Few automotive attributes seem to carry the same weight as a beautiful exhaust note in the enthusiast community. Even some of the less-well-loved like the noise of a Subaru’s boxer engine or a Mazda’s rotary are appreciated for their unique tone. That’s had us wondering though, which performance car has the worst exhaust sound of them all?
Needless to say, electric vehicles are out of the running for this one. The lack of a natural exhaust note is a major drawback for some so much so that some folks have piped in fake noises. That trend isn’t only in the aftermarket either and might help us pick a few easy targets.
The new Subaru BRZ and its Toyota 86 twin each have fake exhaust noise piped into the cabin. They follow bigger performance cars like the BMW i8 which looks marvelous but also featured fake exhaust noise. It was part of the start of a trend that’s led to basically every performance car in the family playing fake exhaust noises through the speakers to make up for the shortcomings of the real one.
Read More: The C8 Corvette Looks Even Better With Central Exhausts
Normal cars that don’t pretend with audio tracks can still be quite the letdown though. For example, a lot of truck owners will rag on the Ford F-150 Raptor for sounding “down a couple of cylinders” since it’s only a turbocharged V6 but the problem really comes home to roost when you realize that a Ford GT supercar sounds just as drab.
Of course, lots of turbocharged fare have a tough time making a beautiful melody. The Nissan GT-R is another supercar that sounds much like any other fairly hot Japanese sports car. Likewise, the newer Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman with their turbocharged flat-four just doesn’t have anywhere near the same panache as the old flat-six.
It’s not just turbocharged engines that seem to struggle sometimes though. Some folks aren’t big fans of the noises made by the otherwise much lauded E46 BMW M3 or the Nissan 370Z. We expect that you have quite a large number of fitting answers though.
So you tell us. What’s the worst sounding exhaust on a performance car ever?
