Present and Future FWD Classic and Special Interest Cars

martian

You are right-I have always wondered why the do mestic 4-cyl engines were so crappy (compared to the japanese ones). The Honda fours would rev smoothly, and sounded nice-while GM gave us V-8's sawed in half. The GM 4's were noisey, didn't like to rev, and just sounded cheap! Likewise with FORD and Chrysler. My x had an OMNI with the VW-built 4-it was a great car! Why didn't the big 3 just build a good german or japanese 4 under license? I used to cringe whenever I got a rental car Cavalier-those engines were lousy!

Mr_Shiftright

AWFUL cars, truly AWFUL, some of them. You're right, the early American 4 cylinder engines were threshing machines....they ran like leaf blowers compared to Japanese engines.

Of course, the VW bug was no great shakes either....

hpmctorque

I think the Bug's horizontally opposed OHV four was okay for its time, especially before pollution controls. Sure, it was noisy, in part because it was air cooled, but it was smooth. I found the noise more pleasant than objectionable. Ah, that brings back memories of when you could identify brands from their sound. It was kind of neat. Now engines are so muffled that you can't tell one from another.

british_rover

I can still tell for some cars especially if they are being started. Almost every brand has its own unique starting sound.

hpmctorque

That may be true, in some cases, if you happen to be standing near the car when the starter is activated, but, of course, doesn't help to identify the car when it takes off from a curb or a stoplight, or drives by.

Mr_Shiftright

I can tell only a few---a Porsche, a Ferrari, a Subaru (older ones) a diesel car of course, and a Chrysler product (usually). But once it's on the road, distinctive sounds aren't so varied anymore in automobiles I don't think. I can still hear a Porsche on the road, like a 400 HP vacuum cleaner, and of course a Ferrari like the screaming banshees of hell, and a Harley, like a pile of nuts and bolts rattling around in a clothes dryer. :P

fintail

I have noticed that starting sound too, esp Hondas and 80s-90s V6 Fords.

For engine noise, a Porsche is unlike anything else - I can hear it a mile away, Subarus sound like souped up lawnmowers to me, and the GM 2.8 or 3.1 has an awful note to it. Old diesel MB have their own tune as well.

kyfdx

Nothing like the sound of an air-cooled 911 going by... Unfortunately, you can't hear much of it from inside the 911, with the windows up..

british_rover

One of the other dealers in our autogroup just took a 1997 911 Targa in trade yesterday. I am going to look at it Monday or Tuesday.

hpmctorque

Circling back on whether Boxters are girlie, it may depend on which part of the country you're evaluating. I randomly took note of the person behind the wheel in Montgomery County, MD, adjoining Washington, DC, and my early findings suggest that five out of five Boxters that I observed were driven by guys. Let me hasten to add that this is a tiny sample, too small to be representative, of course. Also, in four more cases I couldn't see inside well enough (top was up and glass was heavily tinted, was too far away, or going to fast, etc.) to identify the gender of the driver. So these are early, somewhat inconclusive returns, because we know for sure that a certain percentage of Boxter drivers in Montgomery County are women.

I may check further, for the heck of it, and report back.