New owners: Please describe highway noise/sound level

One thing I would like to understand from real-world folks is the cabin noise level at highway speeds (~70mph).

If anyone wants to comment on what their new Leaf sounds like on the highway, I'm very interested to hear impressions. Any comparisons you can make to your other cars, conversation levels, handsfree phone, music. Tire noise..

I know the Leaf is very quiet at "test drive" speeds (0 to 30), but once you get to 65+, it seems like the chassis sound insulation is needed to keep the tire and road noise at bay. Is there enough?

Cheers!

I thought gudy commented on this...but maybe he wasn't referring to highways speeds...

It's going to be hard to relay this kind of information as it's largely subjective as well as highly dependent on the type of road surface. In my current vehicle with tires that are rated as very quiet, the concrete highways were VERY loud. Like you couldn't have the window open and carry a conversation. With the same car/tires on the "rubberized asphalt" they put down almost everywhere now, it's enormously quieter.

I think I have a sound level meter somewhere around here. I will do a comparison, but won't have my leaf until closer to the end of the month.

I was very surprised at how quiet and peaceful it was in the cabin going 70 mph down the freeway! The car feels solid and confident at all speeds, but I really like it so far!

The car is quiet. Whatever the speed you're going at it's quieter than any cars I've driven (including series 5 and 7 BMW from 5-10 years ago. ), or at least that's how it feels, maybe that DB levels only tell part of the story, as I'd suspect the LEAF to have a different "noise" frequency.

The most noise will come from the tires, so noise level might depend on the quality of the surface.
Talking to others in the LEAF 'us' like talking to people in an elevator, and compared to a regular car it's way more relaxing, and you don't really need to speak any louder.
When it's raining the noise level goes up quite a bit.
Comparing to my wife's fit, it's night and day... But the fit is a small city / cheap car.

Here, judging from my Prius experience on the freeways around here, there is an ENORMOUS difference between a "quiet" section and a LOUD section of pavement. From "very easy to hear and talk quietly", to "cannot hear anything you say". And, the ride changes from "so smoooooth" to "tiring, annoying vibrations".

I expect the LEAF to experience basically similar changes in the Tire-Noise source. It remains to be seen if the noise insulation is better in the LEAF.

I have only took 1 trip at 70 mph. The car is very quiet with most of the noise coming from the cars around you (their tire noise). There is wind noise, but is noticable mainly because the car's drive train is very quiet. Much less noise than my BMW or Audi.

vkruger said:

I have only took 1 trip at 70 mph. The car is very quiet with most of the noise coming from the cars around you (their tire noise). There is wind noise, but is noticable mainly because the car's drive train is very quiet. Much less noise than my BMW or Audi.

Click to expand...

I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling that the car is very quiet. (I might be biased because I really like the car so much )
However, I believe I've read numbers of DB at highway speed, which were not showing such a low noise level, hence me wondering if it's simply a different kind of noise, which would be less noticeable ?

I drove home tonight about 5 miles on the freeway. There is definitely a transition when you go from old pavement to new. Heading east on the 8 from the 5 about a half mile from the 5 the pavement changes to new and the Leaf gets noticeably quieter. I drive this daily in my 328 and never noticed the transition as much as I did in the leaf. I think it was because it went to nearly silent that I noticed it.

But I must say that gliding to a stop sign is a surreal experience. It's like being in another dimension., or what coming out of warp must be like.

I've never owned a premium luxury car where they take extra steps to quiet them down, but I was very pleased with the interior noise (or lack thereof) as we drove back to San Diego today. I had the climate control turned to squeeze every ounce of range and the windows rolled up, and it was very quiet to me...I didn't turn on the music for quite some time just to enjoy the quiet. The car also has a very firm feel (maybe because of the weight) and no rattles of any kind...

I had a big smile on my face the whole way home.....

Randy

Randy said:

I had a big smile on my face the whole way home.....

Randy

Click to expand...

I'm so green of envy... :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I have a sound meter and have made measurements of my neighbors Volt and my BMW 335 and Acura MDX so we can compare numbers. I measured at 30mph and 65mph on a smooth asphalt surface and a concrete surface using the A weighting.

turbo2ltr said:

I think I have a sound level meter somewhere around here. I will do a comparison, but won't have my leaf until closer to the end of the month.

Click to expand...

Way to go Mogur! This information should be very interesting.

The car is really, really quiet on the freeway. My first impression was that it was like a very high end Mercedes or BMW where the doors almost wheeze and lock when they seal you in.

Since the batteries are located on the floor pan of the car, they might be soaking up a lot of the road noise. I'll have to listen closer tomorrow.

-U

btw, one cool feature I didn't remember from the test drive a few months ago is the beeping it makes in reverse like a delivery truck. Kinda soft but important because the car is so quiet.

Uccello said:

btw, one cool feature I didn't remember from the test drive a few months ago is the beeping it makes in reverse like a delivery truck. Kinda soft but important because the car is so quiet.

Click to expand...

I don't think it's a cool feature.. but I guess everybody likes different things about the car. I was afraid the sound would be more obnoxious.. but it's not too bad. Thanks goodness it's not as bad as the UPS truck.

Now if we could choose different sounds... that would make it interesting!

My 3 day old car has a sound I would describe as a 'whine' with variable pitch, depending on speed. Should I be visiting my dealer for service? Does anyone else hear this whine?

LindaK said:

My 3 day old car has a sound I would describe as a 'whine' with variable pitch, depending on speed. Should I be visiting my dealer for service? Does anyone else hear this whine?

Click to expand...

Nope, nothing wrong, the "whine" is intentional at low speeds, just like the beep in reverse.

LindaK said:

My 3 day old car has a sound I would describe as a 'whine' with variable pitch, depending on speed. Should I be visiting my dealer for service? Does anyone else hear this whine?

Click to expand...

This is the motor noise. I hear it when the music system is off. But, not at high speeds where the road noise takes over. Depending on the age and sensitivity, some people may not hear this whine at all.

More than you ever wanted to know about automotive sound quality (warning: 9-page PDF file):
http://www.soundanswers.net/Tech_Papers/S&V Part 2 - Automotive SQ.pdf

I've just skimmed it so far, but one of the interesting aspects is sound management. All cars make sounds. In an electric car, there's no direct sound from the motor, which means the sounds from other components are more noticeable (climate control fan, coolant pump, etc).

evnow said:

LindaK said:

My 3 day old car has a sound I would describe as a 'whine' with variable pitch, depending on speed. Should I be visiting my dealer for service? Does anyone else hear this whine?

Click to expand...

This is the motor noise. I hear it when the music system is off. But, not at high speeds where the road noise takes over. Depending on the age and sensitivity, some people may not hear this whine at all.

Click to expand...

I actually hear the whine IN my stereo system...usually with the volume turned up a bit but with more quiet music playing.....I hear it over XM radio, but haven't tried it with my iPhone. It also comes over the AM radio when I listen to KFI. (yes, I listen to AM sometimes!) :lol: