What makes the VR6 sound so good?

[Portent 0]

This may be a silly question but why does the VR6 sound so good? It may seem obvious that the V6 is the reason and of course that is a major part of it. I don't have a Corrado VR6 yet but I have owned a Golf mk3 VR6 and a mk4 V6 4Mo 24v. The 12v in the VR6 sounded much more aggressive than the refined note of the 24v.

 

So I suppose this is a question for the 24v Corrado owners... does the car sound as good?

[Abdul 0]

What i find is that 24v's when running straight pipes etc have the sickest exhaust notes but the VR's have a crazy induction note. Any chance of getting both?

 

Good question though, why is this? Even my valver has an awesome induction note (drilled airbox) compared to other 4 pots with induction kits...

[aide 0]

fairly certain its not an easy answer, but i'd assume its due to the vr6's larger single valve heads, cast manifold, fixed length inlet runners and no variable valve timing, i.e all a bit less refined than the 24v.

 

i think the drilled box versus cone filter is a different reason, the standard box is designed to reflect induction pulses back into the inlet tract to aid cylinder charging, by drilling the air box you're allowing these pulses to reverberate like a speaker and also to escape, the cone filter allows them to escape only.

 

above is my theory only, happy to be shot down by more learned persons :grin:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

fixed length inlet runners and no variable valve timing

 

Yep :D

 

It's because the 24V changes intake geometry. At low rpms and loads, the 24V still has the same beefy burble as the 12v, but when it switches to the short runner intake, that's when it gets raspy where the 12V growls!

[Jim 2]

Doesn't the 24v have a plastic inlet manifold? I'd assume that'd help reduce boom / noise quite considerably as well?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yep, different exhausts aswell, although same basic 3 - 2 - 1 collector design.

 

One thing in common though, both 12 and 24V are pretty coarse engines as they approach the red line. They're no where near as refined as a BMW straight 6 :D

[Abdul 0]

Yep, different exhausts aswell, although same basic 3 - 2 - 1 collector design.

 

One thing in common though, both 12 and 24V are pretty coarse engines as they approach the red line. They're no where near as refined as a BMW straight 6 :D

 

Out of interest and slightly off topic, but do vr's actually make good power all the way to the red line which im assuming is 6.5k? Or are they like 9a valvers, 6k and change gear lol.

[bananawhip 0]

My VR makes much much better power to the redline (and a better sound) then my R32, which runs out of steam around 5K

 

Completely different powerbands, love driving the R32 around town but the VR howl at top end is like nothing else