It needs to be loud enough to tell that it sounds good. I’m not talking gintani svj loud. Otherwise drive an EV.
It seems that is all about showing off and that is a cultural thing. Outside noise is irrelevant, yet Americans seem to care a lot about it. How it sounds inside the cabin is more important, no?
Inside definitely more important, though I do enjoy the howl in confined spaces. Appropriately and tastefully of course.
Al legislation keeps pushing for those EVs and reduced emissions we will slowly become tuned to that being the norm and no sound from cars eventually and these ICE motors will then sound absurd to the next to next generation of drivers Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
Personally, I don't care how my car sounds outside, only how it sounds to me behind the wheel. That said, the two are very related, so is the distinction academic? Nor do I care how loud the car is, only how good it sounds (as long as it's loud enough to hear it clearly). And those things (volume and quality) aren't particularly related. A Toyota Corolla with a rusty muffler can be loud, but sure doesn't sound good. The V12 in my Lusso isn't terribly loud, but it sounds glorious... I often wonder if when people say "loud" they mean "good". Honestly, not sure. (I suppose someone who drives a purple Aventador probably really does mean "loud".)
Ferrari has always been about the sound. The NA V12 is the benchmark. Inside sound is the gulping intake and outside sound is the engine and tuned OEM exhaust. A Ferrari without sound is just a showing off thing. Sound amplifying tubes are lame and are, in a way, showing off to yourself because the car lacks real natural sound. EU is an over-crowded place so I can see why you are a bit ashamed to enjoy such a stock car. Don't get me wrong, I hate loud cars but I would not own a Ferrari without that marvelous engine and all the noise, vibration, and smells that go along with it.
Ferrari has always been about the performance. The sound was a byproduct. One thing I don't miss is the smell. I used to race two stroke go-karts and I have vomited more times than I care to remember. We we given milk to combat the fumes poisoning...
Wow, I raced 2-stroke MX for over 10 years and loved the smell!! Still have 5 race bikes and 2 of them are 2-stroke. Also 2-stroke chain saw and weed wacker. Ferrari took a poll of new owners in 2015 or so and posted the results in their Magazine. Number 1 attribute global owners loved about their Ferraris was the sound.
There's no question that the beautiful sound of a Ferrari V12 or flat plane V8 is a big part of the experience for a lot of enthusiasts. So without it, at least some of the appeal will be lost for those people (myself included). That doesn't mean it matters for all people, and that's OK! But it's a perfectly reasonable (and common) perspective. I won't speculate about Enzo's thoughts on the topic, though it's certainly well documented that he was particularly fond of V12s. It's possible the sound was part of it... Again, it's not about showiness, at least not for all of us. Many of us genuinely enjoy the sound - it's intrinsic to what we love about cars. It's why I never listen to the radio when I drive my Ferraris. It's why I had CDs with audio recordings of old F1 cars as a teenager. Who knows why? I just like it. I'm not sure what's wrong with that...
Whilst I agree that sound is an intrinsic part of the Ferrari (or any other sports car for that matter) experience, it is factually a byproduct of the engine, not its objective. The objective of the engine is to to provide the motive force for the car to move. We all love a nice sounding engine, no objection there. A car, any car, is a machine that is meant to transport people and/or goods, though. A nice sounding engine that does not provide enough thrust is useless. Thus, power first and sound second. By definition.
Once again, you can't seem to know that enthusiasts want emotion, gift of sound... and that unusable performance doesn't matter
So because of lack of sound and usable performance the car is garbage, yes? LOL I am literally speechless and it does not happen very often.
I think you're overlooking the shades of gray. Of course an engine that sounds great but can't move the car is useless. But likewise, an EV - no matter how fast - isn't interesting to me because it lacks the mechanical qualities (sound included) that attracted me to cars in the first place. Street cars today (or ten years ago, for that matter) are plenty fast enough for me. So the "doesn't provide thrust" argument rings a bit hollow. The tradeoff isn't between sound (and other characteristics) and any performance. It's sound (etc.) vs more performance.* And personally, I'd be OK with a performance plateau if it meant sacrificing less of the other qualities I love. It's OK to weigh those things differently. I just don't understand why others are offended by (or at least dismissive of) those preferences. " Incidentally, I suspect that just as often, it's a tradeoff against regulatory requirements (efficiency, emissions, etc.) and has little to do with performance objectives.
I don't think that's fair. First, I think it's a mistake to characterize all enthusiasts as a monolith. We're a big group with diverse interests - and that's a good thing! And second, while I don't totally agree with all of his arguments, he's definitely not ignoring the role of sound in the experience.
Not for me… I owned a 250 Lusso for 5 years. Very slow by modern standards, absolutely mesmerizing as a car though! Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
No, as long as it suits you, it is not a problem for me. Personally, I don't know what to do with these powers on the open road...
Car should sound good. Even at low range of rpm. Because we use it most of the time under 5k rpm. In this sense, excessive power is useless most of the time so performance figure is one thing and how car feels on the road is another. On track is different. But on track, you really want the car sound to be good to enjoy inside. If not, it is like you are forced to hear singing until you finish the meal at the karaoke bar with bunch of tone deaf… Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
As de Simone says, there is no such thing as being overpowered, if there is adequate control over the power. Are today's supercars way too quick? Yes, they are, but that's the point; scaring yourself every now and then, without crashing though. It seems to me that you are referring to audiophiles, rather than petrolheads. The exhilaration of driving comes from the machine that does what you tell it to do (accelerate, turn, brake etc), not just make vroom-vroom noices, like a kid playing with his matchbox models... I don't disagree with any of those. At the end of the day it is horses for courses. Some contributors seem to think that the role of the engine is to generate sound though, wheres in reality it is there to move the car. Yes, the lack of noise in EVs is a turn off, but there can be a happy medium between motive force and sound generation. Let's be honest though, if a car didn't need an engine (and EVs are still way too compromised, so a hybrid ICE is a good choice), one would not be installed just for the sake of the sound. If sound is the objective, loudspeakers are more relevant. The way I see it, we all love an ICE because it is a marvel of engineering. Thousands of rotating and reciprocating parts, contributing towards generating power. They all have their distinctive output characteristics (drivability, RPM range and power delivery, etc) and sound. We love them because they remind of us of a living creature. A flat-plane crank Ferrari V8 behaves and sounds totally different to a big, cross-plane, American V8. Electric motors all feel the same, because of the physics behind their construction. Now, Ferrari said that they will try to challenge that, building their own electric motors that will have a different feeling. I am curious about how they will manage that, but they are Ferrari, so I have faith in them. Finally, IMHO there is another aspect of this whole sound fixation. People wanting to show off and attract attention... I remember our esteemed member Lukeylikey saying that he felt self conscious driving loud cars and was quite happy with the quieter note of turbocharged cars, not least for attracting less attention from the law enforcement community. From personal experience, I also felt embarrassed in the 430 and the 599, in urban environments (yes, they sounded glorious out in the wild!). It must be a cultural thing too. In Europe, being ostentatious is heavily scoffed upon (not in Italy, I guess). In the US, where Harleys wake up the dead, it seems that such brash exhibition of self importance is not being denigrated that much. Personally, as a petrolhead, I love the sound of a sportscar (I hate Harleys though), but we must also show respect to members of the public that don't share our passion for those machines. Huge respect for your vast experience with dream machines, sir! Would you put up with 250 levels of performance in a modern supercar though? I enjoy my E-Type for what it is, but I can't imagine a modern sportscar driving like that...
I think that's quite a leap. But even if true - does that make their values less valid than yours? I don't know about you, but given the choice between Spotify and a live concert, I'll take the concert. I'm quite certain you're right. There are a lot of people for whom that is the appeal. But if you think that applies to everyone who cares about sound, you're dead wrong. I wish you were local, I'd love to meet for coffee. It's clear you're passionate about cars, so I bet we'd get along swimmingly.
