The Nissan VQ engine...

"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
09/28/2015 at 10:32 • Filed to: None

...is like that guy at work with emphysema, but he works in another department so you only see him ever couple of weeks, but then you walk past him in the hall and you’re like “DAMN, is that guy sick?” and someone has to remind you that’s just how he sounds every day.

DISCUSSION (14)

Party-vi > Ash78, voting early and often
09/28/2015 at 10:34

You also think he’s not as efficient as some other newer employees but for some reason the boss keeps him around, saying it’s cheaper to have him do worse work slower than hiring and training someone better.

TheHondaBro > Ash78, voting early and often
09/28/2015 at 10:34

Shhh, you’re gonna piss off the G Coupe bros.

Coty > Ash78, voting early and often
09/28/2015 at 10:40

what

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Ash78, voting early and often
09/28/2015 at 11:09

But...but...but I like the VQ...

Wacko > Ash78, voting early and often
09/28/2015 at 11:10

I like the sound of my VQ35DE.

Kanaric > Ash78, voting early and often
09/28/2015 at 12:16

Nobody thought this engine sounded bad until Jeremy Clarkson started saying it.

At meets where people say they like or don’t like the sound pretty much breaks down by people who watch top gear vs people who don’t watch top gear. Same with Alfa GTV6 praise but to a lesser extent.

Ash78, voting early and often > Kanaric
09/28/2015 at 12:20

I never heard the Clarkson bit...I just started noticing it with the F35 and G35 about 10 years ago. Then I swung my head around on the city street this morning on my way into work. It stuck out among dozens of other cars.

Great engine, nice cars, terrible low-RPM exhaust note. It’s trying way too hard.

The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 > Kanaric
09/28/2015 at 17:48

I never... wait for it... got into Top Gear. I never liked the waaaauuuh sound of it. No matter what it’s in, nor what exhaust is on it. I think Clarkson is an ass, but I guess there’s one thing he and I can agree on.

2tonic > Ash78, voting early and often
09/29/2015 at 07:05

I’ve thought the VQ sounded terrible from the very first time I heard one on the street - when that engine first came on the market. It has a weird trumpeting out-of-phase sound with what sounds like a missing beat in the aural signature. Then I drove several G35 coupes and sedans, and 350Z’s, which confirmed to me that the engine also sounds terrible from the inside of the car - like a bucket of gravel bouncing around in a metal pail. I literally get headaches from the sounds that engine makes. The motoring press has described it as a “truck motor”. That’s one of the reasons why in 2005 I chose an RX-8 over the G coupe and Z - the VQ is also very vibey and coarse-sounding - especially compared to a rotary, inline six, or V-8.

I think the the VQ gets a lot appeal from folks coming from inline fours - which are also vibey, fundamentally unbalanced, generally coarse-sounding engines. A little known fact is that Nissan actually changed the exhaust manifolds design during the first few years of VQ production to get the VQ to sound more like the BMW straight six. It didn’t help much.

As several established enthusiast magazines have pointed out recently, the V-6 is an “accountant’s engine” - it packages in a wider variety of drivetrain configurations than a straight six and can be built from shared components with a modular V-8 design. V-6’s are not fundamentally balanced and require additional engineering efforts to make them acceptably smooth: split pin cranks, counterbalancer shafts, high tech engine mounts, etc.

I currently own two V-6’s - one in our Hyundai Genesis 3.8 (wife’s) and my Honda Odyssey (my much-loved work/family car). They’re both tolerable sounding and smooth enough not to irritate, and the Odyssey mill actually makes a fairly nice sound - but aurally they can’t touch my 128’s N52 straight six. Not even close. I do not use the radio in my 128i. The engine is the music; beautiful whirring sounds of the motor and classic Getrag transmission at lower revs, a choral 3-dimensional sound at mid revs, and and the classic “ripping canvas” tones as the revs build from mid range to redline. Sweet, pure, and mellifluous.

It’s sad to me that the straight six has become less common - especially in the Nissan and Mercedes worlds - considering that several of these marque’s classic models were straight sixes: the 240Z, Skyline, 300SL gull wing, and all of the great Benz sedans and coupes with their various high production straight sixes. Mercedes is actually bringing back inline sixes - ironically because they are going to be building more and more turbo inline fours so having an inline six is more feasible on the production line. Merecedes, perhaps, also realizes that the inline six is such a refined engine that it really belongs in their cars more than an V-6.

I’ve always found it interesting - serendipity, perhaps - that fundamentally balanced engines also have very appealing sounds - straight sixes, flat sixes, V-12’s, straight eights, etc. The V-8 has perfect primary balance but a slight secondary imbalance - but it can be made to run very smoothly with crank counterweights and a harmonic balancer - so it can be included on this list of great sounding engines.

Ash78, voting early and often > 2tonic
09/29/2015 at 08:29

Great post...I’m also extremely sad the straight six is going away. It was a cornerstone of BMW for a long, long time (and Mercedes before that, plus the occasional Lexus). Glad to hear Merc is bringing some of them back...although their 3.2 and 3.5 V6 models are about as good as it gets for a V6, IMHO...leaky gaskets aside. Their cars typically have room for an I6 underhood, since most of them are built with the engine really far back (leaving room for V8 variants).

The VQ is a fine engine, I just couldn’t deal with the rattly drone at normal driving speeds.

Michael Cohen > Ash78, voting early and often
10/07/2015 at 10:04

Hysterical and true. I’ll give you another perspective. I drove a G35 for 77,000 miles from new until April. This summer I steered my wife to an EX35, a crossover based on the G.

I didn’t get “in to” cars until about a year ago. I never gave a thought to the engine sound. For non-Jalops (which is basically everyone) who just want a nice car with a bit of luxury that has some pick-up and doesn’t break, the sound issue of the VQ is non-issue. It’s not even that they don’t mind it, they don’t even know about it one way or the other.

Ash78, voting early and often > Michael Cohen
10/07/2015 at 10:11

You know, I honestly though the EX was a rebadged Rogue for the longest time. I was a fan of the FX series, for all its opulence, but now it’s called the QXLMNOP-WTFBBQ70 or something.

Michael Cohen > Ash78, voting early and often
10/07/2015 at 10:24

Higher center of gravity and the other shortcomings of crossoverness but all things considered a fun ride. Shorter wheel base than the G sedan.

Ash78, voting early and often > Michael Cohen
10/07/2015 at 10:28

It still seems to sit pretty low, maybe a couple inches taller than the G.

The most interesting thing to me (which helped form my incorrect perception) is that the G sedan seems to be driven by a lot of younger-to-middle-aged professional types, tuner bros, etc.

The EX seems to be all retirees around here.

Same basic car means there’s LOTS of sleeper potential there. And I don’t mean falling asleep at the wheel on the way to Old Country Buffet at 4:30.