The decade’s best-sounding engines
“The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.”
— William Shakespeare
There is much to love about the modern electric vehicle; the instant torque and the convenience of charging at home, not to mention the inherent simplicity of an electric motor.
But the one thing they don’t do is engage your Tympanic membrane. There’s no guttural rasp from the intake as hundreds of litres of air rush to meet their fate inside the combustion chamber.
No exhaust music as that same air expresses its anger in a spine-tingling ode to high compression. What our eardrums get instead is a fart in the wind as electromotive forces whine, and whatever mandated low-speed sounds required for pedestrian safety chime.
None of which, as I said, is going to engage your eardrums.
So, if we are indeed in internal combustion’s final chapter, let us at least celebrate that some of the most evocative engine designs of all time are gracing us on its way out.
Here, then, are the best sounding engines of the last 10 years. Let’s hope they aren’t the last.
The best engine sound of the last 10 years — and I suspect we could extend that back 20 or 30 years and get little argument — is not an exotic V12 or the even rarer Bugatti W16, but a common V8. As common as the Ferrari 458’s F136 basic architecture may be, the 4.5-litre V8 was certainly not plain, especially in its final Speciale guise.
Revving to 9,000 rpm — where it produced 597 naturally aspirated horsepower — the sound coming out its quad pipes was Wagnerian Ride of Valkyries with just a hint of Puccini, all orchestrated by 14.0:1 forged pistons.
All manner of explanations have been posited for the 458’s unique sound. Most credit its flat-plane crankshaft, which offers optimum exhaust scavenging.
But, as the editor points out, the recent Mustang Shelby GT350’s 5.2L V8 also has its crankpins oriented 180-degrees apart, and though plenty powerful, its shriek is not the Ferrari’s. Others say it’s because the Italians know things about exhaust tuning that the rest of us don’t, but have you ever listened to a Fiat 500X? Purely Barry Manilow.
Personally, I think it’s the ghost of Enzo Ferrari expressing his anger at how forced-induction has neutered the 458’s successor — the twin-turbocharged 488 — rendering it just another high-revving V8.
BEST-SOUNDING W16
Well, there’s only one, isn’t there? Bugatti is the only manufacturer of any engine sporting 16 pistons, let alone the quirky and odd — and even kind of silly, if we’re all being honest — W16. Basically the mating of two narrow-angle Volkswagen VR8 engines in their own vee formation, Bugatti’s W16 is hugely wide but incredibly short, compared to cars sporting even eight fewer pistons.
Now, the headlines that Bugatti’s W16 most often generate are all about its ridiculous top speed — the latest 1,600-horsepower Chiron tops out at more than 490 km/h, says Top Gear — but having 16 spark plugs and no fewer than four turbochargers less than half a metre from your right ear also makes quite the impression, I can assure you. At full chat, the 1,200-hp Veyron Gran Sport I drove a few years ago is sucking 45,000 litres of air each and every minute.
But, here’s the surprise: The best part of the Bugatti’s soundtrack occurs after you’ve let off the gas. Then the turbochargers’ wastegates, eager to bleed off 20+ psi of boost, pop open and unwanted intake blows off steam.
It’s a sound like nothing else in automobiles, literally a high-pressure ‘huff,’ the big Bugatti’s 16 pistons collectively breathing a sigh of relief at not having to endure any more abuse from those four turbos. It’s addictive.
BEST-SOUNDING V12
I think this one is going to be a surprise. The most aurally-fulfilling, ear canal-sustaining V12 of the past 10 years isn’t a Ferrari.
Not a Lamborghini, either. It’s … an Aston Martin.
We’re taking about the great, hulking 6.0-litre naturally-aspirated versions combining the sharpness of the 458’s V8 with the syncopation of the best of Ferrari V12s.
Indeed, so sweet is the melody out of old Aston V12s that, were it not for their absurdly-low rev limit — the ignition system often cut off the party just past 6,000 rpm — the Aston Martin V12s might have supplanted the 458 at the top of the list. Now for the amazing part: the reason the big V12’s rev limit was so low is because Gaydon’s V12 was really just two Ford Duratec 3.0-litre V6s welded stem-tostern, their family-oriented bore and stroke not allowing screamingly high revs. Nonetheless, from sow’s ears are silk purses sometime sewn.
A close-running second place would have to be Ferrari’s 812 Superfast. Larger and dramatically more powerful — there’s 789 horsepower under the 812’s hood, way more than the best Aston.
BEST-SOUNDING V10
This one is so easy, because pretty much every V10 in existence — and yes, I’m counting Lamborghinis — sound absolutely tugboat-like, as if tailpipes are gurgling underwater as penalty for their odd cylinder layout. Compared with the V12s and V8s mentioned here, they all sound like, well, Madonna.
Except for the Lexus LF-A. I’m not sure what Toyota discovered in its exhaust acoustics lab, but wow, the LF-A’s Yamaha-developed 4.8-litre V10 produced 552 horsepower and was so rev happy — it would spin from idle to 9,000 rpm in just 0.6 seconds — that its engineers claimed that ordinary tachometers couldn’t keep up with it.
This thing sounds like a combination of an old Ferrari Daytona mated to an original Dodge Viper, the progeny then sent off to an F1 finishing school. There is no second place in this division.
BEST-SOUNDING V8
I don’t think it’s possible to not argue over which V8 sounds best. Nominate a domestic V8 — say, the aforementioned Mustang GT350’s 5.2-litre — and anyone who’s ever had the pleasure of motoring around in a Maserati GranTurismo will think you a Neanderthal. Choose the Maser or Alfa’s rare-as-a-Testarossa 8C, which used basically the same engine, and you’ll be lucky if the insults stop at effete continental.
I, for one, looking to minimize contretemps in these difficult times, am in favour of having two distinct categories when it comes to V8s.
So, without further ado, my nominee for the domestic V8 that needs to be heard is …
Not doubt angering the boss-man, not the Shelby — it’s exhaust simply doesn’t do its Fancy Dan cross-plane crank justice. Nope, the North American V8 I want to hear scream its siren call again is the LS7 in Chevy’s 2014-15 Camaro Z/28. The big 7.0-litre is all the right stuff. No supercharger to dilute its tailpipe trombone, the 505-horsepower V8 revved like it was European, yet burbled like a good, ole ’Merican dragster when tooling around town.
The Maser takes the cake for non-Ferrari European V8s … except, of course, it’s made by Ferrari. And, while the car itself may be dated, its 4.7-litre is as relevant as it ever was.
An offshoot of the old 360 V8, it sounds pretty much as mean as the 458’s, only a little less frenetic with not quite the same Mariah-Carey-five-octaves-range scream as the Ferrari passes eight grand.
It’s impossible to ignore how delightfully the Italian V8 resonates, but I’m not getting into any discussion of whether it sounds better than the Camaro, or the GT350.
BEST-SOUNDING V6
This, unlike the W16 and V10 categories, is a crowded field. That’s a surprise because not so long ago, V6s were largely for those who could not afford a V8. They were the worst-sounding engines in the biz. There’s many a V6 now that sounds crisper than the same car’s V8 option.
That’s certainly my opinion for Jaguar’s F-Type. Its supercharged V8 is sweet-sounding, but I will take the lower-performance (but still packing 380-horsepower) V6 every time. It revs faster, sounds crisper, and in my mind, sounds more European — that should be read sophisticated — than the V8.
But here’s the kicker: in a triumph of acoustic engineering over design, the V6 is built on exactly the same block as the V8; it’s just had two cylinders lopped off.
As for other contenders, choosing between the Maserati Levante and Alfa Romeo’s Stelvio Quadrifoglio is like trying to distinguish between Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. Both turbocharged, Ferrari-sourced V6s — a 505hp, 2.9-litre affair in the Alfa and a 424-hp, 3.0-litre in the Levante — inspire all manner of silliness, even if both power sport-utility vehicles.
Not quite in the same league but still swinging for the fences, is the Chevy Camaro’s RS V6. Less powerful — 335 hp — and not quite as full-bodied in tone as its European counterparts, it’s very much the Rodney Dangerfield of V6s, never getting the respect it deserves.
BEST-SOUNDING FOUR
I am going to break all manner of the editor’s rules with my choice for most aurally gifted four-banger, my choice pushing the envelope on what we consider a production car. In fact, my choice — Jaguar’s C-X75 hyper-hybrid — was supposed to be a production car and the one I drove was a pre-production prototype.
The C-X75 I drove had a Formula 1 engine. And it positively screamed.
In production (OK, almost-production) guise the little engine produced 502 horsepower — there was another 390 horsepower underfoot thanks to its three electric motors.
The din inside the cabin as I touched its 10,300 rpm redline at 319 km/h was like putting your ear right inside a BMW S1000RR’s Akropovic exhaust can.
No production car has ever shrieked so vividly.