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Detroit, 6:10 AM
Tue Dec 1
29 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of ThreeLitre ThreeLitre
    11/22/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA
    I am sitting here in my room, alone, at 11:17pm on a Sunday night, after having had a few drinks, and I just had a religious experience listening to that noise.

    I don't know if the engineers intended it (but I'm fairly sure they did because it's freakin' Yamaha), but the noise it makes right at the red line on full throttle, right before you shift - I cannot get enough of it. Heavenly.

    A choir of angels couldn't top that.
     Reply
    ThreeLitre was starred ThreeLitre was unstarred
    Image of ab3 ab3
    11/22/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA
    Ehhh.. can't say I'm a huge fan... When it was started up it still sounded like a whinny ricer engine and even though it sounded good at higher revs it still had that weird piercing aspect to it
     Reply
    fuchikoma promoted this comment ab3 was starred ab3 was unstarred
    Image of fuchikoma fuchikoma
    11/22/09

    @ab3: I'm mostly into ~2L imports already, but I agree about the piercing sound - that thing makes a sportbike sound like a muscle car. The recording at least had no bass at all, which is like the polar opposite of what I think makes a good sounding exhaust - I like the smooth lower tones you can feel reverberate in your head a bit...

    I think you could definitely design an engine for a certain sound and make it work, and I like a high-revving engine, but I found the clip pretty unappealing.
     Reply
    fuchikoma was starred fuchikoma was unstarred
    Image of Kyle Lackey Kyle Lackey
    11/22/09

    @fuchikoma: You cannot be implying that the Genesis coupe you posted sounds better than the LFA.

    Please throw away your copies of the Fast and Furious series at once.
     Reply
    fuchikoma approved this comment Kyle Lackey was starred Kyle Lackey was unstarred
    Image of fuchikoma fuchikoma
    11/22/09

    @Kyle Lackey: It sounds like an impressive high performance engine, but very harsh on the ears and almost shrill. I think it would get really annoying in very short order unless it sounds way different in real life.

    So I won't imply, I'll state that the GC sounds better because it actually makes a sound that's pleasant to hear. The LFA sounds like a fast car, it just doesn't sound good. I suspect the recording was taken from a strange spot and that it's missing a whole range of frequencies because it's rare for any car to sound so hollow.
     Reply
    fuchikoma was starred fuchikoma was unstarred
    Image of Ford Tempo Fanatic Ford Tempo Fanatic
    11/20/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA
    Yamaha makes pianos? I thought it was all about the SHO.
     Reply
    Ford Tempo Fanatic was starred Ford Tempo Fanatic was unstarred
    Image of Black_Betty Black_Betty
    11/20/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA
    Sounds great.

    Some of you toffs place too much on the brand. Just because it says Lexus and not Maseratti does not mean that this should be under valued. Desire should come straight from the engineering. Its a car not a painting. You want the love of it to come from the drive, not from name dropping in social circles.

    I think of it like this. I buy Ansell condoms. Not because the name sounds sexy and inspiring or desirable, but because i trust their engineering. I do not desire to simply own them for the name sake, but i do desire to use them.

    Take off the badges (get naked) and drive till your hearts content.
     Reply
    Scaramanga promoted this comment Black_Betty was starred Black_Betty was unstarred
    Image of Tyson Tyson
    11/20/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA
    I think I've figured out what it is about the LFA. Absolutely every part of it is as close to perfection as Toyota could make. There isn't a single piece designed to a price, and absolutely every bit is designed to be the very best at what it does. Its an amazing level of attention to detail, and its an amazing feat to have essentially a perfect car.

    At the same time, we expect little oddities in vehicles. We want to find something wrong, because flaws make it easier to anthropomorphize a car. We want to feel like the cars we drive, the cars we lust after, are more human. We want them to have things like 'soul' or 'passion'.

    This car, for all its perfection, has nothing we can identify with. There aren't any tricks to driving it, it doesn't have a single button somewhere other than where you would expect it. This is the essence of a perfect car, and because of that we cannot love it. There's nothing to learn, there are no tricks to it, it just feels cold and calculating and very, very fast.

    So, Toyota, if you're listening: We know you can build the perfect car. You've shown us that, and we respect it. We just can't love it.
     Reply
    Scaramanga promoted this comment Tyson was starred Tyson was unstarred
    Image of Muscles Marinara Muscles Marinara
    11/20/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA
    Wait a minute, didn't you guys just make fun of the Mustang for basically piping extra intake noise into the cabin in the "most redundant automotive features" article? Isn't this pretty much the same thing? Just sayin...
     Reply
    beercheck promoted this comment Muscles Marinara was starred Muscles Marinara was unstarred
    Image of willyolio willyolio
    11/21/09

    @Muscles Marinara: yes, but where ford added a pipe, toyota added a soundstage.
     Reply
    fuchikoma promoted this comment Edited by willyolio at 11/21/09 4:27 PM willyolio was starred willyolio was unstarred
    Image of Mobius Mobius
    11/20/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA
    The more I know about this car, the less outrageous its price tag becomes. Still not the prettiest or the fastest or the most luxurious or the most desirable, its little foibles (all in a good way) and that sound (THAT SOUND!!!) is starting to win me over.

    Now, I just need to find that money somewhere.
     Reply
    Mobius was starred Mobius was unstarred
    Image of Tim Fisher Tim Fisher
    11/20/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA
    I once went to a "high send" audio store to demo some speakers, but I forgot my CD's. So the salesman asks "what do you want to hear?" I say "rock." He brings out The Eagles, live and acoustic. "No, I said Rock!" I think to myself. Leaving the store I conclude "What do I need $2000 speakers for anyway?"

    All that beautiful, fanatical, incomparable machinery, but Lexus cannot seem to engineer desire.
     Reply
    Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet promoted this comment Tim Fisher was starred Tim Fisher was unstarred
    Image of Pessimippopotamus Pessimippopotamus
    11/20/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA
    Yeah. That's why Japanese cars are soulless.

    I can't ever imagine Bizzarrini trying to break down engine notes into numbers and algorithms.

    And I don't like how it sounds. But it is how I would imagine how a high revving Yamaha engine to sound.
     Reply
    Pessimippopotamus was starred Pessimippopotamus was unstarred
    Image of dal20402 dal20402
    11/20/09

    @Pessimippopotamus: Exquisitely perfected technique has its own, different kind of soul.

    See my comment below about just how great high-revving Yamaha engines can be.
     Reply
    Pessimippopotamus promoted this comment dal20402 was starred dal20402 was unstarred
    Image of IronicalBalls IronicalBalls
    11/20/09

    @Pessimippopotamus: Relax already.
     Reply
    Pessimippopotamus promoted this comment IronicalBalls was starred IronicalBalls was unstarred
    Image of Muscles Marinara Muscles Marinara
    11/20/09

    @Pessimippopotamus: I agree, the sound is insane but I can't say I like it. It's not for everybody, that's for sure, although it's obvious that it is an amazing engine. And I'm not sure if you are referring to the small-block Chevy-powered Bizzarrini cars, which also sound awesome, or the engine that powers the car in the video above, but I'm gonna assume it's the latter... so...
     Reply
    Pessimippopotamus promoted this comment Edited by Muscles Marinara at 11/20/09 6:52 PM Muscles Marinara was starred Muscles Marinara was unstarred
    Image of Naters4 Naters4
    11/20/09

    @Pessimippopotamus: Agreed, it sounds totally mathed out and digitized. Listening to that I felt like I had Gran Turismo playing in the background. Video game sounds... just a little too perfect.
     Reply
    Pessimippopotamus promoted this comment Naters4 was starred Naters4 was unstarred
    Image of Tyson Tyson
    11/20/09

    @Naters4: You know what though? The Italians do the same. There are all sorts of things every car maker does, like program in misfires on throttle-lift, just for the sounds that it makes. People expect an engine to sound a certain way, and the audio engineers try to make everything match up.
     Reply
    Pessimippopotamus promoted this comment Tyson was starred Tyson was unstarred
    Image of donwonton donwonton
    11/20/09

    @Pessimippopotamus: Like this?
    [www.yamaha-motor.com]
     Reply
    Pessimippopotamus promoted this comment donwonton was starred donwonton was unstarred
    Image of F1Morgan F1Morgan
    11/20/09

    @Pessimippopotamus: Yes they are soulless in a way, they are a subtle and functional people, I lived there a while. But I bet if you look closely and drive one it will be a Zen like experience.
     Reply
    Pessimippopotamus promoted this comment F1Morgan was starred F1Morgan was unstarred
    Image of Pessimippopotamus Pessimippopotamus
    11/21/09

    @Tyson: Well, Bizzarrini doesn't make engines anymore, and yes. Modern supercar manufacturers tune the engine notes, but I don't quite think that even just 1 or 2 decades ago, they tuned the engines by measuring the frequencies or developing sound paths for the engine note to get into the cabin. It's too pedantic to be truely soulful.

    And yes. Obviously following that logic, modern Italian cars are going to sound less soulful than the classic ones. I don't think anyone can deny that.
     Reply
    Pessimippopotamus was starred Pessimippopotamus was unstarred
    Image of geschmidtt geschmidtt
    11/21/09

    @Pessimippopotamus: Modern cars are missing (as is the case of this Muira) the deep throated intake of 6 dual Webers with tuned velocity stacks. Fuel injection is just not going to create the funky kind of combustion that you get from those air swallowing beasts, with a tuned or not tuned exhaust.
     Reply
    Pessimippopotamus promoted this comment geschmidtt was starred geschmidtt was unstarred
    Image of dal20402 dal20402
    11/20/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA
    When the secondaries opened at about 3900 rpm, my Yamaha-powered Taurus SHO turned into the best-sounding car I've ever driven.

    Other cars with twincam V6s sound like cars with twincam V6s. The SHO, with its rusted-out mufflers and removed resonator, sounded like a weedwhacker on crack. It was addictive.

    I would *love* to hear the LFA in person.
     Reply
    beercheck promoted this comment Edited by dal20402 at 11/20/09 6:04 PM dal20402 was starred dal20402 was unstarred
    Image of Turboner Turboner
    11/20/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA
    I hate it when I get something stuck in my dragon eye...

    BTW sounds great, although I normally remove the accousting dampening "tanks" and other unnecessary items from my intakes. I like to hear those pulses in concert with the exhaust.
     Reply
    Turboner was starred Turboner was unstarred
    Image of Tanshanomi Tanshanomi
    11/20/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA

     
     Reply
    Tanshanomi promoted this comment Tanshanomi was starred Tanshanomi was unstarred
    Image of Tanshanomi Tanshanomi
    11/20/09

    @Tanshanomi: Okay, how many times do you get to promote your own comment?

    (Hey Ray, who loves ya, baby!)
     Reply
    Tanshanomi was starred Tanshanomi was unstarred
    Image of Steve_in_NC Steve_in_NC
    11/20/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA
    I got your dragon eye right here!
     Reply
    Steve_in_NC was starred Steve_in_NC was unstarred
    Image of Jason Kinnard Jason Kinnard
    11/20/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA
    Rolls eyes at the $400,000 Toyota trying to sound cool....
     Reply
    beercheck promoted this comment Jason Kinnard was starred Jason Kinnard was unstarred
    Image of Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet
    11/20/09

    In reply to Yamaha Wants You To Hear The Lexus LFA
    So, they added an extra pipe into the car, because the air intake noise was too wheezy on its own?
     Reply
    Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet was starred Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet was unstarred
    Image of elev elev
    11/20/09

    @Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet: I remember Top Gear mentioning that the M3 has a similar feature
     Reply
    Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet promoted this comment elev was starred elev was unstarred
    Image of Otto Suksumake Otto Suksumake
    11/20/09

    @Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet: Yeah sounds like it.

    Ferraris dont need that...
     Reply
    Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet promoted this comment Otto Suksumake was starred Otto Suksumake was unstarred
    Image of jark jark
    11/20/09

    @elev: GTIs and Mustangs have tubes to let engine noise in the cabin also
     Reply
    Tanshanomi promoted this comment jark was starred jark was unstarred
    Image of pauljones pauljones
    11/20/09

    @Otto Suksumake: Actually, they do. Ferrari recognizes that sound is one of the most important aspects of their cars, and they spend as much time tuning the exhaust note as they do tuning other major elements of the car.

    I don't know if it's true or not, but I remember reading a blurb in Motor Trend where it was said that Ferrari frequently sacrifices some degree of engine efficiency just to get the right sound. Again, I don't know how true that is, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it was true.
     Reply
    pauljones was starred pauljones was unstarred
    Image of Tanshanomi Tanshanomi
    11/20/09

    @jark: So, sound deadening insulation, then you pipe in the noise? I can't help but think of something to do with Monty Python, crates, and trenches.
     Reply
    Tanshanomi was starred Tanshanomi was unstarred
    Image of Otto Suksumake Otto Suksumake
    11/20/09

    @pauljones: Right i'm sure they tune for sound. But they don't pipe it in...

    Might as well play a throttle-angle influenced V12 soundtrack over the speakers. Would be cheaper than pipes.

    #tips
     Reply
    Otto Suksumake was starred Otto Suksumake was unstarred
    Image of beercheck beercheck
    11/20/09

    @Tanshanomi: Heh! Attaboy!
     Reply
    beercheck was starred beercheck was unstarred
    Image of jark jark
    11/20/09

    @Tanshanomi: I think the sound deadening is for road noise and then they pipe in some engine noise for the enthusiast models only, because who wants to hear a VW I-5 or a Mustang V-6?
     Reply
    jark was starred jark was unstarred
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