VIDEO: SOUND OFF! Which Porsches Sound BETTER To You? The Turbo'd Or Naturally Aspirated Models?

Aside from the sound of a gorgeous American V8's exhaust burble, not much else comes close.

Oh my god. There is no comparison. Porsche has taken a key element of Porsche driving enjoyment with these new turbo engines. Lets take the turbo flat six first. Yes it sort of sounds like the N/A six except that Porsche has given it the characteristics now of a diesel. All the power is at low end and therefore it never needs to revved. Therefore you are missing the high end wail of the N/A flat six. Now to the turbo flat fours. At times when cruising they sort of sound like a outboard engine from a motorboat. When the accelerating there does not seem to be any real perceptible change in sound. It's just sort of more base rasp. It certainly does not sound like a traditional "sports car" engine. There is no joy in revving it. Again I would assume the characteristics are similar to the new turbo six. A lot of low end power. Compared to the previous flat N/A six in any Cayman/Boxster it
is not even in the same universe. I commend Porsche for extracting the extra power out of these units. However, unlike Ferrari, Porsche did NOT do their homework either acoustically or in engine characteristics. Ferrari,(488) for example, carefully monitored how much torque in each gear with more torque coming on the higher gears. Further there is less lag in power then their previous N/A engine from the 458. The only thing you lose is the last 1000 revs. However the engine noise going through the gears and characteristics virtually identical to the N/A V8.Going to the Flat four in the Boxster/Cayman now it is clear that you are buying below the 911 now. Where as before you thought you were getting a great buy on a car that sounded and performed almost as well as a 911.I think Porsche has made a grave error here. The Boxster/Cayman has never sold as well as the 911. With this change Porsche has possibly created a further erosion in sales for these models. A sportscar should not have an engine with diesel characteristics.

Simply put I hate the sound. Sounds gruff and noisy, but none of that melodious, metallic, high RPM, flat 6 wail.

It's definitely different but is it avoidable? I don't think any car manufacturer can meet legislators and competitors both without going hybrid or turbo today.

Is it disappointing?

Well, as with all changes, some of it is. The comments above about screaming wails are accurate but how often do we do this? (Ok, almost every street corner unless there's a Leo around) Nonetheless, I'm sure Porsche will start on their long journey of improvement and soon, we'll all be happy.

Until then, we can all buy GT cars or older AIR COOLED ones... Or keep the ones we already have. :)

ATrain-I'm not buying it that one of the technologically advanced car companies on earth cannot get the engineering on this right. Fiat, who have a 1.4 turbo in their Abarth can make their engine sound fantastic.
It makes all different tones when you are accelerating and then let off the gas. Lotus has taken a high volume production V6 engine from Toyota and made it sound fantastic in a Lotus Evora 400. Audi's own 5 cylinder turbo sounds great in the TTRS. Jaguar has carefully tuned their V6 engine to sound fabulous. Even the turbo 4's in the Golf R and Focus RS sound better than Porsche's 4 cylinder effort. Its almost like they decided that Switzerland is their most important market and they have a noise regulation rule.

I understand what you're saying and I'm not trying to suggest that they're right. I'm merely stating that in traditional Porsche fashion, they pick a starting point and then go on with continuous improvements.

It's all about tradeoffs. If they bump one aspect, something else has to give. That's true for every automaker. However, Porsche is extremely deliberate with what they do. They take a lot of calculated risks with usually some tradeoffs being preferred over others.

Is the sound of a Jag turbo 6 better? Perhaps but it would be awful on a Porsche and probably not achievable on a flat 6. Those are the tradeoffs I'm referring to. Or think of all the performance tradeoffs the TTRS makes in exchange. Some of these might impact time to market or cost or chassis balance.

I think we'll see turbo sounds from P-cars dramatically improved in a few years but at this time, they probably favored emissions and performance. Just my guess.

BTW, while the sound will improve, it will never be the same. That's why I'm saying we sort of have to accept it. (And we can all vote with our wallets.)

So you are right that the sound isn't as good. Their choice. Now's your chance to show where you place your vote...

Atrain-I agree with you on a starting point for Porsche. However with their electric steering while it was still criticized for lacking in road feel compared to their former hydraulic power steering it was still considered at the top in feel for electric steering systems out there. And yes I have read that Porsche has already improved upon it. They are not starting out near the top in engine sound or engine characteristics. The company that is doing so is clearly Ferrari. Porsche appears to be 4th or 5th in this technology when compared to others. Porsche appears more concerned more about power and performance than ultimate engine sound and engine characteristics. This they have achieved. Clearly the 4 cylinder turbos exceed the NA sixes in this regard. Numbers will bare this out. However Ferrari along with others have achieved a better engine characteristic than Porsche. The engine of a Ferrari 488 feels and sounds like a NA engine. The only thing you miss is the last 1000 revs. Otherwise it could easily be compared to the N/A engine in an F430.Again in other car companies that I mentioned the engine's sound and timber changes as you increase revs. However perhaps I am too critical. Only marketing and sales will dictate if Porsches decisions are correct. My prediction the value of used N/A flat 6 Porsche mid-engine cars is going to rise more quickly than you think.

Ref: "My prediction the value of used N/A flat 6 Porsche mid-engine cars is going to rise more quickly than you think"

I certainly hope you are correct... :)