5 New Cars That Sound Surprisingly Great
It’s truly astonishing how cars can produce such melodious music through the internal combustion process.
You’d expect that the banshee wail of a Ferrari V12 would make every hair stand on end. Or the primal roar of a potent pushrod V8 would send a series of shivers down your spine.
What you wouldn’t expect is how absolutely wicked a plain-as-vanilla V6 Camry sounds straight off the dealer showroom floor.
There’s something so appealing about an unassuming automobile sporting a sonorous or screaming stock exhaust note. If you dig sonic sleepers too, then you’ll want to check out these five new cars that sound unexpectedly brilliant.
1. 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
The 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio (try saying that quickly five times in a row) looks like an ordinary premium sports sedan piloted by some mid-level business executive, but its turbocharged 505 hp V6 makes noises like a ravenous grizzly bear defending its fresh kill. Fantastico!
2. 2019 FIAT 500 Abarth
Not to be confused with the garden-variety 500, the zingy FIAT 500 Abarth burbles, snorts, and pops like a Ferrari V8 with four of its cylinders loped off. Despite the microscopic 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine powering the 500 Abarth, a meticulously engineered exhaust system with straight pipes creates charismatic and tuneful sounds that only the Italians can pull off.
3. 2020 Mercedes-AMG G63
The ultra-affluent set has made the Mercedes-AMG G63 their preferred means of conveyance for ski trips, boulevard cruises, and everything in between, so you wouldn’t think that such a utilitarian vehicle can belt out a positively sinister song—yet the AMG G63 does. A twin-turbocharged 577 hp V8 engine pipes obscenely good noises through side-pipes (yes, like the first-gen Viper). The G63 sounds like an aggravated Godzilla clearing its throat after gargling acid.
4. 2020 Land Rover Range Rover Sport SVR
This isn’t the Range Rovers that crowd your local Whole Foods parking lot—the SVR model boasts a supercharged 5.0-liter V8 that produces a primal snarl at low revs and gradually evolves into a throaty roar as it reaches redline. No other luxury SUV sounds this spine-tingling without an aftermarket exhaust system.
5. 2020 Toyota Camry TRD
You read that correctly—a Toyota Camry, the long-standing poster child of automotive banality, has landed a spot on this illustrious list. Sporting a race-tuned suspension, lightweight wheels, and a 3.5-liter 301 hp V6 paired with a free-flowing exhaust system, the 2020 Camry TRD is unlike any Camry ever produced. You just have to hear the aggressive six-cylinder bellow that the Camry TRD V6 emits to know that Toyota means business.