Regarding the neighborhood brap machine

"Aremmes" (aremmes)
03/17/2019 at 11:30 • Filed to: BRAP BRAP, Neighborhood, Abarth 500

A neighbor in my court drives a Fiat 500 Abarth. It braps when it starts, braps while it warms up, braps when it goes up the hill onto the main road, and braps as it pulls into the court. It’s a wonderful sound and, importantly, very characteristic and identifiable, such that I can hear it from my house and say “there goes the Abarth.” There used to be an STI and a Charger with similarly characteristic sound profiles that I could tell apart by their exhaust note alone, but their owners moved out, leaving the mufflerless Italian midget as the sole fule-to-noise converter.

This reminds me of the time when I was barely a kindergartener. Our next-door neighbor owned a drag car that he raced regularly, a stripped-out second-gen Camaro, that he worked on at home. That thing was abusively loud.

Does any of you have a neighbor whose car you can recognize by sound? I know this is not a unique phenomenon, but I'm curious which cars others can distinguish by ear alone.

DISCUSSION (34)

Spanfeller is a twat > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 11:41

Not a neighbor, but one of the lab techs at my college has a straight piped mitsubishi eclipse. It was the final edition or something.

I could tell he was arriving from two parking buildings away.

LastFirstMI is my name > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 11:43

Somewhat related- when my parents were younger, my mom drove to her 5 am waitressing job in a straight-pipe ‘63 Malibu that they bracket raced on the weekends. Evidently the neighbors were not fans.

Ssfancyfresh > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 11:45

I’ve got 2

One neighbor with a Alfa 4c. It has signature farts and pops on up shifts.

There’s a h igh school kid with a F ocus running open headers. Loud. Trolls the neighborhood at idle. At least I know he’s getting to school on time

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 11:50

I’m the one in my neighborhood. My F150 has the 4.9 I6, that combined with a leaky exhaust gives it a unique sound in my neighborhood. One of my neighbors once commented that they know they’re on time for work if they are out of bed before hearing my truck go by lol. Now that I’m driving my wife’s old car I blend in

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 11:53

i can tell when my neighbour starts his car not because his seat sounds distinctive but because without fail he grinds the shit out of his gearbox when he shifts

i swear he doesnt know his car has a clutch pedal....poor car

BeaterGT > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 11:56

Yep, neighbor has a GTR albeit with an exhaust. It makes beautiful noises.

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 11:56

We live on a dirt road and are more than a 1/4 mile from our nearest neighbor, but our road is a main north-south thoroughfare for the town, so they all go by our house at some point... One down the road has an ‘80s Ford F150 4x4 stepside with a moderately massaged 302 and barely any muffler. You can hear that coming and going and know exactly who it is.

HammerheadFistpunch > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
03/17/2019 at 11:58

this is me. the cruiser had a bad exhaust leak on the back 3 so it sounded very unique. hopefully fixed by the time i get back

Chuckles > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 11:59

This was my brother for a while, when he started modifying the family minivan. It was a 97 Dodge Caravan with a 3.0L V6, and he removed everything after the headers and mounted side pipes. Not sound related, but he also removed the entire interior except the driver’s seat, bought an Autometer racing tach with shift light (for the automatic van), and set up a full Nitrous Kit from Nitrous Express.

This is why teenagers should not get a credit card.

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 12:00

Im going to guess my neighbors can identify both of my vehicles fairly easily.

I do have a neighbor with either an older Fusion or Focus sedan which sounds like its exhaust dumps straight out of the headers. It’s a many blocks away kind of sound heard. Also have a kitted up SRT4 with a super distinguishable tone.

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 12:05

There’s some high schooler with a straight piped squatted 4.6 02ish Explorer in my moms neighborhood. Sadly I always can recognize his awful vehicle by sound.

cbell04 > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 12:08

I sold one of my cars to a friend who lived about a couple miles down the street. Another friend and I were on my porch chilling and I heard my old car banging the rev limiter from a decent distance told my porch buddy my old car will pass us in 30 seconds and there he came. Blew my friends mind but he wasnt a car guy and couldn’t grasp it. Was funny though.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 12:09

Not exactly the same, but when I lived on the approach path to LAX I could identify the incoming aircraft by the sound of their engines.

Kinja'd!!!

There was a funny upgrade done whilst I lived there. The city paid for lots of insulation, new thick doors and triple-insulated windows for airport noise suppression, but since there wasn’t any air conditioning in the building you had the windows open almost all year long, kind of defeating the purpose of those modifications...

boxrocket > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 12:10

500 Abarths have one of the hapoiest exhaust notes I’ve yet encountered. I’d be tempted to buy one just for that characteristic, and they’re fun to drive as well. They’re very Italian, though, so a difficult commitment to make.

One of the joys of being exposed to as many and as wide a variety of cars as I do allows me to pinpoint certain vehicles with a fair degree of accuracy. I know all my immediate neighbors’ cars by sound (except the Prius in hybrid mode, whoch is thankfully quiet), though since I usually leave for work before most of them are even awake, it’s a fairly moot skill.

Aremmes > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
03/17/2019 at 12:18

Oh, I can relate to this. For three years I lived under the final approach of NAS JRB Willow Grove before BRAC shut it down. C-5s are loud AF.

Aremmes > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
03/17/2019 at 12:22

See, you’re providing a valuable service to your community, yet states give us grief for having leaky exhausts . Make Exhaust Leaks Great Again!®™©%

Sovande > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 12:24

I used to have a neighbor with a built WRX with an extra loud exhaust. I thought it sounded pretty terrible, but I also liked it because it pissed every one off.

I think I am also the neighbor with the easy to ID car exhaust. My El Camino is not subtle and the C30 I had was also loud.

MM54 > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 12:38

I can tell when my neighbor leaves in his 5.0 fox body if I’m on that side of the house, otherwise not really. There used to be a copper-color HHR with a broken exhaust that was distinct, but not exactly good sounding. Haven’t seen (well, heard) it in a while.

If we can count motorcycles, I can hear my (other) neighbor most summer mornings starting his up and heading out, conveniently about 5 minutes after my alarm goes off - no harm no foul.

MM54 > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 12:39

I’m pretty sure the neighbors know when I start the RX7 in the mornings.

Variance > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 12:41

I think I’m that person in my complex. I leave my GT350's exhaust in “quiet mode’ until I get out to the main road, but even still my neighbor has commented that he knows when I leave for work in the morning. Fortunately, he’s a bit of a car guy himself, so he doesn’t mind, haha.

bob and john > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 12:42

I’m that guy. the vast majority of my bikes have pipes on them, the Z had quad pipes, the daytona has afactory arrow racing muffler, the trtack bike has a M4 pipe. even the VFR has a high mount hindle.

my neighbors LOVE me. The bikes are loud, but i dont abuse it. I try to be quiet in the neighborhood , the kids love it (the Daytona spits fire if I goose it) and its a bit of a change from the monotomy of subur bia.

other then me....I think there is a red WRX and a red miata on the streets next to me. I recognize them all the time.

Dusty Ventures > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 13:21

In my neighborhood that's me with the Outback and (unintentionally) my next door neighbor whose Caravan has a bad exhaust leak

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 13:24

Cars I can recognise on my street by sound, besides my own of course :

My wife’s Jeep (has the agricultural-sounding Tigershark engine)

Cooper JCW

E92 M3

F-body Camaro Z28

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > boxrocket
03/17/2019 at 13:30

Abarths (and modern Fiats in general) aren’t really that problematic, unless you have an issue with their small size. Love their sound; in fact my own car sounds like an Abarth on steroids due to some engine similarities.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 13:32

There are two in my neighborhood. One is a goofball teenager with a modified 3rd-gen Eclipse. It sounds awful but distinct. The other is the crazy person who stuffed a Cummins out of a Ram into his GMT400 Suburban .

Cash Rewards > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 13:38

My Miata is that car, since I threw a good win racing muffler on it. I haven't taken the baffle out yet because o know that will be frowned upon

G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 13:47

Between my G35, my buddy’s big turbo Mazdaspeed 3 and my other buddy’s single-turbo Grand Prix that has 2-step and turbo flutter noises we’ve got the town on lock.

WilliamsSW > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 13:51

My next door neighbor has a Lincoln Mark LT that must have an aftermarket exhaust on it. It’s not terribly loud but it does have a nice V8 rumble to it.

When I was a kid, my grandparents next door neighbors had an orange 1st gen Roadrunner that was just deafening. Sounded like open headers. I was just a kid, so no idea what engine it had, but I’d guess it was a 440-6 or 426. I actually hated it - too effing loud.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 15:06

My neighbor’s F150 with the aftermarket exhaust. When he was still working at the plants, he was up at 0-dark-thirty - about an hour before I really wanted to wake up and get out of bed.

dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 15:08

My neighbor’s C6 Grand Sport that’s got cams and headers and far less exhaust restriction than stock. I can hear it cold start from 2-3 blocks away.

TheRealBicycleBuck > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t
03/17/2019 at 15:09

We lived down a gravel road. We recognized every car that belonged on our cul-de-sac and could hear any car coming even if they killed the engine and let it coast down the hill. Gravel roads make lots of noise.

Elumerere > Aremmes
03/17/2019 at 17:26

There’s a lady on our block that has an M2. I can identify it from far away.

Longtime Lurker > Aremmes
03/18/2019 at 23:02

My neighbor used to have a V8 Dakota that sounded pretty good. But now there is only my BMW with its muffler delete.

boxrocket > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever
03/20/2019 at 00:16

I don’t mind and even appreciate their size. I have seen a number of issues with them that continue to give me pause from an ownership perspective, and this from a guy who has a barely-healthy barely-contained addiction to Volvos.