My buddy had a '07 Qporte Automatico and the car was mechanically flawless, never went back the dealer for one issue in 3 years he had it.

Maserati hasn't learned from the Biturbo days that people want the leather to be actually leather; no matter how convincing the vinyl can be.

 

The difference between the driving experience in a 500-600 hp car and a 400 hp car is significant to me, whether or not I'm driving at 10/10 (which is never, on public roads).

And it's not just, or even primarily, about stop light dragging, etc. All up and down the gears and rpm range, the feel is simply different, and to me, better. That's why I have an R.

 

Schwabe,
I, too, love the sound and would like to create a similar experience, however, sometimes it sounds quite artificial. For example, a couple of weeks ago I was in a parking lot near an Aston Martin Rapide. He started his car and the typical rasp of the Aston was evident. As he started to drive forward he came to a small speed bump 30 feet in front. The slight extra rpms needed to get over this very small speed bump produced a roar more appropriate for a 6500 rpm flat out run. It just wasn't appropriate and was silly. Don't get me wrong, I love the sound of a great engine/exhaust combination, after all, I have a Pantera that when driven down the street at 1500 rpms will set off every car alarm on the block, but it needs to be proportional to the speed. Maybe BMW has it right where they pipe in and enhance the exhaust sound through the speakers inside the car, so that the driver can enjoy it while other drivers don't have to.

 

Jaguar does pipe engine noise into the cabin, via a tube from the intake system to a resonator on the firewall. On the XKR, this is further enhanced by a gadget called a symposer.

 

I don't think this is right at all. Why not just mimic an F1 V10 era then?

No kidding? At least it's not electronic representation of the sound, or is it?

 

Nope, it's induction roar, channelled down a tube. The difference on the XKR is that the symposer has a valve that opens & closes at different RPM, probably because the induction noise with the supercharger is louder and would be intrusive al low speeds & small throttle openings.

 

The only comparison video I can find ...




Can you be any more boring and unenthused testing cars like these ... ????

 

I fell asleep during the vid! I think it would be a different story in the dry, as the jag is a good bit faster. I test drove the 2012 MC and it was a nice car, sounded great, but you can definately feel that it's down on power compared to the RS

 

I think the 550 HP horrified this guy. I'd think he's be better suited road testing a Prius...