Who misses the hum of the combustion engine?

[Electric4Me]

IMHO, 99% of the cars on the road do NOT do any acoustical justice to the burning of gasoline. Many in fact, sound like garbage and have engines that are not taken care of anyways. Since the LEAF is not a competitor for the 1% of (exotic) cars with beautiful exhaust notes, it is apples and oranges. But do I like the acoustical qualities of the LEAF over my neighbors CRV of Explorer? YES! Absolutely! The LEAF is a far more pleasant daily driving experience. The turbine sound/smoothness reminds me of flying small corporate jets.

This hits the nail on the head. It's not fair to compare the LEAF with Ferraris and the like, but better to compare it to Camrys, Accords, etc. (and then do so again when they're each 5, 10, 15, 20+ years old!!)

I think that the 1% of finely tuned engines/exhausts are musical and can be appreciated by many, just like Heavy Metal, or Punk, etc., can be appreciated by many, but not all. The root of it all in our collective psyche is that this "music" has been associated with very high performance so we have a hard time thinking a car performs well when we don't hear it. That will fade as the dinosaurs age...

Bill

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

The turbine sound/smoothness reminds me of flying small corporate jets.

Like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdWswvLPdE0

(seems there's a youtube for everything these days)

 

[Electric4Me]

I think that the 1% of finely tuned engines/exhausts are musical and can be appreciated by many, just like Heavy Metal, or Punk, etc., can be appreciated by many, but not all.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyM9u6xZ_2E[/youtube]

 

[TomT]

I have no idea what you drive but in my opinion one of the best automotive sounds ever was the Austin Healey 3000. I had one for a number of years and the sound always brought a smile to my face. I like the quiet and vibration-less of the Leaf but I also love the other as well.

I don't miss it at all. The LEAF is the first mass produced 21st Century car. Everytime I drive my ICE (which BTW is a sports car with that throaty hum everyone seems to love), I feel like I've traveled in the WABAC machine to the Industrial Revolution. It's a noisy, dirty, cumbersome, smelly, vibrating machine.

 

[daniel]

... The root of it all in our collective psyche is that this "music" has been associated with very high performance so we have a hard time thinking a car performs well when we don't hear it. That will fade as the dinosaurs age...

Bill

It will also fade as cars like the Tesla Roadster or the White Zombie become more generally known.

 

[Packet]

I feel like I've traveled in the WABAC machine to the Industrial Revolution. It's a noisy, dirty, cumbersome, smelly, vibrating machine.

"Gosh, Mr. Peabody, why does this car make so much noise?"

"Well, Sherman, in the past people used to actually drive cars that moved wheels through controlled explosions. The process was noisy, and produced a lot of smoke."

"Why would they do a thing like that?"

 

[SteveInSeattle]

I was driving a G35 with a performace exhaust and used to like the extra sound, now after three weeks with the Leaf I prefer QUIET and no longer enjoy the G35's volume-- I'm seeling it anyway though but I am hooked on the sound of ev's

 

[garypq]

Not me. I wish I could miss it, but you can't escape it.

When I shussssssssssssh up to a stop at an intersection, there are often lanes of ICE rumbling, popping, snorting or other sounds of expelled auto flatulence.

I want to shout "SHUT UP;" but they can't hear me over the closed windows, air conditioning and rap music. Forget CO2 cap and trade, how about NOISE pollution credits!

Plus, I am a guy who transitioned to the Leaf from my last car, a Mini Cooper S Convertible. That car has a sweet pop-pop sound when you back off the throttle. The sound by the way, was engineered by Mini, by running the engine rich. So the sound is created by wasting gas.

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

Am I the only one who worries about what the Leaf will sound like in 10 years?

Like the old ICE cars, it may pick up some downright annoying whines and hisses. Is it possible for it to stay this quiet after 50k or 100k miles?

 

[TRONZ]

The new "normal" and funny side effect of LEAF driving for me. When I hear a car starter now it sounds kind of jarring and comical (stupid) because then the car just sits there, running... AND IT'S NOT EVEN MOVING!!! :lol: :roll:

 

[Electric4Me]

I want to shout "SHUT UP;" but they can't hear me over the closed windows, air conditioning and rap music. Forget CO2 cap and trade, how about NOISE pollution credits!

:lol:

 

[Mx5racer]

Acceleration is not the same without the engine noise. :lol:

Then again, between sucking up the range and possibly damaging the batteries I don't drive the Leaf like any of my previous cars

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

Really? I'm the opposite.
With no gas tank to fill, I'm launching from every light like a teenager.
I swear if I drove my gas car like I do the Leaf, I'd get 10MPG.

At this point, the cost of tires is likely to be more than electricity.

 

[aqn]

Then again, between sucking up the range and possibly damaging the batteries I don't drive the Leaf like any of my previous cars

Really? I'm the opposite.
With no gas tank to fill, I'm launching from every light like a teenager.
I swear if I drove my gas car like I do the Leaf, I'd get 10MPG.

At this point, the cost of tires is likely to be more than electricity.

I like to floor it too, but almost always only when I feel like I need to dispel the myth of the EV holding up traffic, not being able to get out of its own way.

I like my rocket sound from my leaf.

I call it the "jet turbine" sound.

Some people prefer a quiet car. I imagine the LEAF suits their purpose just fine. It has occurred to me that if my commute is longer, I too might prefer less noise. But thinking back over the almost thirty years of driving VW GTI's, I come to the conclusion that, no, I definitely prefer more sensory input when I drive.

I wish Nissan uses less sound proofing in the LEAF. I want to hear more of that jet turbine noise. Plus, using a whole lot less sound deadening material would save a bunch of weight too. Sure, I'd hear a bit more tire/road noise and wind noise as well, but so what?

Hopefully, if/when the ESFLOW shows up, it'd be a more visceral and less septic driving experience.

 

[daniel]

Am I the only one who worries about what the Leaf will sound like in 10 years?

Like the old ICE cars, it may pick up some downright annoying whines and hisses. Is it possible for it to stay this quiet after 50k or 100k miles?

There really isn't much to make noise as the car gets older. The usual rattles. Maybe a bad climate control blower bearing. But there's no ICE making explosions or muffler to suppress the noise of those explosions.

The new "normal" and funny side effect of LEAF driving for me. When I hear a car starter now it sounds kind of jarring and comical (stupid) because then the car just sits there, running... AND IT'S NOT EVEN MOVING!!! :lol: :roll:

That's how I've felt ever since I began driving my Zap Xebra!

 

[LeafTalk]

If anyone really misses the sound, try the following trick:

Set your radio to an un-tuned channel where you can hear lots of white noise and turn your speakers up full.

As you press the accelerator and the motor generates a hum, it's interference is amplified by your radio. Works better on some channels than others. You get sick of it after about a minute though.

It's the closest you will ever get to an engine revving sound without adding some sort of audio contraption. :lol:

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

i have limited exposure to many of the exotic high end sports cars, but the ONLY engine sound i liked and still like is the sound of an idling Harley.

i personally think its my maturation of my love of the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

a parting comment concerning the rattling of old cars; will a Leaf develop the same issues? probably not. the rattling is the result of long term vibration. a study on the frequency range that is most likely the cause of this will immediately point towards ENGINE vibration with road vibration almost always a non factor

 

[Lanzer]

Really? I'm the opposite.
With no gas tank to fill, I'm launching from every light like a teenager.
I swear if I drove my gas car like I do the Leaf, I'd get 10MPG.

At this point, the cost of tires is likely to be more than electricity.

I must admit that I am worse as a driver for the time being. I feel the same urge to put the high torque to good use and not feeling bad over "wasting gas", even though I'm wasting energy none the less.

Also, without the engine noise to give me a sense of speed, I often end up driving too fast as I coast silently around town.

Both are temporary as I get used driving my first EV. For now I'm just cherishing the boyish wonder that my Leaf is bringing me. All the cars I owned were a mode of transportation, while the Leaf felt like a toy that I've always wanted.

 

[UkrainianKozak]

Why is it that everyone thinks that accelerating fast is using more energy?
as long as you are not burning rubber, if you accelerate slow or fast, to reach the SAME SPEED, it should take the same amount of energy, actually accelerating fast SAVES energy as you are getting to your destination faster and lose less "parasitic energy" (AC/NAV, other electronics)

 

[TomT]

FYI, the following equation calculates the power requirement for vehicle acceleration, represented by the variable Paccel.

Paccel = Vave MGr.Veh. a,

in which Vave= average velocity = ½ (V2 + V1), and

a = acceleration = deltaV/deltat (m/s2).

Unfortunately though, since gas engines, transmissions, transfer cases, batteries, electronics, and the like are not linear, there IS more loss with heavy acceleration...