Pushrods and overhead valves or dual overhead cams; naturally aspirated, turbocharged or supercharged; it simply doesn't matter – there's nothing quite like the sound of a powerful V8 engine. Or is there?
The engineers from BMW have been known to make some beautifully melodic powerplants over the years, but the Bavarian automaker has more recently taken a decidedly different approach to tingling the eardrums of Ultimate Driving Enthusiasts: pumping engine sounds through the internal stereo system of its latest M5 sedan.
This technique, not surprisingly, has proven controversial. We can't grant you the opportunity to drive one yourself so that you can hear it with your own ears, but, thanks to the boys and girls from Bimmerpost, we can offer the next best thing. Listen to one member's 2012 M5 with BMW's Active Sound system turned on, followed by a run of the same car with the system disabled via a pulled fuse in the video below.
Spot the difference? Let us know what you think about BMW's artificial engine notes in the Comments, but not before taking part in our completely unscientific poll below.
The engineers from BMW have been known to make some beautifully melodic powerplants over the years, but the Bavarian automaker has more recently taken a decidedly different approach to tingling the eardrums of Ultimate Driving Enthusiasts: pumping engine sounds through the internal stereo system of its latest M5 sedan.
This technique, not surprisingly, has proven controversial. We can't grant you the opportunity to drive one yourself so that you can hear it with your own ears, but, thanks to the boys and girls from Bimmerpost, we can offer the next best thing. Listen to one member's 2012 M5 with BMW's Active Sound system turned on, followed by a run of the same car with the system disabled via a pulled fuse in the video below.
Spot the difference? Let us know what you think about BMW's artificial engine notes in the Comments, but not before taking part in our completely unscientific poll below.
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