- When it comes to the cars, what we like and don't like
is a completely emotional experience.
Mostly based on the subjective idea of the perfect car.
From the design, whether it's futuristic, on-trend,
classy, aggressive, or timeless,
it's all about the presence.
Then obviously performance
can also be a huge factor as well.
How much power does it have?
Does it handle well or is it a big fat boat?
Maybe you're super interested
in the unrealistic magazine acceleration numbers.
But, if you're anything like me,
the exhaust note can make or break the vehicle.
When a car sounds good,
it's really easy to overlook it's potentially
lackluster performance, or maybe it's bad looks.
So go grab your favorite snack and sit the (beep) down
because today we're talking about the best sounding cars
of all time and stick around for the last one guys,
because it's going to blow your freaking mind
into a totally new universe.
Starting off with an absolute screamer,
the W-1-40 generation Mercedes-Benz Essex hundred.
You know, it reminds me a lot of myself;
big luscious, sexy, smooth body lines
with a higher than average curb weight.
But, under the hood of this thing
is packin' a big honkin', six liter V12.
And even with 400 horsepower,
she's no Corvette,
but, it still has plenty of power to get out of its own way
and can do some big nasty burnouts.
But, just like any good video game
from the same era of this car, this thing has a cheat code.
Throw on some equal length headers under bed,
you've got yourself a hyper car that nobody can see.
This thing really sounds like a goddamn F1 car
mixed with the exoticness of a Bugatti Zonda.
In fact, it sounds exactly like a Bugatti Zonda,
and that's actually because the Zonda uses
a Mercedes supplied V12 that's based off this exact engine.
And they're super duper affordable with high mile examples.
And they're actually quite reliable
even though a 25 year old Mercedes with a super car engine
sounds a little scary.
However, I do have to come clean.
This one is a little bit misleading.
Because he's equaling patters, they're from Japan.
And not just like, just from Japan,
but they're like one shop in Japan makes these anymore.
And they're $12,000 per headers, so, you know.
About as much as you would even pay
for a nice W-1-4600 Essex hundred anyway,
I still want one of these really, really, really bad.
So if you do have one, slide into them DM's.
Let's move on to something a little bit more,
I guess, traditional.
The C6 generation Corvette Z06
sounds like it will rip your face off,
chew it up and spit it out into a new dimension.
This thing is aggressive.
It's a perfect mix of that old school
kind of power bi-displacement with a single cam,
but with modern valve training electronic technology
that lets this 427 cubic inch
or seven liter V8 rev to 7,000 RPMs.
Now that's a lot of RPM for that kind of displacement.
But, what I think is super cool
is the dry sump oiling system in a domestic sports car.
If you don't know what that is, dry sump systems,
essentially it gets rid of
the traditional oil pan if you will.
Along with that pickup to system.
It uses a reservoir fed oil pump
to more adequately disperse oil through the engine,
which means more reliably getting into those higher RMPs
with no risk of oil starvation on the track,
more efficient cooling of that oil
and much more complicated oil changes.
The thing also got a forged crank
and forged titanium connecting rods
and some hyper eutectic pistons,
which is also a pretty cool thing.
Hyper eutectic piston sits between
the traditional kind of caste and your fully forged piston.
It's a little bit lighter, stronger, it expands less
than a traditional cast piston,
but without the cost and the labor of a fully forced piston.
Really is a lot of race car stuff in it,
certainly sounds like it.
And then when people go and cam these things,
good god do they sounds even nastier.
I could talk about the LS-7 all day,
but I'm being told to wrap this one up.
So I guess we'll just move on to the next one.
Now I am a sucker for a burbally engine
that is untraditional.
And nobody does burbally and untraditional
Volkswagen did with the VR6 engine.
Long story short in the late eighties
Volkswagen needed to step their game up.
The G60 supercharged 1.8 liter four cylinder
just was not cutting the cake for the Corrado
to compete in its kind of compact sport,
luxury coupe things segment.
While a lot of you might say, "just add some more boost",
the most reliable and affordable way to add horsepower
from a manufacturing standpoint is by adding displacement.
But these 1.8's, it's already used kind of a large bore
for the block leaving pretty much no room
to up that displacement without major cylinder wall risks.
And these cars were pretty damn small.
So you're not really gonna to fit any sort of inline
or V6 into that frigging thing without re-engineering
literally the whole car and making it super expensive.
So some smart guy came in and was like,
"holy *** you guys, if we just make the V of the V6
as narrow as we possibly (beep) can,
you could theoretically fit six cylinders
into a four cylinder size package utilizing
the V design for that low end torque
and the inline design for that silky smooth power delivery."
And that's actually why this engine is called VR.
V is for the V design of it,
And R refers to Reihenmotor,
which literally means straight engine.
In this VR configuration,
the cylinders are actually offset from each other,
which means the intake
and exhaust runners have two different lengths.
And that's where this classic burbally sound comes from.
And it has to be one of my favorite sounding engines
of all time.
Especially when you start getting into booster applications.
Holy (beep) turbo VR six's sound is the absolute business.
And they tried so well.
And I actually used to have a mark three VR six turbo
and in 1998, Jetta with like 70,000 miles.
I miss that thing so much, I wish I wouldn't have sold it.
But there's no way to get through a best sounding cars list
without mentioning anything, but the one JZ engine.
Stocked turbos, big single, doesn't really matter.
This 2.5 liter 6 cylinder makes the most magnificent noises
from idol all the way to the 7,200 RPM revel limiter
on the JDM model of the Mach three super turbo.
Now I know what you're probably thinking:
"Bruh, why the hell are you talking 'bout some dumb old
one JZGTE that we didn't even get state-side
instead of the two JZ?"
Well, simply put, it sounds better.
It's so raw and racy and aggressive
and it revs quicker than the two JZ.
And just sounds deeper, and meaner.
Especially when these things start making big power
with lots of lag.
My God, it just sounds so, (beep) perfect!
You've got some of that burbal that I love
and the perfect tone in all revs.
I don't even know how to describe it,
but it almost literally sounds like a GT race car
mixed with all the turbo noises you could ever want.
This next one might be a 5.7 liter,
but it sure as hell ain't no Corvette.
In the late 90s into the early 2000's
Porsche was developing a prototype Le Mans car
internally named the 9R3.
The 9R3ad a 550 horsepower,
super high revving, 5.5 liter V 10,
six speed manual gearbox and state of the art engineering
built to take on Ferrari at Le Mans.
But, when Porsche caught wind that Ferrari was building
a Le Mans car that was actually super exclusive
and super exotic for the street, plans changed.
Porsche took all of their development for this Le Mans car
and crafted it into something to be street legal
in order to take their fight with Ferrari
to the friggin streets.
With what would later become the Porsche Carrera GT.
This thing makes 605 horsepower at 8,000 RPMs guys.
It doesn't make peak power until 8,000 RPMs.
And that's only 400 RPM away from its red line at 8,400 RPM.
And since the rotating assembly is so dang light,
this thing free revs was such crazy response in speed.
And the sound this thing makes while doing so
is absolutely exquisite.
I can listen to this thing literally forever.
No no no no no!
Keep playing the B roll, I'm not done listening
to this yet all right?
(engine revving)
You know what? I'm just going to say it.
The Porsche Carrera GT sounds better than the Lexus LFA.
All right?
It's just, it's just a fact.
But before we jump into this final one,
I want to bust through a couple of honorable mentions.
We're going to fire off three second samples of cars
that sound awesome, but didn't quite make the top six.
The five cylinder C4 Audi S4,
Lamborghini murcielago.
Fiat 500 abarth.
Fox Body 5 liter mustangs.
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I want to know what your favorite sounding car is.
At last, the moment you've all been waiting for,
the last car on this list.
The best sounding car ever made is a Mazda,
but not just any old Mazda
or even an RX seven or an RX eight.
This one is a straight up race car that in 1991
became the first Japanese car company to win
the 24 hours of Le Mans.
It was the first non piston engine
to win the 24 hours of Le Mans.
And it was also the final year
for the rotary engine to enter Le Mans.
I'm of course talking about
the 2.6 liter four rotor Mazda, 7-87 beat.
This friggin thing made 690 horsepower at nine thousand RPM.
Even more impressive than that to me is the nearly
450 foot pounds of tork from a rotary engine.
That is a game changer.
And one of the coolest ways
they were able to aid in adding that torque
was these variable length intake runners.
Intake runners literally would expand and contract
based on the engine speed with this really crazy poli system
controlled by electric motors.
How neat is that?
- That's pretty neat!
- The whole story of the win is super interesting as well.
Even though the engine made a ton of power for a rotary,
it was still underpowered compared to its competition.
Mazda actually convinced
the International Automobile Federation
to allow them to run at a lower weight,
have a more competitive power to weight ratio
and increase fuel economy because you know, rotary.
Anyway, it all worked out, they won
and they never used it again.
But good (beep) God if this thing doesn't sound like
an (indistinct) worldly aggressive infinitely revving
race car engine way ahead of it's time.
And it traps harder than a cammed LS engine.
This is the car that put rotaries in the history books.
This is the car that defined everything we knew
about rotary engine endurance capabilities.
And in my professional opinion, is the best sounding car
of all time.
So what do you guys think?
What are your favorite sounding cars?
Let me know.
Don't forget to subscribe and if you need exhaust,
MA performance probably has a solution for you.
And for all things, wheels, tires, and suspension.
Come see the experts at fitmenindustries.com.
I'm Shawn, (indistinct) find Instagram.
Thank you so much for watching.
A peace!
- You're welcome.