is it me, or do all the exhausts for the RX-8 sound like rice?
 

i dont like a single one.... to me they all sound like honda-fart-cannons maybe they sound different in Real life but from all the vids and sound clips they sound bad.

whats your opinion ?


i think i might just go with a downpipe for a louder sound.... *shrug*




-josh

Did you want it to sound like a 427 LS1?

stock it sounds fine but the aftermarket exhausts arent that hot :p

GooOnYou has an aftermarket exhaust, and I had a chance to hear it at the Houston RX-7 Club meeting last Tuesday. It's really nice, and I love the sound. It's not droning; you definitely don't want that kind of sound when you're cruising. He even told me it shoots flames every now and then. I love rotary engines, and their exhaust notes are far different from rice.

The rotary has a unique sound. Aftermarket exhaust systems can accentuate it, but the overall sound won't be drastically different from stock.

sounds awesome!
 

The sound of the exhaust (along with cheap insurance) clinched the deal for me.
Sometimes I drive with the Bose off just to hear the exhaust wind up.
Don't let the video wav stop you from a test drive..... :eek:
Gary

I like the sound of my Racing Beat exhaust. Post us a audio link to non-RX-8 exhaust that you think sounds hot.

rx8cited

i like the song. even is the original exhaust. have no idea.. wat is the rice song like. but u can go to make a another test drive of rx8 then check the song out. is the same or not.

Did you listen to mine?

They do sound a bit better in the flesh, and I need to do some better recordings/videos.

I come from a V8 heritage, and rice is definately not part of our staple diet. Even one of my hard core V8 mates has driven with my exhaust, and reckons it was the goods.

Spectating out on the track, when a stocky goes past down the straight, it is like standing on the side of the freeway. One one of the 8's with my exhaust goes past, it sounds like a car with some balls.

Cheers,
Hymee.

You should listen to the Racing Beat in person, not just the video. It definitely sounds deep and a tad louder than stock. No rice in that exhaust, not a grain of it.

It's definitely you.

or go for the ms one if you like how the stock exhaust sounds. It's close to stock but just a notch deeper. O yea and nice tips too :)

Unfortunately the rotary doesn't have a lot of character in its exhaust sound. There's not enough going on in the engine to create a truly interesting tone. I still think straight sixes and V12's sound the best. I used to love V8's, I still like them but they just don't sound as symphonic as a six. The V8 has a great bellow but the six has that ripping sound and more of a wail that can't be beat. The combination of intake roar, engine mechanical sounds, and exhaust tone from a well tuned straight six is incredible cool sounding.

Backwards - ricers sound like rotary wannabes.... When I was a kid (I'm 36) my dad had a Mazda Cosmo - koni coilovers (or shocks... 20+ years) a header, stainless exhaust, Hi-PO intake/aircleaner... It sounded like a weedeater running nitrous! But damn was it bad-ass! The neighbors hated it. My friends loved it. Now, 20+ years later, the Honda guys all want their cars to sound like the rotaries from the 70s/80s.

Racing Beat's sounds pretty darn good. If for sound alone, I would start saving some for it. It is on my wish list.

Boxer engines have a very nice tone to them as well (see: Subaru)

:eek:

You never drove an air-cooled VW? I had a 97 Subaru (Legacy 2.5GT) for 4 years, I never got over the fact that the exhaust often sounded reminiscent of the old VW Beetles. VW Beetle sounds do NOT bring to mind thoughts of high performance! :p

The Porsche 6 cylinder boxer engines are a different story - but 4 cylinder boxers just sound like VWs on steroids :D .

Regards,
Gordon

1. you have to hear the exhaust note in real life, its much different than on video.

2. what do you expect from a 1.3 liter rotary engine? it's not a ferrari v8 you know...

You are talking about the old rear engined Beatles?? for Bush's mercy, NO! they don't sound alike... :eek: -or maybe I've got to get myself checked in for a hearing test.

The 2 liter boxer on the WRX sounds very lax at low rpms, almost like when you drive one gear too high; and starts a mayhem of shrieking metal when you go higher (not a-la-Vtec of course!)

I don't know. Maybe I am nuts for liking it, or maybe I wasn't exposed to toxic gases coming from the VW :D

Then, You have got to hear it in real life !!!

At normal throttle position it sounds like a motorcycle engine. At WOT, it sound like a hundred hornets trapped in a Paper bag.

my borla has changed in sound with age. This a bad video, but the end of the 44 second clip shows how it idles with the green filter in place:

http://tyrannical.org/rx8/rx8_hc20.wmv


edit: I think I will setup my video camera and do a drive by to show how it sounds from the outside. I recently got to hear it as the dealership took it in for an oil change - wow it sounds great.

Hey Gord, you must not have had a built up VW Beatle then. My 68, 69 and 70 Beatle (There were no original parts left by the time I got done with it) was large bored with larger than stock pistonS and heads, an after market Holley carb and a few other things such as an after market exhaust with headers. I could back fire with the best of them, no semi diesel rattle to it at all. It also had G-50s on the rear so it was litteraly a tank in the snow. I left the stock sized front tires on it which were thin and they acted just like the runners on a sled cutting through the snow and with the engine sitting over the rear wide tires, nothing stopped me. Of course, I had fiberglass flared fenders on the rear too, courtesy of JC Whitney which was one of the only place you could buy custom parts like that back then.

Back on topic. I recently installed the RB cat back and the major difference besides the great looks, is the souund has a lower tone to it now, not over bearing especially at cruising speeds as are the ricey civics with their coffee can exhausts. Sure, it would be nice to hear something as throaty and loud as a V8 with headers and exhaust cutouts, but if I wanted that sound, I would have bought a piston powered vehicle. Loud and low is not what I wanted in a sound. Of course with my K&N intake and the RB cat back, hen I DO hit the pedal, it roars on down the road until I choose to let up and drive quietly by.

From my experience with rotaries it is the engine contributing to the sound of the exaust or at least a combination of engine and exaust. When you push the car you hear a sound from front to back, not like the ricers that have exaust only and you can hear it's only in the back when you drive them. A rotary without any exaust pipes at all is incredibly loud, more then you would think from a 1.3.

Have someone stand outside with the cam while you rev in neutral. ;)