All Cars, All the Time

Sounds Good! Infiniti and Other Automakers Make Sweet Music

In the constant strive to differentiate themselves, car manufacturers are moving past comfort, style and power (basically givens in today's market) to focus on such things as "engine music." "We are trying to create a very engaging driving experience, and also create an emotional appeal with our products. And when you look at that the emotional triggers that are in cars, sound is one of the big ones," said Thomas Crahan an engineer for Infiniti. I know that when I drove the 350Z around for a day, I loved to hear the burble of the exhaust at idle and then hear the engine rip when I stomped on the gas. It's true that I really did have an emotional response to the way the car sounded. My wife had a response as well to the "noise", but it wasn't as favorable. This MSNBC article goes into detail on what automakers are doing.

I remember reading something in a magazine about a parts supplier that was using an engine's airbox to change the sound of a car. Engineers normally have to spend a lot of time tuning an airbox's design to get the right attributes, but this supplier claimed that their airbox wouldn't need as much customization and could be more of a one size fits all kind of part. The tuning of the box could be done electronically. The engineer demonstrated to the journalist how he could change the sound of the car by pressing a button on a control box. I was impressed with the technology, but I didn't save the article. I regret that now.