The worst sounding engine. Ever.

A rotary engine will not sound good no matter what you do to it.

Javelin wrote: Definitely the Ford 2.3L, and especially turbocharged. They sound like a sick Chinese diesel tractor after getting in a fight with a rock crusher.

Funny...I was about to say they sound like a tractor...we always joked about putting an international harvester sticker on the Merkur

The 225 odd fire v6 at idle sounds like it's missing a plug wire.

Any V-twin ever.

Well, my old 4.3 GMC Safari sounded terrible. And I hate spinning triangles.

Funny though, two the of worst sounds mentioned by previous posters are two of my favourites! VQ35 and 2 stroke dirtbikes. MUSIC TO MY FREAKIN EARS!!!! hahahaha

Spoolpigeon wrote: Any V-twin ever.

Buy a 'Guzzi, it'll change your life!

In reply to Spoolpigeon:

Thats not quite fair IMO. The Italian V twins and some of the Japanese V Twins sound pretty awesome. The trick is to get one that isn't running some weird angle. My Honda Hawk GT with the old style Two Brothers full system has a very Nascar v8 sound on acceleration and decel.

Kreb wrote: Purely subjective and tech-free. I for instance like the sound of a vq35, whereas the next fellow may well hate it.

Yup. Even built VQs sound like My Little Pony farting through a megaphone. They are my candidate for worst in the modern era. But you're completely entitled to your opinion and I won't criticize you for it.

The Manic Miata has a pretty much full Racing Beat exhaust from the head out, and doesn't sound too bad, but it's not glorious.

I don't mind the Subaru "Let's get ready to burrrrrrrrrrrrble!" sound.

Viper RT-10s had side pipes so you never heard all 10 cylinders at the same time. They sounded surprisingly trashy for a monster engine.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: The 225 odd fire v6 at idle sounds like it's missing a plug wire.

LOL I had one in my 64 Olds F-85. You speak the truth.

Trans_Maro wrote:

Spoolpigeon wrote: Any V-twin ever.

Buy a 'Guzzi, it'll change your life!

I remember some pretty righteous Ducs too.

In reply to singleslammer:

I blame my surroundings. 75% of the bikes running around my town are uncorked Harley's that just sound terrible. I've not heard any Italian bikes or modified Japanese bikes, so my comment may have been too broad.

A few weeks ago my town had its annual BBB. Blues, Bikes, and BBQ. Or as I like to call it: Bikes, Boots, and Black t-shirts The sound of hundreds (possibly thousands) of loud v-twins stereotypically revving the piss out of them for 3 days straight was headache inducing.

Spoolpigeon wrote: Any V-twin ever.

+1

+1 on the Subaru boxer. They always sound like they're missing a cylinder.

Jerry From LA wrote: +1 on the Subaru boxer. They always sound like they're missing a cylinder.

But the V-twin sounds like it's missing 2~3 cylinders!

There is one exception to the VQ rule. Mike Bright's BSP 350z. If you've ever heard it you know it. Iconel in all the right places made a HUGE difference.

This video does it NO justice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZADQxfPaGo

The issue with most V-twins is that they're straight piped Harleys that seek to deafen anyone within a half mile and run like crap. Stock or stock-ish HDs I actually don't mind, the 45 degree twin is certainly a unique sound at least. Ducs and Guzzis = sploosh.

I'll also stand behind the Volvo I5. Had a 5 speed, NA 850 as my first car that had the exhaust completely rust off immediately behind the cat the week before my junior prom. While my date wasn't amused in the least, 17 year old me liked it enough that I never bothered to fix it. I probably sustained permanent hearing damage as a result, the sucker was LOUD and droned terribly on the highway.

My vote for worst sound goes to the GM 4.3, although I generally dislike rotaries as well. Also, anything 4 cylinder with an automatic and a fart can tends to be pretty offensive to the ears.

Oh, one more that may or may not stir up some controversy - the old V10 F1 cars of the early 2000s. Ear splitting shriek that sounds boring on TV, and torturous in person.

I gotta say I like the vq engines. Wost sounding in my opinion is fart canned hondas. And that basically means all of them.

Whoever expressed all the love for ported rotaries with the obnoxious ST-ST-StU-POP-POP-wheeze. And linked a video. I wasted that minute of my life and am sad for it. That wins my vote for WORST sounding engine of all time.

I never really liked the way most VW 8v motors sounded, even with aftermarket exhausts and cams, especially the sound of a cammed 8v...

The VW 2.0t (FSI and TSI) isn't any better either

Subaru boxers, particularly in WRX/STI form w/ enough "performance exhaust" that they're audible.

While it's hard to imagine a proper race car that doesn't at least sound OK, the 2nd generation SCCA Enterprises Spec Racer Ford w/ the 1.9 Escort motor is a terrible sounding race car. The race group sounded like a swift herd of cows mooing their way down the front straight. The Gen 3 motors have fixed the problem.

For motorcycles, Harley Big Twins, particularly with "drag pipes" are fingernails on a blackboard for me. A lifelong motorcyclist, I worked at a large multi-line dealership for a number of years that counted H-D among it's many brands. The ear-shattering blare of the "Righteous Hog Bro" pinning the throttle as he departed the dealership made me wince, every time.

Most Japanese V-twin cruisers just sound anemic and awful. Moto Guzzis on the other hand all sound wonderful.

My KTM 690 SMC sounds exactly like a lawnmower at idle and like an open class motocrosser at full honk.

I beg to differ on the V twin comments. My KTM 950 sounds absolutely fantastic, no matter what you're doing. It's just an excellent sounding engine, and there's nothing quite like wringing it out to that 9500 rpm redline. It has a lot of high-revving V8 sound quality to it, for whatever reason.

Probably the most underwhelming for me is the GM 3800 and related engines. Experienced one in a Brunton Stalker, and later a Super Stalker, and I swear, that engine just let the whole car down. It just didn't sound happy being a fast car, even though it was incredibly fast. I've never heard one that was really satisfying. The 4.3 is up there too, but at least I didn't have any kind of expectations for it.

My co-worker had a Subaru with "performance exhaust". It sounded bad, even to him. So bad that he asked me to put a quieter muffler in, which I gladly obliged.

gearheadE30 wrote: I beg to differ on the V twin comments. My KTM 950 sounds absolutely fantastic, no matter what you're doing. It's just an excellent sounding engine, and there's nothing quite like wringing it out to that 9500 rpm redline. It has a lot of high-revving V8 sound quality to it, for whatever reason. Probably the most underwhelming for me is the GM 3800 and related engines. Experienced one in a Brunton Stalker, and later a Super Stalker, and I swear, that engine just let the whole car down. It just didn't sound happy being a fast car, even though it was incredibly fast. I've never heard one that was really satisfying. The 4.3 is up there too, but at least I didn't have any kind of expectations for it.

Agreed 100%. I had a KTM 950 SM and it was musical.

I too love the sound of an uncorked VQ. There are a few guys that run Spec 350z out here and those things sound wicked coming down the main straight. Don't know what exhaust they run.

On the other hand, the Spec Miata crowd is just hilarious. Nissans come through like "VWAAAAAHHHHMMMMMM" then the Spec Miatas get to the straight and its like "beeeeEEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZEEEEEEEEEE". Sounds like a heard of rabid, mutant bees or something.

Spoolpigeon wrote: In reply to singleslammer: I blame my surroundings. 75% of the bikes running around my town are uncorked Harley's that just sound terrible. I've not heard any Italian bikes or modified Japanese bikes, so my comment may have been too broad. A few weeks ago my town had its annual BBB. Blues, Bikes, and BBQ. Or as I like to call it: Bikes, Boots, and Black t-shirts The sound of hundreds (possibly thousands) of loud v-twins stereotypically revving the piss out of them for 3 days straight was headache inducing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Btq4yF7zSI