit is delicious.

    Another delectable note is the whoosh of a good carb, especially on start up as a few chaotic chugs and coughs turns into a continuous thrum. I know venturis restrict flow and fuel mix isn’t perfect and all that, but the sound is immaculate, and makes it seem like a pity that all the muscle cars around here have loud exhausts that drown out the induction.

  21. Well, I got 2:

    1. The Viper V10, period. Idle, launch, pulling, downshifting, etc.
    2. Big Block V8’s at full rip during tractor pulls.

    If you mean anything else but exhaust noises, for some reason I really like when 5.7L Hemi’s start up. Like, the starter engages, and it sounds like 7 of the 8 cylinders are trying to get compression for like 2 seconds followed by combustion in the 8th….. It sounds so odd yet cool.

  23. Idle and acceleration of a 7.3l PowerStroke. Still my favorite engine sound I’ve personally experienced.

    Hoping to get time with a 7.3l Godzilla and some kind of LS eventually, but I’ll get there when I get there.

    1. I have a Tremor with the 7.3L Godzilla. It REALLY needs an aftermarket exhaust on it, because it’s mostly silent as it is. It’s a shame.

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