Quote:
Originally Posted by nachob
I know that "real car guys" are a diminishing breed and some may just prefer to call us "old school" but fake engine sound is the last straw that shows the BMWs lack of caring for real car guys. I must admit that they grudgingly put manual transmissions in their cars for us but deep down BMW resents it. Life would be much simpler for them with just an automatic that lets you "shift" or drive in full auto but at least they do it and I still own a BMW for that reason.
Lexus on the other hand doesn't do it on their IS 350 and I will not buy one because of it BUT after having read that Active Sound is mandatory on the new M cars.......I am puzzled and seriously saddened by it.
This is the new height of poserdom. I cannot buy a car with fake engine sound and to make matters worse you cannot disable it without disabling the stereo system. I have been seriously holding out of M235 or M2 but I don't know if I can overcome this. I would be embarrassed if other car guys found out I was driving with fake engine sound track.
Not only is there the embarrassment but more importantly the it is one more loss of connection to car. I listen to my engine! As some have called it, I have "mechanical empathy" and I listen to it. Every ping when accidentally lugged, every VANOS rattle when the idle drops to low and the crescendo of mechanical music when making serious power. Even turbos and wastegates are part of the "rhythm" when you are autocrossing or cruising on a mountain road. That is a another connection lost. With automatics, you do not control or manage the engagement so you lose that connection, then the new steering racks further detach you from the road feel and now you cannot "really" listen to the engine.
Sad. I know most of you don't feel the same way, I understand, since you grow up with iPhones that are set to the "old" analog phone ringer and think it's quaint.
I was just wondering if there were any of you out there that are also sad about fake engine sound?
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It's not that we're young (iPhones didn't exist for me until after I had graduated college), it's that we understand things change.
Don't like it? Buy an older car, problem solved. Times are changing, as they always do and there will always be people like you, people who hate change.
Do I think it's "cool" to have active sound management like that? No, I don't think anyone does. It's just something we all deal with since most of us also don't like having a constant engine/exhaust drone while we're cruising down the highway going on a 4+ hour road trip.
I've driven cars with active sound management, the last thing I'm thinking about is the fact that fake engine noise is coming through the speakers. The only way you'd ever even know it was there is if someone told you.
But what do I know? Whine and complain away. Go drive a Fox Body Mustang or something, then everyone will realize how amazing and cool you are for being a "real car guy", because fuel injection is for pussies right? REAL car guys have carbed engines. Then make fun of people using smartphones while you ask your fellow companions where the nearest payphone is because you're badass and old school like that.