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Is it just me, or do Toyota engines sound like crap?

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Is it just me, or do Toyota engines sound like crap?

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bgsymalone

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Seriously I drove a 92 Integra for 2 yrs that had 275,000 on it that ran smoother, sounded nicer than my dads 07 Corolla or my mom's 09 Rav. Even my gs sounds like crap when its warming up.

Apparently the engines are bulletproof, but it'd be nice if they sounded like they were.

What do you guys think?
 
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#2 ·
Honda is one of the few companies out there that actually pays attention to engine acoustical properties as a high priority in their designs. You can read this in various design papers that they publish through the SAE. Even their 2.2L Euro turbodiesel had a very strong emphasis on sound quality. I think Toyota doesn't care so much. Nissan used to not care, but particularly on their Infiniti cars they like to give them a little 'buzz' nowadays. Ford cares a whole lot about acoustics on their Mustang GT, but that's about it. Sound quality and exhaust note has always been a huge selling feature on that car.

Cars don't just sound good all by themselves, so if something sounds nice it's because they wanted it to sound nice and made it a priority. To emphasize frequencies that sound good and attenuate unpleasant ones requires a whole lot of time and engineering dollars.
 
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#3 ·
Well,Toyota's 4cyl do seem to make quite a bit of noise when warming up,after its warmed up it doesn't sound to bad. Our Sienna with the 3.0l V6 with 220,000kms runs super quite (sometimes I think it doesn't start,so I step on the gas a little to make sure :lol: ) It does have a nice sound when you get up there in the RPM's. In fact all of Toyota's engines have a nice sound when you get up to or past 4k 8) (esp. the Tacoma)
 
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#7 ·
After the dealer changed the oil in my V6 RAV4 the first time, the attendant drove it up to me at the service entrance. I was surprised by the throaty sound--it wasn't like any of the Hondas or Nissans I have driven before. Most of them sound like old sewing machines by comparison.
 
#8 ·
I agree. The first week of ownership of my 03 Corolla i thought something was not normal under the hood. At idle speed the engine is very noisy, constant tic tic tic noise. After consulting a mecanic and reading car evalutions i found out it was normal and everyone had the same problem.
The rav is noisy during high rev at warm up untill the engine idle goes back to normal and i find it a lot less noisy than the Rolla.
 
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#9 ·
Sound is also a bit subjective too. Review after review after review said the GM 3800 Series II/III engine was "coarse and unrefined" but I personally loved the sound and found it to be almost turbine smooth. That's still one of my favorite engines ever. So much torque right where you need it right in the 2000-4000 rpm range. Then some other reviews have said certain Honda and Toyota 4-cylinders are "nearly as refined as some V6's". I guess it depends on the application. I've found the recent Honda Accord 4-cylinders to be nasty sounding and feeling like they want to explode at only 3000rpm, yet if you take the CR-V for a spin it really is super refined and you can be well past 4000rpm and it doesn't even feel like there's an engine running it's so smooth. They make different variants of these engines with and without single or multiple balance shafts, and with and without fancy motor mounts and other sound and vibration deadening tricks.
 
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#11 ·
I'm not sure about the I4, but the V6 has chain cam drive, far more reliable, but more noisy. Coming from a motorcycling background, the vibration and noise complaints I hear mean nothing to me. :)
 
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#12 ·
I think the Toyota engines I've heard sound normal for their size (4 or 6 cyl).

Most of my past vehicles have been V8s, starting with my first car. Some of them have been weak (95 Thunderbird), and others more powerful (Z-28, GTO). As a result, I'd grown used to V8 sounds, and to me all 4 cyl cars I've ever driven/ridden in have sounded high pitched, buzzy, or sewing-machiney. Doesn't matter if it's Chevy, Ford, Honda, Nissan etc, they all sound high pitched and "busy" to me.

V6s don't sound interesting either, but usually are better sounding than 4cyls--quieter than I generally am used to, but without the go-cart/lawnmower sound of a 4 cyl. The V6 in my RAV4 sounds like a normal, average, expected car sound for a non-performance 6 cyl daily driver.
 
#14 ·
Any old school PC gamers remember the original Need for Speed game for the PC (dos), back in like 1995 or around then?

Well the first time I test drove a 4.3 v6 rav4, I remember saying holy shit, that's exactly how the Diablo sounded like in Need for Speed and had a ear to ear grin. Now I'm not talking about the exhaust note coming from the rav. I'm talking about the sound coming through the firewall/under carriage as the rav runs through the gears at WOT.

So yah, dunno if that's good or not to you, the rav4 sounding like the EA's interpretation of a mid-90's lambo, but I love it! :D. I dunno what the rav4 sounds like at WOT from the outside, but from the inside, I sometimes floor it just to ear that distinct sound that takes me back to perhaps one of the best pc racing game in recent history. After the 2nd 3rd versions of that game, EA just started veering away from what made that game so fun with all this fast and furious crap.
 
#15 ·
bgsymalone said:
Seriously I drove a 92 Integra for 2 yrs that had 275,000 on it that ran smoother, sounded nicer than my dads 07 Corolla or my mom's 09 Rav. Even my gs sounds like crap when its warming up.

Apparently the engines are bulletproof, but it'd be nice if they sounded like they were.

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
I was interested in buying a 2024 RAV4 gas powered.
The car had everything I was interested in. We took it for a rather short test drive. The engine was so annoying on acceleration it sounded like a peace on junk.
The dealer ship lost a sale.
The salesman said if you don't like noise get the hybried engine. No deal. I owned a 1976 Corella. no engine noise.

I compared the RAV 4 Engine to my 2016 Hyundai 1.6 Turbo engine. no excessive engine noise. You can hear the turbo when it kicks in but nothing like the RAV4 gas engine. I
 
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