If you don't have the factory fit option, you need SoundRacer
!

 

Too bad the rpm calibration method means it will only work with ICEs...!

 

Really? Isn't that the point of OBD2 (amongst other things?) Doh I was planning on getting that!

 

Having had my REx for 3 weeks, with the exterior sound option, all I can say is WOW. Roaring off from a standing start at the traffic lights, the car sounds like a Ferrari on steroids.

Sadly not. The noise is nothing more than an unusual hum - very quiet inside the car - but sufficiently different to get heads to turn wondering what the strange noise is. If it saves me from having to test the automatic pediastrian warning/stop, then it was worth £85.

 

Any chance sending a sound clip? Not found anywhere online I can hear what it sounds like. Apparently one of the few options you can easily add afterwards.

 

I think you can hear the strange hum of the pedestrian warning system optional extra, in this official bmw video:

I'm glad I didn't option that !

 

1. Plug in the SoundRacer in the car 12V/cigarette lighter socket.
Tune in a free frequency

2. Find a free FM frequency on the car stereo and set the SoundRacer to the same frequency. You can also connect to the radio AUX input.

3. Start engine and make a short revv to about 3000 rpm and down. Three beeps will indicate that SoundRacer have (sic) synchronized with the car engine rpm.

Now you are ready to go!

 

And this is quite informative - about the regular eDrive acceleration sound on the i3... If only there was a volume control option on that so it could be made louder!

 

So they paid people wages to come up with a spooky sound (which added to the price, of course).

Why not just pick an ICE with an appealing sound, and record/replay it?

 

It's called skeuomorphism - making something sound/look like obsolete technology can be fun, but it's also kitsch.

See under Architecture, Modern Residential -- Mock Tudor beams.

 

It's called skeuomorphism - making something sound/look like obsolete technology can be fun, but it's also kitsch.

What's different in making it sound like an underfloor air heating system?

 

It's true that to make your car sound like a fifties idea of a flying saucer is as kitsch as making it sound like a Ferrari. It does feel somehow more appropriate to provide a noise that sounds like a louder version of the slight whine that electric motors make anyway -- that or perhaps put a mike next to the wheels and amplify the tyre noise...

 

Amperas don't need all this nonsense. The whine from the failing output bearing usually gets people's heads spinning.



(Not exactly a laughing matter for some of us - beginning to wonder about mine too! )

 

Don't worry Donald when it goes there is no missing it, I went from normal to whats that noice to OMG the car is dead in under 100 miles

 

I'm siding with the view that an electric car shouldn't imitate an ICE soundwise. If not silent it should be immediately obvious it is electric. Generally speaking I assume most i3 owners don't mind having a car that looks different from the norm hence choosing this vehicle.
So sounding unique would also be cool.

 

I'm siding with the view that an electric car shouldn't imitate an ICE soundwise. If not silent it should be immediately obvious it is electric

Why should it be obvious its electric? I think it should sound like an ICE. We have become accustomed to what an ICE sounds like, so when we don't need to be aware of the immediate dangers of the road (such as sitting in your house with the windows open/in the garden/parks etc) then you have already trained yourself to filter out the noise. Having a new unique sound is distracting.

And when you are in situations when you need to be aware of traffic, then you already know what to listen out for.

 

It's an interesting debating point whether an electric car should look as well as sound unmistakably like an electric car. If so, the e-Golf definitely breaks that rule -- and maybe (logically) ought to sound like an ICE Golf too. However the situation is complicated by the fact that the platform was developed for any fuel: petrol, diesel, electric or LPG.

 

Sorry, just spotted SoundRacer has EVs covered... although it (er..) sounds like less fun..

Eveess || SoundRacer

 

Has anyone tested an original Soundracer in an EV? It detects the alternator signal of an ICE, so perhaps it would pick up on the motor speed in an EV...?

 

Does it work in my car?
SoundRacer works fine in almost all cars: Gasoline, diesel, flexifuel, manual, automatic but not in hybrids and electric vehicles (see EVEESS for these). Check our list of tested cars for compatibility.

 

If they did an option to make it sound like one of those things in Star Wars, that'd be fun.

 

In any case that is an Owner Warning Sound, not a Pedestrian Warning Sound..

 

There's certainly a valid precedent for obsolete forms being retained for public information because of its general familiarity. Hence traffic signs using steam engines to denote trains, old-fashioned telephone receivers etc. etc.

You could argue that it is not kitsch if it merely exploits the average person's pre-existing associations to perform an important warning function.

Making your car sound like a racing car for your own entertainment is a separate argument..

 

I am not sure that it is 'that' distracting. I have not seen anybody who has been startled by the sound. One or two have turned around in carparks but isn't this the purpose of having exterior sound. FWiW, the on-board Handbook describes the sound as Engine Noise, Artificial' and it is activated as part of the pedestrian warning system. The important thing for me is that the noise is barely noticeable inside the cabin with the doors etc shut.

 

Can you switch it off manually?

 

Yes but only as part of the Pedestrian Warning via Settings. When 'De-Activated' both are OFF.

 

Is there a Sleigh bell, or horse clip-clop, option?

 

What other pedestrian warnings are there as part of the system @Lexden ?

 

Do you mean... warnings that pedestrians carry?

I'll lay odds that over 99% of pedestrians who get run over weren't carrying some form of sound warning device on them. I'd suggest the correlation between getting run over and not having an audio warning is pretty clear.

.... Someone needs to petition Gov to get some legislation put in place here, I fear.

 

"And the city collision warning with braking function feature for pedestrians helps to prevent accidents from occurring with pedestrians and minimises the risk of passenger injury in an emergency. The braking functions can help avoid or reduce the impact of accidents that occur when travelling at city speed limits."

You can, of course, specify the artificial engine noise as a stand alone package. The Person Warning with city braking function - to give it the handbook title - operates in the range 6 to 35 mph by applying the brakes before a collision.

 

"And the city collision warning with braking function feature for pedestrians helps to prevent accidents from occurring with pedestrians "

I can see a whole new game of 'dare' opening up for teenagers with a whimsical attitude to their mortality. Once they learn these cars have these features, just running across the road in front of such a car will cause it to bang on the brakes. A few rear-end accidents later and someone will complain to the Daily Mail about it.

 

They must be pretty slow on the uptake as Volvo has offered this for years, and I think that it is fitted to the latest Ford Focus. The interesting question is whether Intelligent Safety will be seen by insurers as a premium-reducing safety feature?

New Ford Focus becomes first car to receive four euro NCAP advanced rewards

 

The biggest looks problem with the i3 IMO is its designers forgot to put it in a wind tunnel, why is it not the most aerodynamic shape possible? Mind you the same could be said for the LEAF. At least the i3's looks splits opinions everyone thinks the LEAF is ugly