GR Yaris Natural engine sound?

[Duke]

I‘ve only had my car a few days but last night I disabled the fake engine noise, the so-called ESE, and it’s a revelation!

OK, it’s never going to sound like a rumbling cross-plane V8 or howling V10, but the natural sound of the little engine is actually okay. And you get to hear unaugmented induction and exhaust, as well as various snickety noises from gear changes.

To me, it’s still a fairly noisy place to be, but at least now it sounds like a proper, mechanical car rather than some Need For Speed simulation.

The boomy, over-amplified resonances are gone so the car is just much more pleasant to be in. The audio system does not have to compete with it either, meaning it has a lot more headroom/dynamic range and, while it’s never going to be a better than mediocre system, having less ambient/non-audio noise to deal with is always going to be a good thing.

I also like hearing what the car actually sounds like to people outside. I value a certain element of, shall we say, discretion in my travels and it’s good to get an honest representation of what pedestrians are hearing, rather than some bombastic facsimile.

 

[MrJ]

I flip between the two, it’s nice hearing the real exhaust and induction, then I flip it back and find the augmented noise makes it feel faster Then after a bit I like the natural sound again, and so on…

I think the augmented noise is done pretty well tbh. I’m not keen on switching the noise cancelling off though, that really makes it a bit on the rough and ready side for a daily driver.

 

[Duke]

Yeah, don't get me wrong I think they've done a good job on the overall tone and matching it to the throttle opening/revs, but it's just 'too much' in terms of volume and overloads the, shall we say, modest audio system.

With a high-mid-low ESE volume option in the vehicle config I don't think I would even feel the need to turn it off.

I just don't get manufacturers' zeal to add fake noises to their cars. They spend millions minimising NVH then add it back in though half-arsed audio system corruptions, soundaktors and exhaust augmentations. Almost nobody is asking for these systems, which are sometimes fitted to otherwise pretty good sounding cars, but they all add cost, complexity and weight and invariably can't be turned off without a trip to the dealer or access to an OBD adapter/tool.

 

[GRgrampa]

Did you disable the noise cancelling as well or just the fake sound?

 

[corroded]

I liked the fake noise in the test drives, but I'm defo going to toggle it off... in van configuration, my Megane is pretty noisy anyway, and I can hear a lot of road noise... so I'm OK with a pretty noisy interior, if I wanted refined I wouldn't have bought a rally car for the road.

 

[Duke]

Did you disable the noise cancelling as well or just the fake sound?

Just the enhancement. I will try disabling the ANC but I imagine I’ll prefer to keep it on.

 

[MrJ]

The only thing that bugs me about the fake noise is that is should be a menu option to switch it off. Best of both worlds then, it's daft that you need Carista or something to switch it off.

 

[Onehp]

I got mostly annoyed at the fake sound at high revs.
At first with ESE switched off it was a bit quiet, but soon got used to it and now much prefer it. Main point is that it has an enjoyable engine note and also a 'rush' revving out.

 

[cuddles]

I am in the Fake sound group. I like it and it makes me smile but I can see how many will like it natural.
Watched a YT video where they tested about 7 different exhausts over a full day. Not interested in a new exhauset but I did find it interesting how they got different sounds from the different combinations.
It was called: GR Yaris ULTIMATE Exhaust Test! - GPF Delete, Milltek, HKS,
It may be posted elswhere on here.

 

[Matt]

I was fine with it until I added an exhaust (and not a loud exhaust either). With that addition it caused a slight drone which was just enough to be annoying, so I got it switched off.