Supercharger whine: ricey or cool?

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When you hear a car with the very loud supercharger whine, do you think it sounds good, or ricey/cheesy/lame?

My car's factory intake system completely muffles it. There are aftermarket setups that give you the full-blown...blown...noise. Not sure if I like it or not. Have been considering it for a while.
 
Not ricey at all. Refined and nice. Dad has a 2012 S5 with the V8. After driving and seeing the new S/C 3.0, he said sometimes he would rather that with the faint whine.

I like it..nice ride.
 
In a race/toy car - cool.

In a luxury car that I drive every day - annoying.

Installed polyurethane torque mounts on the Volvo T5 - very popular among the racer/tuner crowd, and the Volvo is known for wearing out mounts with regularity, the polys last longer, win-win, right?

Wrong...irritating on the drive to work or on long trips...same with performance intakes/exhaust...

edit: depends on the degree of change, of course, but I went back to rubber mounts on the T5 and I am keeping the factory intake/exhaust for the same reason... For a super cool sound, I roll down the windows on the V-12 and listen to the exhaust, but I want to keep the luxury ride/quiet in that car, so no boy-racer exhaust for me (besides, on an MB, they cost more than some of the cars I've owned...).

Look at it this way: Audi could have put that intake on, it probably costs less to manufacture than the complex airbox that works well in foul weather and keeps the sound level low...so, why didn't Audi go with the boy-racer intake? The answer is in the noise level, long-term customer satisfaction, and performance (most of these things add little in the way of performance...).
 
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I've installed too many aftermarket intakes and bushings to do it again. One takes for granted the refinement that OEM stuff brings to the experience. If you like the whine, then have the whine. I personally would choose to not have the whine.

It's 100% a personal choice.
 
Originally Posted By: Astro14
In a race/toy car - cool.

In a luxury car that I drive every day - annoying.

Installed polyurethane torque mounts on the Volvo T5 - very popular among the racer/tuner crowd, and the Volvo is known for wearing out mounts with regularity, the polys last longer, win-win, right?

Wrong...irritating on the drive to work or on long trips...same with performance intakes/exhaust...

edit: depends on the degree of change, of course, but I went back to rubber mounts on the T5 and I am keeping the factory intake/exhaust for the same reason... For a super cool sound, I roll down the windows on the V-12 and listen to the exhaust, but I want to keep the luxury ride/quiet in that car, so no boy-racer exhaust for me (besides, on an MB, they cost more than some of the cars I've owned...).


A Terminator Cobra with a bigger Whipple or Kenne Bell supercharger sounds awesome at WOT.

And fully agree on the Volvo mounts. If I had to do it over again I would have just got a stock upper mount. The stiffer lower mount for the trans is nice though.
 
I love S/C whine.
I really would like an 8th gen Civic SI with a supercharger. Would make an awesome DD. Maybe when I am not commuting.
The sound, so good.
 
Those Audis sound a little annoying due to the high pitch whine, but some of that could be poor sound quality from the video.

I like the sound of a supercharged Lightning though.

There was actually a Whipple supercharger kit for my truck available through Ford dealers, but it has been out of production for several years and is hard to find.
 
I always like the turbo whine or very faint woo sound when putting my turbodiesels under boost. But it is in no way intrusive.

Once you start getting into blowoff valves and whatnot on turbos (I've never had an s/c so I can only talk from a turbo pov), it starts to get ricey, especially if the exhaust and all start taking away deep throaty sounds for more high pitch.
 
A little whine is okay. A lot is annoying.

Some folks with Cruzes and Sonics have gone nuts with intakes and exhausts on the 1.4T engine. Not my cup of tea. I removed the resonators ahead of the factory airbox to get a tiny bit of turbo whistle when accelerating. It's silent when cruising, so it's perfect for my tastes.
 
I think the later V6 Nissan products have about the nicest exhaust sound around. The "supercharger" sound to me is the same as that from an old tranny with straight cut gears.
 
Originally Posted By: Astro14
In a race/toy car - cool.

In a luxury car that I drive every day - annoying.

Installed polyurethane torque mounts on the Volvo T5 - very popular among the racer/tuner crowd, and the Volvo is known for wearing out mounts with regularity, the polys last longer, win-win, right?

Wrong...irritating on the drive to work or on long trips...same with performance intakes/exhaust...

edit: depends on the degree of change, of course, but I went back to rubber mounts on the T5 and I am keeping the factory intake/exhaust for the same reason... For a super cool sound, I roll down the windows on the V-12 and listen to the exhaust, but I want to keep the luxury ride/quiet in that car, so no boy-racer exhaust for me (besides, on an MB, they cost more than some of the cars I've owned...).

Look at it this way: Audi could have put that intake on, it probably costs less to manufacture than the complex airbox that works well in foul weather and keeps the sound level low...so, why didn't Audi go with the boy-racer intake? The answer is in the noise level, long-term customer satisfaction, and performance (most of these things add little in the way of performance...).


My brother discovered this very thing with his 07 dodge dakota.
He has the HO v8(Hemi w/o the badge), and installed a magnaflow exhaust, only to find that:
a)the magnaflow made it SO loud he had to wear ear plugs inside the truck,
b) the factory exhaust was pretty much a straight tube w/ resonators. you could see straight through the "mufflers" from front to back.
He put the factory system back on, sounds like a normal truck again.
 
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Sorry earlyre but no Hemis in Dakotas. 4.7 perhaps?

Dparm, it's purely personal. I cherish the near silence in my car as I drive noisy heavy duty trucks all the time. My car only barks when you stomp on it.

Pick what you like, but you may get a bit bored with that incessant whine.
 
I enjoy the rough no frills driving experience, and I love to hear a turbo spool/SC whine.
 
Car already has downpipes and an exhaust. It's not whisper-quiet anymore. Intake doesn't really make it any louder when driving normally around town (like an exhaust does).

I just don't want to install this and have everyone who hears it go "that stupid-sounding Audi".
 
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