Best sounding cars
As cars are getting quieter, here are the best sounding cars you can buy
It seems that we’re at a crossroads when it comes to the sorts of noises coming out from our favourite new performance cars. On the one hand, changing EU legislation and new technologies like hybridisation means cars are getting quieter, and the noises they do make are digitally generated.
On the other, manufacturers have never focused so much on the theatrics of combustion, with valved exhausts, cold-start rev-flares, and lift-off crackles still being added on cars across the motoring spectrum.
Underneath this, of course, some cars are more aurally pleasing than others, so below we’ve assembled ten models that entertain the ears in a way no ordinary car, nor digitally-enhanced EV, can get close to. From howling V12 supercars to thundering SUVs, this is our list of the best sounding cars on sale.
Best sounding cars
- Ferrari 812 Superfast
- Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS
- Lamborghini Huracan
- Jaguar F-Pace SVR
- Ferrari 296 GTB
- Audi RS 3
- Morgan Plus Six
- Mercedes-AMG G 63
- Aston Martin DBS Superleggera
- Caterham Seven 420 Cup
Ferrari 812 Superfast
- Prices from: £253,004
Purely in isolation the Ferrari 812 Superfast would be a spectacular sounding car. How could it not, with 6.5 litres and twelve cylinders at its disposal, plus a gloriously Italian attitude to exhaust silencing? However, the aspect that perhaps makes the 812 even better is that its sounds go hand-in-hand with some of the most exhilarating performance you’ll find in a road car.
Find a suitable spot (ideally with no speed limit and a dry, smooth surface) and the full force of the 812 Superfast’s near-800bhp acceleration in first, second, and third gear is enough to make you add your own soundtrack – that of a constant string of expletives. Not that you’ll hear yourself over the F1-style scream of the V12, though.
Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS
- Prices from: £125,500
Some cars are loud for those around them. Others are loud for the occupants, and the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS is one of those. With the air intakes for the 490bhp 4-litre naturally-aspirated flat six positioned about six inches from your head, few cars have a more prominent – if borderline painful – induction roar.
Sheer volume on its own counts for little if the sound is unpleasant though; nobody wants to listen to a foghorn several times a day, impressively loud though it might be. So it’s just as well a flat six breathing through individual throttle bodies is among the best noises a car can make, and even better when the rev limiter is set at 9,000rpm. The change in tone, resonance, and volume towards the limiter gives the GT4 RS real character too.
Lamborghini Huracan
- Prices from: £171,578
The new Lamborghini Temerario has really got its work cut out. 10,000rpm or not, it also has ‘only’ eight cylinders, and that’s two fewer than its Huracan predecessor, a car that deserves a place on this list not only for the baleful howl that only ten cylinders seems capable of producing, but also the volume at which the sound emerges.
Huracans weren’t always quite as loud as the STOs, Technicas and Sterratos that have rounded out the car’s time on sale, but you’ve always been able to hear them approach from further away than the equivalent Audi R8 and its mechanically similar V10. Right and proper for an Italian supercar, of course, though it does mean picking your moments to exploit the Huracan’s citrus-sharp throttle response and 8,000rpm power peak.
Jaguar F-Pace SVR
- Prices from: £84,940
The folks at JLR clearly have a sense of humour, as they’ve been responsible for some of the most amusingly vocal SUVs you can buy over the last few years. The first to arrive was the Range Rover Sport SVR, but more recently, the Jaguar F-Pace SVR has held that mantle.
Set aside for a moment the idea that there’s no car more obnoxious than a large SUV making a loud noise, and it’s hard not to crack a smile at the sound emanating from the SVR’s four large tailpipes. Jaguar’s supercharged V8 has always made a pretty spectacular noise but here it gets closest to that NASCAR-style optimum for V8 engines. It’s certainly more muscle car than luxury SUV, and is arguably at its best at low revs, where it has that real serrated, thundering rumble of the angriest eight-pot engines.
Ferrari 296 GTB
- Prices from: £241,550
We don’t envy whoever tunes Ferrari’s exhausts. Asking a V6 to match or eclipse the sound of the company’s old V8s is a tricky task, one that even Ferrari itself struggled with when the naturally-aspirated 458 Italia made way for the turbocharged 488 GTB. But the V6-powered and hybrid-assisted 296 GTB has to be one of the best-sounding V6s on sale.
As is the case with several cars here, a high rev ceiling helps: the red line on the 296 is set at 8,500rpm. Turbochargers do remove some of the higher frequencies, so this is no angry Lancia Stratos-like saw-blade sound. Instead, it’s closer to the cultured sound of an old Alfa Romeo ‘Busso’ V6, just with a few extra thousand revs at the top and considerably more performance under your right foot.
Audi RS 3
- Prices from: £50,900
The numbers don’t quite add up – you can’t simply half one to get the other – but in character at least, the in-line five of the Audi RS 3 is very similar to that of the V10 found in the Audi R8. A slightly offbeat tone comes from having an unusual number of combustion pulses fighting their way through the exhaust system.
In-line five engines have always been interesting to listen to, perhaps at their best in Audi’s Group B Quattro rally cars, but in road-going form they’ve often been quite muted. No such worries in the RS 3 (and the now-departed Audi TT RS), with valved exhausts to really let those five cylinders sing. It isn’t, however, quite as wonderful as it was when the RS 3 was brand new as petrol particulate filters don’t just trap some of the nasty emissions, but a few added soundwaves, too.
Morgan Plus Six
- Prices from: £93,603
The Morgan Plus Six uses one of the great modern road car engines, BMW’s ‘B58’ 3-litre turbocharged in-line six. You’ll find it across the BMW range, and in the Toyota Supra, where it delivers thumping performance throughout the rev range, near-perfect smoothness, and a tuneful exhaust note.
Only in the Morgan, all those characteristics are amplified. In such a light car – under 1,100kg – it feels all the more powerful, but the real benefit is in the way it sounds. There’s simply less car around you to block out the six’s tones, and Morgan has been a little more carefree with its exhaust note too. To top it all, you get to enjoy the whooshes and flutters of the turbocharger, which are effectively inaudible in the better-insulated BMWs and Supra.
Mercedes-AMG G 63
- Prices from: £136,690
You’ll find AMG’s four-litre, twin-turbocharged petrol V8 in plenty of models in the Mercedes-AMG back-catalogue, but we’ve chosen the G 63 here for one very specific reason. Well, make that four reasons – because it’s the four tailpipes that exit not at the back of the car, but as a pair on each side under the G 63’s chunky running boards.
This makes them all the more audible from the passenger compartment. In any other car that might be a bad thing, but the G 63’s not a car for those wishing to keep a low profile anyway, and easier access to the V8’s thundering, growling soundtrack merely enhances the experience. In a car not known for its cornering prowess, you might as well make the most of it on the straights instead.
Aston Martin DBS Superleggera
- Prices from: £257,000
It sometimes seems like there’s no middle ground between the howl of a high-performance V12 and the near-silence of a luxury model, but if any car bridges that gap, it’s probably the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera. Here is a car, and a turbocharged V12 engine, that cruises like a luxury model but has plenty of drama when you’re unleashing its performance.
The DBS ticks all the boxes, from the distinctive chunter of a heavy-duty starter motor spinning all twelve cylinders to life, to a vibrationless idle, and then a barrel-chested, almost V8-like growl as you accelerate hard through the gears. From the outside, there’s a hint of Supermarine Spitfire, embellished by crackles on the overrun. Back off, and you’re back to near-silence – well, tyre roar from the vast rubber aside.
Caterham Seven 420 Cup
- Prices from: £56,490
There have been some fantastic sounding inline four-cylinder engines in the past, ones that would have deserved to go on this list without question; think high-revving VTEC Honda, or an old twin-cam Alfa snorting through a pair of enormous Weber carbs. Most modern four-cylinders are designed to be as meek as possible though, and even the best hot hatch engines have a slightly bland exhaust blare.
Not so the Caterham Seven 420 Cup, whose highly-tuned 2-litre Ford Duratec engine makes more than 100bhp per litre and has little insulation to mask the induction roar. Though you may struggle to hear it over the track-spec exhaust a few inches from your elbow, whose unfiltered growl is punctuated for only the briefest moments as you swap ratios with the Sadev sequential gearbox.
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