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fired up the ICE sitting in the garage

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by Nubo (Posted Mon, 27 May 2013 11:17:23 GMT)
cwerdna wrote:
Nubo wrote:
While there's a certain aesthetic that has developed around the noise and quirks of gasoline engines, the truth is that engineers have been laboring since the beginning to coax gasoline engines to be cleaner, smoother, quieter, lower maintenance, more efficient, and have a more tractable power band.

In short, they have been trying to make gasoline engines more like electric motors.

Well, re: quieter and smoother, it actually really depends.

For some cars, the engineers aren't necessarily trying to make them quieter. In some cases, they want a certain sound. My 350Z wasn't quiet as its engine sounded pretty raucous at high RPMs but it had quite a nice exhaust note at low RPMs. (It felt much noisier and harsher than my 02 Maxima, which had the same engine. I figure they had to keep the NVH down in a more luxurious family car vs. one that's not.) People who have been near a 350Z or Infiniti G35 coupe will know what I'm talking about. I believe a similar note was preserved on the 370Z and G37.

I can think of certain other cars, usually Detroit muscle, that have certain distinctive sounds as well.


Yes I'm aware of exhaust "tuning". Such affectations exist because we've become inured to the sound. As I said, there is a "certain aesthetic that has developed around the noise and quirks".

But I think in the general case, my statement holds. The qualities that are inherent in electric motors are those for which ICE designers generally strive. The point was especially clear to me because I came to the LEAF from a Mazda rotary-engine car. In my view, the rotary engine was an attempt to evolve the ICE to make it even more like an electric motor. I like to say now that the Wankel engine is an interesting approximation of rotary motion, but why not drive the real thing? :D



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