After 3 years of driving my RX-8, and driving it like a complete maniac, the question has finally arisen. How loud IS the RX-8?

We've all found ourselves alone in the parking garage and decided to rev the engine, but what I'm actually curious about is whether other drivers can hear it from inside their vehicles when you're flooring it through traffic. I think we can all admit the sound of the rotary engine is somewhere inbetween a sports car and a motorcycle that has hit puberty, so I'm just curious if anyone has any experience with this incredibly specific question.

Does it make the sound of a sports car to the typical driver or is it just too quiet? Stock exhaust, of course.

 

It's not that it's loud, it's that the sound is extremely unique. It's unmistakably a car sound, but among other sports cars the note at their red line is matched by our note at 3-4k rpm. When that note doubles or triples in frequency over the other cars the volume is similar but the sound is very very different.

 

mine would have made your ears bleed going through a tunnel, not stock of course and i loved it

 

BHR Midpipe and ExoticSpeed Exhaust.. Under the tunnel or in a parking garage it sounds like a bastard child of a formula car and a super bike lol ;-)

Now back to gutted cat and exotic speed, its not as loud and deep, yet still, sounds like race car

 

In my experience, it's quite quiet in the low revs, comparable to an economy car. Once the revs are high, it becomes audible to others around you, but it's not especially loud. Others can hear you, but it's not like a loud aftermarket exhaust.

 

before turbo: