5 ms·

The visceral excitement from the noise and vibration is a key part of auto marketing, and automakers are struggling to sell cars without it. Some people enjoy t

The visceral excitement from the noise and vibration is a key part of auto marketing, and automakers are struggling to sell cars without it. Some people enjoy the attention they get from their loud, smelly cars - old Porsches, Harley Davidson motorcycles, and large trucks come to mind. Which is why some EVs play engine noises from internal speakers.

jgtrosh 9y ago
But buses? I'm sure it's good to care about drivers' concerns but for a public commodity like buses the aesthetic concerns are naturally less prominent than for personal items.
icc97 9y ago
The engine noises I heard from the BMW i8 were ridiculous - not that they were bad but just because it seems so childish. It's like you're a 5-year-old sat on a chair making BROOM! BROOM! noises. An example is on this YouTube video [0]. First you can hear the electric acceleration, then the driver then slows down and switches on the engine noise. It even simulates the noise of gear changes... [0]: https://youtu.be/yerTSDJtJmM?t=6m29s https://youtu.be/yerTSDJtJmM?t=6m29s
- nsbq71 9y ago
  I think that sound is pretty cool! It also works as some kind of feedback.
  - icc97 9y ago
    You already do get a lower level of feedback from the noise of the electic motor. It doesn't make much noise but it does change in pitch as you go faster. Plus you have the speedometer and the colour of the dashboard changes colour I think as you speed up.
l0b0 9y ago
This sounds so bizarrely immature to me - like the trolls that sabotage their vehicle's noise suppression. I wonder if they realise they catch people's attention because the onlookers are simply waiting for them to leave so they can resume hearing themselves think. Also, I thought EVs make noise to alert pedestrians and bicyclists, because the general public isn't used to quiet cars yet and honking the horn is likely to have the wrong effect.
- khhh35575544 9y ago
  Where I live we have a real problem with various anti-social driving behaviours. Around this time of year attention seeking adolescents emerge from hibernation to spread fumes and noise about my town on their rubbish hair dryer scooters. Worse than them though are the grown men with poorly modified cars funded by low level weed dealing that do various illegal stunts in the local industrial estate until late at night, and the weekend Easy Rider fantasists that ride flatulent Harleys ponderously through formerly peaceful English villages. I personally think Top Gear has a lot to answer for in encouraging the growth of a generally irresponsible automotive culture in the UK. I'm sick of the anti-humanity daily violence of noise and pollution.
sunstone 9y ago
Hey some pickup trucks also play enhanced engine noises from internal speakers in order to sound "throatier" to buyers :)

jgtrosh 9y ago

But buses? I'm sure it's good to care about drivers' concerns but for a public commodity like buses the aesthetic concerns are naturally less prominent than for personal items.

icc97 9y ago

The engine noises I heard from the BMW i8 were ridiculous - not that they were bad but just because it seems so childish. It's like you're a 5-year-old sat on a chair making BROOM! BROOM! noises. An example is on this YouTube video [0]. First you can hear the electric acceleration, then the driver then slows down and switches on the engine noise. It even simulates the noise of gear changes... [0]: https://youtu.be/yerTSDJtJmM?t=6m29s https://youtu.be/yerTSDJtJmM?t=6m29s

nsbq71 9y ago
I think that sound is pretty cool! It also works as some kind of feedback.
- icc97 9y ago
  You already do get a lower level of feedback from the noise of the electic motor. It doesn't make much noise but it does change in pitch as you go faster. Plus you have the speedometer and the colour of the dashboard changes colour I think as you speed up.

l0b0 9y ago

This sounds so bizarrely immature to me - like the trolls that sabotage their vehicle's noise suppression. I wonder if they realise they catch people's attention because the onlookers are simply waiting for them to leave so they can resume hearing themselves think. Also, I thought EVs make noise to alert pedestrians and bicyclists, because the general public isn't used to quiet cars yet and honking the horn is likely to have the wrong effect.

khhh35575544 9y ago
Where I live we have a real problem with various anti-social driving behaviours. Around this time of year attention seeking adolescents emerge from hibernation to spread fumes and noise about my town on their rubbish hair dryer scooters. Worse than them though are the grown men with poorly modified cars funded by low level weed dealing that do various illegal stunts in the local industrial estate until late at night, and the weekend Easy Rider fantasists that ride flatulent Harleys ponderously through formerly peaceful English villages. I personally think Top Gear has a lot to answer for in encouraging the growth of a generally irresponsible automotive culture in the UK. I'm sick of the anti-humanity daily violence of noise and pollution.

sunstone 9y ago

Hey some pickup trucks also play enhanced engine noises from internal speakers in order to sound "throatier" to buyers :)