Piston Slap: BANG! The Lost Art of Exhaust Tuning?
Dan writes:I was hoping you might do an article on the lost art of exhaust tuning.I feel like the norm these days in anything sporty is to just make it as loud as possible with an obnoxious rumble and perpetual popping/crackling. I really miss the exhaust sounds of 10-15 years ago that were quite distinct and matched the car; the one that comes to mind (and still sounds great) is that of the original Infiniti G35 coupe/Nissan 350Z. It was refined yet had a nice wail to it when you added enough throttle. Nowadays, I hear a Jaguar F-Type driving past and it sounds like an old beater Mustang with a straight-pipe exhaust, not a $100,000 car.Have manufacturers gotten lazy, or has this notion of obnoxious exhausts just become the new norm?
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  • ToolGuy The only way this makes sense to me (still looking) is if it is tied to the realization that they have a capital issue (cash crunch) which is getting in the way of their plans.
  • Jeff I do think this is a good thing. Teaching salespeople how to interact with the customer and teaching them some of the features and technical stuff of the vehicles is important.
  • MKizzy If Tesla stops maintaining and expanding the Superchargers at current levels, imagine the chaos as more EV owners with high expectations visit crowded and no longer reliable Superchargers.It feels like at this point, Musk is nearly bored enough with Tesla and EVs in general to literally take his ball and going home.
  • Incog99 I bought a brand new 4 on the floor 240SX coupe in 1989 in pearl green. I drove it almost 200k miles, put in a killer sound system and never wish I sold it. I graduated to an Infiniti Q45 next and that tank was amazing.
  • CanadaCraig As an aside... you are so incredibly vulnerable as you're sitting there WAITING for you EV to charge. It freaks me out.