Cars are Now So Well Built, Manufacturers Pipe In Fake Engine Sounds!
Via Core77
With electric cars, the darn things are so quiet that artificial noises must be piped into the cabins; as we learned with the I-Pace, Jaguar’s designers even took the extreme step of hiring a Hollywood sound engineer to tune the X-Wing-Fighter-like noise that car emits.
Even internal combustion engine cars now have fake noise, as they’re so well-built and quiet that drivers accustomed to engine sounds might be turned off. “Automakers say they resort to artifice,” reports the Washington Post, “because they understand a key car-buyer paradox: Drivers want all the force and fuel savings of a newer, better engine — but the classic sound of an old gas-guzzler.”
Thus Ford has an Active Noise Control system that magnifies engine noise through the vehicle’s speakers in the Mustang and F-150 pick-ups. BMW uses their more-honestly-named Active Sound Design. Volkswagen’s Golf R has a dedicated speaker in the cabin connected to their growl-producing Soundaktor system.
As examples of this, here’s a BMW 140i xDrive with the fake sound alternatingly on and off:
