Like that loud exhaust? You need locking up you psychopath!

Soldato
Joined
28 Jun 2013
Posts
3,767
From a road safety point of view, Id love to see the stats of quiet vehicle involved pedestrian accidents vs louder/sporty models.

I have been walking on b-roads in my area since the 1980`s.

Never ever in my life have i even seen any vehicle as dangerous as quiet EV`s to people walking on roads. Never.

And no there are literally zero walking paths within 3 miles of my house, none.
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Oct 2004
Posts
18,387
Location
Birmingham
I have been walking on b-roads in my area since the 1980`s.

Never ever in my life have i even seen any vehicle as dangerous as quiet EV`s to people walking on roads. Never.

And no there are literally zero walking paths within 3 miles of my house, none.

I'm not sure how true that is, at higher speeds, tyre noise is going to be louder than engine noise on any normal* car anyway, and "EV`s" [sic] still have tyres



* i.e. non performance/modified/ragged to hell
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Oct 2012
Posts
25,100
Location
Godalming
You can..

Wut.

587427c9f5ea81e1cab362bb95317f99.jpg
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Oct 2012
Posts
25,100
Location
Godalming
Maybe, maybe not, but on a bike it does make other drivers aware of you, which is no bad thing imo.

Depends on the rider and the bike tbh. Awareness is no bad thing but some people are absolute tossers on their bikes revving whilst filtering and making a racket. The worst is those 125s that have fart cans on them screaming their nuts off as they go past at 40mph.

Weirdly, I've never had a 4 stroke with an aftermarket pipe, and I've never had a 2 stroke without an aftermarket pipe. 2 strokes benefit immensely from expansion chambers, 4 strokes much less from race pipes.

Ofc you know that though given your stable :D
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Jun 2013
Posts
3,767
I'm not sure how true that is, at higher speeds, tyre noise is going to be louder than engine noise on any normal* car anyway, and "EV`s" [sic] still have tyres



* i.e. non performance/modified/ragged to hell

Only EV`s have ever been able to get close to me on B-roads without me hearing them, tyre noise can vary especially on windy b-roads.

Cars on windy b-roads are often in lower gears and decelerating into corners and accelerating out of the corners changing gears, i have always been able to hear them unless very windy and felt safe walking about on them mostly.

These EV`s are sneaky, I looked over my shoulder not that long ago and an EV was right behind me almost, like a Ninja car and similar has happend many times, I even spoke to one of them who passed me and I commented how I did not hear him at all, they said their EV was not even in its silent mode and could go quieter.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
OP
Joined
22 Oct 2002
Posts
8,288
Location
Near Cheltenham
I have been walking on b-roads in my area since the 1980`s.

Never ever in my life have i even seen any vehicle as dangerous as quiet EV`s to people walking on roads. Never.

And no there are literally zero walking paths within 3 miles of my house, none.
I often walk to work along a 30mph B-road and tyre noise on all cars > engine noise by far, no EV that passes by is remotely quiet, loads of tyre noise, in fact I can't tell the difference between an ICE and EV going by at 30mph.
The EU have a law that EVs below 12mph emit a 56dBa sound audible at 2M, above that tyre noise is more dominant, so not needed.

Weird to have such polar opposite experiences..

Most modern regular petrol cars are now so quiet at idle/slow speed they are worse than EVs IME.

However, there are exceptions, earlier EVs did not have to produce any sound at very low speeds, it was an option on BMW i3s, those at slow speeds are more dangerous, but very very rare.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2004
Posts
10,607
Location
Kent
I live on a fairly typical residential cul-de-sac where traffic is usually passing at about 20MPH max, and even then, the several EVs that pass by regularly don't really sound any quieter than the ICE vehicles to my ear. In fact, as I've been sat here typing this, I've heard about 6 cars go past - all ICE - and of those, only a couple had any sort of engine noise which was discernible over the tyre noise, which I heard first (apart from the courier in the diesel Transit - wish that was electric tbh, I don't think there's a worse noise in the world than a 4-pot diesel being thrashed :/).

I kind of feel like the "EVs are dangerous because they are too quiet!" thing is a bit of hyperbole from the anti-EV crowd. As above, most of them emit noise (either synthetic of natural motor noise) about equivalent to a modern, quiet ICE at slow speed anyway.
On the flipside, it's also the reason I don't buy EV proponents telling me how electric cars will make our neighbourhoods quieter, as well as cleaner - until they can hover, they are going to have tyre noise.
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Sep 2003
Posts
15,986
Location
Norwich
I often walk to work along a 30mph B-road and tyre noise on all cars > engine noise by far, no EV that passes by is remotely quiet, loads of tyre noise, in fact I can't tell the difference between an ICE and EV going by at 30mph.
The EU have a law that EVs below 12mph emit a 56dBa sound audible at 2M, above that tyre noise is more dominant, so not needed.

Weird to have such polar opposite experiences..

Most modern regular petrol cars are now so quiet at idle/slow speed they are worse than EVs IME.

However, there are exceptions, earlier EVs did not have to produce any sound at very low speeds, it was an option on BMW i3s, those at slow speeds are more dangerous, but very very rare.
Have to agree with that. I've been caught off guard a couple of times by EVs but it has always been when they are pulling away or moving from a parking space. Now they all have to sound like some car designers wet dream version of Tron it's less of an issue.
 
Soldato
Joined
10 Jul 2008
Posts
7,791
I remember seeing a youtube video where police attended a location armed and ready to gun down a car owner because gunfire had been reported. He was revving the **** out of his car which was mistaken for machine gun fire.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Mar 2007
Posts
13,595
Location
South Yorkshire
I remember seeing a youtube video where police attended a location armed and ready to gun down a car owner because gunfire had been reported. He was revving the **** out of his car which was mistaken for machine gun fire.

DMO Deejay 'shook cam' used to be a popular one before the London shootings, most the vids are still up on YouTube, basically drive through London making exhaust bang so loud it sounded like a gun shot.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Nov 2010
Posts
23,998
Location
Hertfordshire
Don't mind loud exhausts so long as they're not oversized to the point of ruining the sound.

Also, they shouldn't be anywhere near your bog-standard IL-4. Just turns into a crap sounding farty chav-box.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Nov 2006
Posts
24,218
Its usually boy racers, chavs or middle aged men with loud exhausts.
Middle aged lady nearby has one

White 135i... so the shoe fits. It's not really bangy, at low speeds at least, but it is very loud and burbly/crackly. Stinks also
 
Last edited:
Man of Honour
Joined
6 Aug 2006
Posts
1,450
Location
Stratford-upon-Avon
I live on a fairly typical residential cul-de-sac where traffic is usually passing at about 20MPH max, and even then, the several EVs that pass by regularly don't really sound any quieter than the ICE vehicles to my ear. In fact, as I've been sat here typing this, I've heard about 6 cars go past - all ICE - and of those, only a couple had any sort of engine noise which was discernible over the tyre noise, which I heard first (apart from the courier in the diesel Transit - wish that was electric tbh, I don't think there's a worse noise in the world than a 4-pot diesel being thrashed :/).

I kind of feel like the "EVs are dangerous because they are too quiet!" thing is a bit of hyperbole from the anti-EV crowd. As above, most of them emit noise (either synthetic of natural motor noise) about equivalent to a modern, quiet ICE at slow speed anyway.
On the flipside, it's also the reason I don't buy EV proponents telling me how electric cars will make our neighbourhoods quieter, as well as cleaner - until they can hover, they are going to have tyre noise.
Agreed - my last 3 cars have been a Jag V8, Lexus V6 and now an EV - all three of which could sneak up to 1ft behind someone daydreaming in a car park before they noticed - and they sound the same >20mph down our road when my other half comes back from the shops. Weight means tyre noise and none of them are/were light :D
 
Associate
Joined
1 May 2007
Posts
1,813
Location
Manchester. UK
I remember seeing a youtube video where police attended a location armed and ready to gun down a car owner because gunfire had been reported. He was revving the **** out of his car which was mistaken for machine gun fire.
If it was in the US it was anti lag he was testing, it sounded like ww3. Was pretty awesome. :D
 
Back
Top Bottom