manifold danger

Ok, let's try something new. Let's stop talking about the 981 for a sec. Best you can, put it out of your mind. Just consider it irrelevant because they don't make them anymore, or whatever works for you. Purge it. Good? Now you've got an open mind, right? Ok.

And let's stop talking about the 718 as it comes from the factory. I'll go ahead and admit the car sounds dull stock, even with PSE or whatever else they've done on the GTS. Not inspiring, at least not to the point where I keep going back just to listen like I do in the EVO vid you posted.

But- I DO keep going back to listen to aftermarket exhausts on these cars. Sort of like the stock E92 M3... it sounds ok stock, but it really comes alive with a proper exhaust. My fave is Akrapovic, that's easily the best sounding v8 I've ever heard (short of a Ferrari).

But... the 718 has a really distinct sound with some of these aftermarket exhausts that I actually kind of LOVE. I'm not talking about comparing it to the 981, remember? Just something I like hearing. Of course it will raise comparisons to a Subaru, but that's completely fair, it is the same motor configuration after all. I actually like the 718 better. Let's see if I'm on my own here (remember, open mind):

Fabspeed:
Armytrix:
Remus:
I like all 3, but I think I'd have the Fabspeed.

Thoughts?

Wild Weasel

Hey... I'm on record as saying I don't hate the sound.

Listening to these... I still don't love it. It's good. It's better than stock. It's not particularly memorable. People who own them will be very happy if they don't have the point of reference. As you say... if you can put the 981 out of your mind (or never have it there to begin with) then you'll be perfectly happy.

I'm listening to the Faspeed video with my headphones as I write this.

Honestly... it kinda sounds like a tractor at times.

FWIW, I don't have any ingrained idea of what a Subaru sounds like and couldn't identify one from a sound clip. I mean... it SHOULD be similar. The STI is a performance tuned flat-4 turbo.

CaymanSinAR

This video is a perfect, perfect, perfect example of what I hate about the 718. I'm OK with the noise it makes to people outside the car. The problem for me is what the 718 sounds like from the cockpit. It's TERRIBLE.

Listen to the sections from 1:23-1:30 and 1:43-1:59. That is utterly awful. Not just awful because it is a Porsche. That would be awful in a Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, Kia, or a Chevy too. It's sounds like an industrial vacuum pump. I don't want to drive anything that reminds me of the FoodSaver on my kitchen counter.

manifold danger

It sounds great to me. Lol. I like the intake sound the 718 makes in the cabin even stock in the base car I drove, this honestly sounds even better. Agree to disagree.

It's just never gonna work on here, particularly in the 981 forum lol. Maybe I just have a more open mind, maybe I'm a Subaru fanboy at heart, maybe it's Maybeline. I don't know. I just know that anytime there's significant change in something that's as revered as the sound the flat 6 made, there's a transitional period where people just hate whatever is new. I have a feeling that the sound the 718 makes will become its own sort of classic in time, but I'll probably have to wait a decade or so before I can test my hypothesis because apparently the wound is still fresh.

Some people are all about Scarlett Johanssen, some don't think she's all that. Subjective is as subjective does.

ekam

It's the sound of a Subaru!

Wild Weasel

This amuses me because I'm 100% the opposite. When driving a 718S on a track, I never once thought "this sounds bad". This formed my original opinion and I stand by it. I never thought "OMG, this sounds great!", but I definitely never cringed or disliked the sound.

It's only been from outside, when listening to them on the track or street, and in those videos above, where I've occasionally thought "Man... those really don't sound good at all..."

And if I'm honest, I don't really care about that aspect. I mean... I can't count the number of people who have commented on how great my Boxster sounded but as the one spending the money on the car... it's only what it sounds like to me when I'm driving it that matters.

CaymanSinAR

Bought a Vgate iCar 2 WiFi OBD2 reader and downloaded the Bimmercode app. Tuesday night I'll code the Active Sound on my BMW off and take it for a spin to see how it sounds compared to normal. Should be fun!

CaymanSinAR

I followed through on this and pulled my BMW out of storage Tuesday night. Wow. Coding is ridiculously easy these days!

So I disabled active sound on my 428i Gran Coupe. The car is way too quiet without active sound. The only time you really hear the engine is when you get after it hard; and that is if you have the radio off. If you have the radio on and at any appreciable volume you aren't going to hear the engine. The engine noise itself I would describe as reedy. Not bad IMO. It is also way too easy to find yourself going too fast because there is zero engine note to guide you along. On the side road to my house I accelerate to about 45 and cruise the couple of miles to my turn. With no active sound I found myself at 65 and still accelerating because there was no audible cue as to how fast I was going. Not good.

I will definitely be coding active sound back on the next time I drive the car.

As for the sound BMW pumps into the cabin, I'm OK with it. Now that I know what it sounds like without active sound the noise it makes with active sound definitely seems artificial. But I don't find it displeasing and in no way does it not fit the personality or dynamics of the car. That being said, the next time I have some free time and the weather is too crappy to be out in the Miata or Boxster I'm definitely going to spend an hour coding my 4GC to sound like different cars. Will be fun to see how it sounds coded to M2, M5, X5M, etc. Ultimately I'll go back to the stock sound designed for my car though.

manifold danger

As I think most if not all modern luxury cars would be. It's just something the "purists" will need to see past unless they're going to drive used cars the rest of their lives... but it's not like that's such a bad thing either.

ekam

I'm ok with driving "used car" for the rest of my life... I mean even the rich drive used restomod cars because new cars just suck.

http://www.thedrive.com/news/20504/f...-dino-restomod

RalphN

I have to agree with those who don't like the BMW approach. I had a 435i as a DD for a few years, and then when I got my 6 speed 997 traded the 435i for an X3 with an auto. Same 300hp engine but totally different sound. The 435 always sounded loud and aggressive in the cabin, whereas the X3 is very quiet. Which makes the 435i seem ridiculous to me.

Biochemlab

Now Autoblog says the symposer is part of the stereo...

https://www.autoblog.com/2018/05/23/...k-spin-review/

Wild Weasel

I believe they're wrong and just made that up based on someone's misunderstanding.

Noah Fect

I could care less about the exhaust (and, to be fair, could also care more). But FabSpeed doesn't offer a way to fix that goofy back end.

heylookeverybodyitsa P O R S C H E isntthatawesomehuhhuh

And I'd have to look at it every time I walk into my garage, or approach my car in a parking lot.

So... they can have my 981 when they pry it from my cold dead hands. The way I drive, that may not be entirely out of the question, but they will still have to wait for the heated steering wheel to cool down first.

manifold danger

I think you're nuts. Maybe I have bad taste but I love the way the 718 looks... I won't say it's better than the 981 per se, but I like it.

I think that's part of the problem though- there's absolutely no fallacy in just holding on to your 981. I'm still probably going to do just that myself. It's just that so many people aren't content to do that, they also have to take every opportunity to talk about how much they hate the 718. If you just don't like the look, that's one thing. Full on attack of Porsche for "losing their way" etc. etc., is another.