[darrenfreed]

I've not heard anything like the full throttle upshifts in my 600LT spider, experienced from inside, top down (or at least rear window down). None of the Ferraris I've chased around the track sound as good. But of course, sound is subjective.

 

[Machiavelli]

488 sounds like shite, that 458 though.

 

[Phaphaphooey]

I think we need to clarify stock vs. modified exhaust. The 720s stock, regardless of whether it has sport exhaust, doesn't sound that great. Slap some catless downpipes on it and a titanium x pipe for good measure and it sounds truly exotic. It is a great high pitched sound that complements all of the other turbo sounds and whatnot the car makes quite well.

As an aside, why is it that the 720s sounds high pitched whereas all of the other McLarens I have heard (not F1 obv) have a lower more rumbly tone. Firing order? Manifold design?

 

[UTRacerX9]

Ferrari has spent a lot of time and energy on making their current cars sound like their NA engines of old, and to a great extent, they have succeeded. Part of the reason for buying a Ferrari is for that engine sound. The last Ferrari I drove was a Portofino, and with the top down it sounds great to me. I have no experience with the 488 or F8 but I imagine they must sound pretty similar.

McLaren buyers place less importance on the sound IMO. All I really cared about coming from the Porsche world is that the car have ZERO drone, which is an unfortunate and very common thing to have to deal with on flat 6's using aftermarket exhausts. I have stock downpipes but the titanium sport exhaust option on mine, it sounds good, but not Ferrari good. That's just fine with me, it's not a Ferrari and it doesn't need to sound like one for me.

 

[Jo_sta7]

In your opinion, do these two sound the same’ish? Or do you find one of them as better sounding?

They do not. Have you heard either?

 

[VGJ]

Just a subjective data point. Was out in the canyons trailing a 600LT, a C8 ZO6, and a V10 R8.

Which one sounded the best to me from behind at WOT? Believe it or not, it was the Z06. Very high pitch tones, like an NA Ferrari. That car was singing, even better than the V10 R8. And of course, even with some bias since i also drive a 600, the 600LT sounded the least appealing as expected since it's the only one with turbos. If I could pick which one to drive, though, regardless of how it sounded, 600LT hands down. That thing is a weapon in the canyons.

 

[Orion1977]

Just a subjective data point. Was out in the canyons trailing a 600LT, a C8 ZO6, and a V10 R8.

Which one sounded the best to me from behind at WOT? Believe it or not, it was the Z06. Very high pitch tones, like an NA Ferrari. That car was singing, even better than the V10 R8. And of course, even with some bias since i also drive a 600, the 600LT sounded the least appealing as expected since it's the only one with turbos. If I could pick which one to drive, though, regardless of how it sounded, 600LT hands down. That thing is a weapon in the canyons.

i agree that NA sounds better than turbos. But I feel some turbo engines/exhaust/revving (Ferrari) sound better than others (McLaren).
Why? I haven’t a clue. They can be the same sized engine with turbos, but big difference in sound

 

[JoeZaff]

i agree that NA sounds better than turbos. But I feel some turbo engines/exhaust/revving (Ferrari) sound better than others (McLaren).
Why? I haven’t a clue. They can be the same sized engine with turbos, but big difference in sound

I’m about 90% certain it comes down to tuning. As I and others have said. Ferrari tunes the crap out of their exhausts to isolate certain frequencies and enhance others. The same attention is paid to intake resonances that make their way into the cabin. They are trying to get as close as possibly audibly to their f1 and older NA sound.

Mclaren also does its tuning, but the end result is a very distinct British sounding flat plane v8 that sounds a lot like two distinctly British high performance 4 cylinders at war… (a flat plane v8 from a firing order and crank perspective, is just that--2 four cylinder engines bolted together)

 

[Jo_sta7]

Just a subjective data point. Was out in the canyons trailing a 600LT, a C8 ZO6, and a V10 R8.

Which one sounded the best to me from behind at WOT? Believe it or not, it was the Z06. Very high pitch tones, like an NA Ferrari. That car was singing, even better than the V10 R8. And of course, even with some bias since i also drive a 600, the 600LT sounded the least appealing as expected since it's the only one with turbos. If I could pick which one to drive, though, regardless of how it sounded, 600LT hands down. That thing is a weapon in the canyons.

I have a C8 Z06, sounds better than any Ferrari I’ve had.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

765 spider > Pista coupe > 488 coupe > 720 coupe.

This is how I would rate the sound for these four cars. I have owned/own all of them so speaking from my personal experience.

765 sound is epic.

Wow interesting you like the 765 better than the pista! Would you rate the speciale better than the 765? And curious how you would rate the 750 and artura in that mix.

I haven’t heard either the 765 nor the 750, nor the artura In person yet.

However on a few videos the sound of the artura and the 750 seemed to be serious improvements. Previous mclarens seem to have a lot of tractor like droning, particularly on monotonous highway drives.

Although I also haven’t heard the artura in person, from the videos, it sounds like tha artura may be the best sounding. That said, I suspect listening to video is highly not representative so would be cool to hear your thoughts Since you’ve seem to have heard most of them!

 

[Michaelj]

Wow interesting you like the 765 better than the pista! Would you rate the speciale better than the 765? And curious how you would rate the 750 and artura in that mix.

I haven’t heard either the 765 nor the 750, nor the artura In person yet.

However on a few videos the sound of the artura and the 750 seemed to be serious improvements. Previous mclarens seem to have a lot of tractor like droning, particularly on monotonous highway drives.

Although I also haven’t heard the artura in person, from the videos, it sounds like tha artura may be the best sounding. That said, I suspect listening to video is highly not representative so would be cool to hear your thoughts Since you’ve seem to have heard most of them!

This is all subjective and I suspect a lot of the preferences are based on which car camp you are in. Ferrari guys are going to tell you nothing sounds better than a Ferrari. Mclaren guys may be a bit more objective, maybe not. As far as the Speciale- I think there is a different tone in a NA car vs a turbo car. NA sound is deeper so I would give the edge to Speciale over all the others. But its a car from a different era than the ones being discussed above.

Pista sounds good but to me, the pops, gurgles, snaps, bangs on the 765 are unmatched. My 765 is a spider and I have no tune on it. All bone stock and it sounds great. My 750 is coming at the end of the year so I have zero experience with it.

Artura was interesting. I was expecting it to be horrible. But it wasnt bad at all. I wouldn't say its an awesome loud sound but I would rate it much better than a 720. 720 if there is a criticism - its the sound. its pretty bad relatively speaking to the others. Otherwise a great car but sound was lacking and I can understand why many would want to put an exhaust/tune on it. 765- no need. its perfect from the factory.

One difference between 750 and 765 is 765 has a titanium exhaust- 750 does not. Not sure if that affects sound but that is a difference between the cars.

At the end of the day- all of this is subjective- people like different sounds and there is not one is better than another- we all have our different preferences on which is best. Good news for mclaren owners is that I think corporate has really put a priority on sound on their newer cars.

I think you are getting a 750 so you can experience it yourself for that car.

 

[Iron5]

I have not.

People spend every minute in this forum, comment on every conceivable post, have already admired and commented your two beautiful LTs thousand times and still don't know which cars you have. Today's world is so shitty banal.

 

[invisiblewave]

People spend every minute in this forum, comment on every conceivable post, have already admired and commented your two beautiful LTs thousand times and still don't know which cars you have. Today's world is so shitty banal.

And others, who post less often, frequently feel the need to make shitty posts about comments they haven't even bothered to read properly.

 

[Michaelj]

People spend every minute in this forum, comment on every conceivable post, have already admired and commented your two beautiful LTs thousand times and still don't know which cars you have. Today's world is so shitty banal.

Some people are simply interested in getting their post count up instead of providing any useful information.

 

[Nosferatu]

To answer the question as to why it's just based in how they tune it / design it. Piping material, bends, firing order, engine design, and plenty of other tweaks for harmonics. For what it is, I don't think the 720S sounds that bad. On it's own, it sounds great. Put it next to some other exotics and it's underwhelming. I'm coming from an R8 V10 Plus (essentially a Huracan) and a Ferrari F12 (Italian V12) and both had aftermarket exhaust. No mac has anything on a V12 Ferrari for engine note. The mac will wreck it in every other metric (braking, acceleration, handling, etc.)

 

[Jompen]

Why does the Ferrari 488/Tributo engine sound better than Mclaren’s 720/765/GT engine? Both are similarly sized in liter. Both turbo-charged V8s. But most people agree Ferrari sounds much better (If you like the Mclaren sound more, then you’re part of a very small minority).

Artura vs 296. Both V6 turbo-charged. Both 2.9L. But Ferrari sounds better. Why can’t Mclaren match Ferrari’s sound?

most turbo cars with oem exhaust soundds abit boring. All v8 fearraris after 458 sounds like shit. Coming from a Challenge Stradale nothing with a turbo sounds good. But the 675 is actually growing on me soundwise, the downshifta are really really good.

 

[Tumbleweed]

I like the sound of my 720S. It has the sport exhaust. I can't wait for my new 750S. I also have to not be over 103 db for the tracks I drive on.

 

[pfbz]

Some Ferrari's have epic sounding exhausts, but IMHO the 488 and 296 are not among them...

The 355 has just an amazing sound to it, as does the first year (2010) 458. Aftermarket exhausts make them even better.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

Some Ferrari's have epic sounding exhausts, but IMHO the 488 and 296 are not among them...

The 355 has just an amazing sound to it, as does the first year (2010) 458. Aftermarket exhausts make them even better.

Why only first year 458? What happened to later year 458s that made them lesser?

 

[lizard]

As a fan of high revving naturally aspirated engines, Ferraris even in turbo era somehow still sound surprisingly good. Even if McLarens also have flat plane V8 which reaches 8000 rpm, it somehow lacks a bit that high rev howl. McLarens sort of feel very effective and clinical the way they work and sound.
Nevertheless, McLarens are lighter (the single most important advantage over other supercars of this price range), and look and feel more purspose build. They have all the right ingrediants to be what they should be. If you want engine sound drama there are Lambos V10 and V12... To me at least, they sound a bit better than naturally aspirated Ferraris.