GM EcoTec 4-cylinders. Even when they aren't hammering from having burned every drop of oil in the pan or the timing chains aren't slapping around the timing , they are an extremely unpleasant sounding engine. The direct injection tick makes it sound like they all have severe valvetrain issues and the exhaust note is terrible. Particularly noticeable in the Equinox/Terrains. The GM 3.6L VVT is a close second.
Its been several pages since I said "Any Subaru, ever", so I'll add it here to remind any and all.
I heard a Hellcat lay into it a couple weeks back at as he left a 'Cars and Coffee' type of event...The group of varied car guys I was talking shop with all immediately stopped our conversations and winced at each other. Aside from 'loud', I thought that the sound was best summed up by the guy who asked if we should all go look for whatever metal bits were apparently trying to free themselves from the engine. It seemed potentially stock, but I can't say for sure whether or not it was...Either way, it was bad. Very, very bad..
Streetwiseguy wrote: Its been several pages since I said "Any Subaru, ever", so I'll add it here to remind any and all.
. . . . and it's been several pages since I said that everyone who keeps saying this is full of E36 M3! 
I love the sound of all engines - they are better than silence.
NGTD wrote:Streetwiseguy wrote: Its been several pages since I said "Any Subaru, ever", so I'll add it here to remind any and all.. . . . and it's been several pages since I said that everyone who keeps saying this is full of E36 M3!
BullE36 M3. Silence is golden.
Duct tape is silver.
That's MY line...
Every time I hear a Subaru it reinforces my point. I was coming home cruising by slower traffic in the left lane. I heard a racket and looked up expecting to see a biplane in distress. Then I was cut off by the source of the noise. It was a rolling stereotype. Blue with chartreuse wheels, lowered so the Rally Armor mudflaps were dragging on the pavement and what looked and sounded like four large novelty kazoos sticking out from under the rear bumper. Once he pulled out he seemed unable to exceed 74 mph which a also seemed to be between two gears as he would upshift, hit 74 and downshift and brake causing all sorts of popping and burbling accompanied by dizzying spinning led brake lights. After about two miles it had gone from irritating to infuriating made worse by the fact that he never passed the car he pulled next to causing a line of cars behind him. If you are going to make that much noise you shouldn't be a rolling roadblock. Having a middle aged gentlemen listening to yacht rock inches off you bumper while you made all that noise should be embarrassing. I finally was able to get by on the right as was the woman in the Odyssey behind me who was so close I could tell her AC was on high.
Today on my way home a mid '90s Civic with a really bad fart can exhaust went by the other way. So bad.
He really thought he was Fast and Furious the way he was rowing the gears ........ and barely keeping ahead of the Silverado in the next lane. If you're gonna make that amount of noise you need to be fast!!
Has "any turbodiesel ever" been posted yet?
Today I heard some over-boosted Cummins lay into it on the road. The poor thing sounded like a nuclear powered vacuum cleaner being sucked into a threshing machine. This is not a good thing.
In reply to Knurled:
Disagree. 12V71 Detroit FTW.
https://youtu.be/qW6Izo1If48?t=87
Two stroke diesels make some of the greatest sounds. I miss ours.
OK, I need to take back my "any V-twin" comment. I was at an autocross at NCM sunday and there was a bike track day on the big track. It was the first time I've heard a v-twin Ducati and I must say it was pretty damn awesome.
Wally wrote: Every time I hear a Subaru it reinforces my point. I was coming home cruising by slower traffic in the left lane. I heard a racket and looked up expecting to see a biplane in distress. Then I was cut off by the source of the noise. It was a rolling stereotype. Blue with chartreuse wheels, lowered so the Rally Armor mudflaps were dragging on the pavement and what looked and sounded like four large novelty kazoos sticking out from under the rear bumper. Once he pulled out he seemed unable to exceed 74 mph which a also seemed to be between two gears as he would upshift, hit 74 and downshift and brake causing all sorts of popping and burbling accompanied by dizzying spinning led brake lights. After about two miles it had gone from irritating to infuriating made worse by the fact that he never passed the car he pulled next to causing a line of cars behind him. If you are going to make that much noise you shouldn't be a rolling roadblock. Having a middle aged gentlemen listening to yacht rock inches off you bumper while you made all that noise should be embarrassing. I finally was able to get by on the right as was the woman in the Odyssey behind me who was so close I could tell her AC was on high.
Just because all of the Subaru owners you've seen are douchebags doesn't mean that all Subaru owners are douchebags. A boosted Subaru with a proper exhaust can sound good.
The bros have just moved on from their Civics to WRX's or STi's.
The E36 M3ty fartcan exhausts and CAI's came with em!
Trackmouse wrote: Duct tape is silver.
Really? Well then how do you explain THIS funny man..
Ain't so funny now...
In reply to NickD: "
GM EcoTec 4-cylinders. Even when they aren't hammering from having burned every drop of oil in the pan or the timing chains aren't slapping around the timing , they are an extremely unpleasant sounding engine. The direct injection tick makes it sound like they all have severe valvetrain issues and the exhaust note is terrible. Particularly noticeable in the Equinox/Terrains. The GM 3.6L VVT is a close second.
I guess a worst sounding engine makes an interesting change to the more common best sounding engine threads....
On the Ecotec - first, only the DI versions like the LNF and later have any ticking and GM added a sound blanket that surrounds the high pressure pump (runs at around 2200 psi). the little sound deadener actually works - no ticking. No real comment on thrashed engines run out of oil making noise - wouldn't any engine in that condition do so, though?
On exhaust note I have to agree with you and I've drawn criticism on the Solstice boards for daring to say that they sound less than excellent.
I'd nominate the Porsche flat 4 as one of the worst sounding - Leon Mandel, a noted automotive author, once said that a 356 Porsche had an exhaust note that sounded like ducks farting in tall grass....
PS - the GM V6-60 in my Fiero sounds very good - it uses the turbo as primary silencer and only has a couple of resonators. I have the same 3.4 in my Jamaican MG and really have no issue with exhaust sound, but that may be due to the custom system I built.
Interestingly, the pushrod MG engine sounds much less interesting than the same basic bottom end under a DOHC head I run in my race car, so I think the combustion chamber shape also plays a role, not just header and exhaust (the 12:1 compression does give that engine a nice crackle, too).
Fueled by Caffeine wrote:Trackmouse wrote: Duct tape is silver.Really? Well then how do you explain THIS funny man..
Ya got me! 
NickD wrote: The GM 3.6L VVT is a close second.
My new company car has this engine and it makes the most nauseating, soulless racket I've ever heard. I don't even like pressing the accelerator down for fear of having to listen to that horrible noise.
Flat fours and sixes both make a clattering sound like sewing machines trying to spin themselves apart, but throw a decent exhaust on them and they just sing.
I still haven't heard a video of a Porsche 917 turbo that has it as anything but the very worst sounding engine ever made. It sounds like an air conditioner with a bad bearing.
bentwrench wrote: Have none of you heard a Citroen CV2?
This, never heard one of these that sounded good.
Horizontal twin is just not good. I don't like the V twin sound either. Flat 4 or 6, with the right intake and exhaust, yeah, I dig that, especially if air cooled. Is it the length of the exhaust pipes that make Subies sound flatulent? Does that mean you can put equal length pipes on it if your are making a kit car and it will sound decent?
2 stroke bikes just sound good to me, sounds like crazy fast to my ear, perhaps due to my past experience with a certain 2 stroke triple...
V-12 is the best sounding, or that is my experience.
Subaru's with Equal-length headers sound completely different.
NickD wrote: GM EcoTec 4-cylinders. Even when they aren't hammering from having burned every drop of oil in the pan or the timing chains aren't slapping around the timing , they are an extremely unpleasant sounding engine. The direct injection tick makes it sound like they all have severe valvetrain issues and the exhaust note is terrible. Particularly noticeable in the Equinox/Terrains. The GM 3.6L VVT is a close second.
Other then the loud injector pulse my wifes ecotech is quiet 
. Timing chain slap sounds bad in any engine some moron didnt take care of.
What do people do to make their turbos loud other than CAI? Because theirs this Genesis in my town that you can hear a mile away.
Coldsnap wrote: What do people do to make their turbos loud other than CAI? Because theirs this Genesis in my town that you can hear a mile away.
When i put a better flowing exhaust on my sundance the turbo sound was much more pronounced. Bumping it from 4 to 8 psi also made it louder.
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