You know, that deep, throaty rumble? You can hear a nice car coming, sometimes - and I noticed the other day that you can even tell the difference between a genuine sportscar and a Honda that some guy tricked out when I heard one of those Hondas approach.
I’m interested in the differences in the engine, primarily. Any help?
You are probably describing the “V8 burble” that American V8s make. It is a distinct sound resulting from the odd firing order of the cylinders in a Cross Plane V8. Note that a European (e.g. Ferrari) “flat plane” V8 will not have this sound, their sound being a higher pitch scream, among other differences.
Huh? What’s a nice car? To me a sign of a truly nice car is that it makes no real noise at all when it comes up to you.
As for American V8’s, I guess it depends on the generation. My Modular is on a “nice car” and is exceptionally quiet. I’d be disappointed if there were burble. My soon-to-have-Pontiac-Grandville, though, has a nice, pleasing rumble. It’s also a nice car, by 1973 standards.
Eh, sure…the question is vague and ignores the fact that there’s no universal definition of “nice car”, but to pretend it makes no sense at all is just being intentionally obtuse.
Part of it: “nice” cars tend to have more powerful engines. People who buy nice cars tend to want them to be on the quieter, more subtle side. This means that luxury cars don’t usually get their power by using small, high-revving engines; they use larger, torque-producing engines. So there’s a tendency to purr instead of scream.
I’m sure there’s more to it, and there’s also most likely a self-fulfilling aspect of it: people come to expect a certain sound from high end cars, so manufacturers end up sticking with designs that perpetuate that, and people’s expectations get further cemented.
I’m pretty sure it’s not specifically the “V8 burble” or even coming from american cars specifically. Listen to a recent-model BMW 335 and it’s got a beautiful low purr, but it’s a foreign inline 6. 
He specifically describes it as a “deep, throaty rumble”. I don’t think any European or Japanese car, however nice they may be, makes an exhaust note that can be characterized as such.
Mercs, BMWs and Audis certainly make a nice burbly noise, akin to that from US cars (we’ve got enough 300Cs around here to know 
) from V8s and a sort of expensive “thrum” noise from the six cylinder models.
Nothing I can’t stand more than a piddling 4 cylinder engine in standard tune blaring through an oversized exhaust pipe on the back of a small hatch. The exception being cars like the Honda Integra that passed me by while it was being thrashed coming down the Glenshane Pass. An abominable speed, but a pleasant sound.
Describing sounds is notoriously subjective, though, and while I certainly wouldn’t call it a “rumble”, my M Roadster produces a noise I would definitely characterize as “deep and throaty”.
To expand on this a bit, American cars tend to have larger cylinder displacements than foreign counterparts. This means that there will be a higher flowrate through the intake and exhaust manifolds. In order to move more air, you need a larger pipe. Think of an organ, where the big pipes are the deeper notes, while the smaller pipes are the higher pitches.
Anecdote: I had my Charger in the Dodge dealer service bay on Friday. It has a 5.7L Hemi, headers, and a cold air intake. When the mechanic started my car, my head perked up as I instantly recognized the sound. Even though there were probably three or four other vehicles with a Hemi in the bay, I knew it was mine. A couple guys that were waiting in the lobby joked that I looked like a dog when he heard its owner driving up, recognizing the sound and knowing exactly what engine (car) it was coming from.
It largely boils down to what sort of exhaust system and muffler is installed. Engines are VERY noisy with no exahust. By using different mufflers and exhaust components you can make a vehicle sound very quiet or very loud. New vehicles generally have a fairly restrictive mufflers that have various chambers and baffles to quiet the car down, but at the same time that restricts the power and exhaust flow. My V6 Contour has 2 catalytic convertors, a “resonator”, and 2 mufflers. I removed the “resonator” and replaced it with straight pipe, now the car is louder and throatier. Common concensus seems to be that it adds some efficiency and performance by removing flow restriction. On the other hand, it kind of drones at highway speeds.
I know in many (most?) cases Harley motorcycles ship with fairly quiet pipes, but people like to put much less restrictive pipes on them to get that loud pipes sound.
A nice sports or luxury car is more likely to have a larger V6 or V8 engine in it, which is one of the selling points of those cars. A bigger engine is generally the best way to get more power, thus the saying “There is no replacement for displacement.” Larger engines make a different, deeper sound than a 4-cylinder Honda engine can make. On high-end cars the engineers spend more time tuning the exhaust to make pleasing noises come out. The sound is part of the perceived power of the vehicle.
I’m under the impression that engineers spend a fair amount of effort trying to get the proper exhaust note on certain sports cars. I remember when the Miata first came out, there was a lot of press about making the exhaust sound right.
According to this site:
I suspect that Ferrari spends at least as much effort getting the sound right.
The Holden GTO tried to reproduce the harmonics of the old big V8’s by intentionally engineering the independent dual exhausts with different internal flow paths, creating a harmonic imbalance. Keeping the exhaust gasses from mixing by isolating the two sides of the engine helped.
This loping, off-kilter rumble screams “power” to some of us that grew up before the Chrysler K-car.
Big engines and big pipes.
IIRC, Harley-Davidson patented the potato-potato-potato sound of their exhaust, so obviously, they take it pretty seriously.
I guess it also helps that the GTO’s engine is an old big American V8. So I don’t think they needed to spend much time on that one.
One thing I’ve always wondered, to go off on a (slight) tangent, is why a Ducati sounds like it does. The sound is very distinctive. Do they just have a particular muffler, or are they are distinctive engine configuration or what?
Yeah the cylanders kinda go off at the same time, were as on most engines as one does down the other comes up. Thats why they got a completely differnt deeper noise on a Harly.
The reason most V8’s have a deep noise is cause the engineer is bigger.
Most V8’s now are around 6.1L where as on cheaper cars that do a v8 tend to be around 5L v8.
A large part of it is exhaust tuning, obviously. One case in point - my grrl Fierra’s new Corvette has outrageous power (seriously, it kicks unholy ass) and a giant 6.2l V8 engine - but we both admit that my Mustang GT with about half the power has a much better sounding engine, at everything from idle to full throttle. Even when the exhaust bypass on her Vette kicks in (which is awe-inspiring in its own way), my Mustang still sounds better. And my 4.6l V8 sounds a hell of a lot better than a co-worker’s Ford truck with the same, exact engine in it. The engine, the exhaust, and the tuning all go to make up the sound.
One Engineer who worked on the Olds “Quad Four” engine (remember that, girls and boys?) once made a double-hump camshaft as an experimental thing, that made the engine sound like a V8 and fooled a lot of observers - so they say. I don’t have the handy Gooooooooooooooogle link, my source was an ancient Motor Trend article from the 1980’s, which I may find and scan if I can. Anyhow, the open-pause-open effect of the exhaust lobe of the camshaft apparently did the trick.
Once upon a time I had a 1974 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400.
A gentle tap on the gas in neutral usually resulted in a chorus of car alarms singing in rounds from the surrounding parking lots.
I thought it was nice 
God I miss that car.
I rented a Hertz-Shelby GT-500H a while back. It had a 4.6l. Everyone that rode in the car (convertible) said that the engineer that did the exhaust deserved a raise and a promotion.
It was without a doubt the best sounding V8 I have ever driven.
I posted this in another thread, but Dodge’s SRT team said they designed the 5.7L Hemi with a balance of power, weight, and cost. They said, “We designed the 6.1L Hemi to kick ass.”
1971 GTO 455HO with about a 6" clearance, and lost mufflers frequently. Driving down the street at 2:00AM (the fear is gone) car alarms blaring (the gun is still warm), wishing my radio was loud enough to hear Golden Earring (help I’m slipping towards copyright infringement)
What I did to that car was a crime. If I hadn’t needed a drink so bad that next morning, I would have quit drinking after seeing what it did to my pride and joy. 