Quiet non electric cars

galljga1

O.k. my car is in the hospital and I have been given a Dacia Sandero Stepway as a replacement. My impression of it is that it is cheap and cheerful. Given the price and the fact that it is essentially a previous generation Renault, that is to be expected but my major gripe is the amount of external road and wind noise that you can hear in the cabin. I could not live with it on a daily basis. Once my car (Skoda Superb) is repaired I will probably trade in but will probably step down to something Octavia sized and priced.

What cars do you recommend in this bracket that have low engine and external noise?
Cheers

micks_address

galljga1 wrote: »

O.k. my car is in the hospital and I have been given a Dacia Sandero Stepway as a replacement. My impression of it is that it is cheap and cheerful. Given the price and the fact that it is essentially a previous generation Renault, that is to be expected but my major gripe is the amount of external road and wind noise that you can hear in the cabin. I could not live with it on a daily basis. Once my car (Skoda Superb) is repaired I will probably trade in but will probably step down to something Octavia sized and priced.

What cars do you recommend in this bracket that have low engine and external noise?
Cheers

Are you thinking petrol?

Pkiernan

Petrol Lexus. Really quiet.

galljga1

micks_address wrote: »

Are you thinking petrol?

Possibly. The current car is diesel and is a bit noisier than the equivalent petrol model. Diesel mania was in the air when I bought it. I was a bit put out by the additional noise. I may go back to petrol. I don't do the mileage to justify diesel.

Del2005

The quality of the tyres can make a big difference to road noise. A hybrid with decent tyres would be very quite.

galljga1

Del2005 wrote: »

The quality of the tyres can make a big difference to road noise. A hybrid with decent tyres would be very quite.

Yeah, I had not considered hybrids. As long as it is a normal looking car. I am put off by the styling of some of the electric and hybrid cars produced in the past. Now that it is spilling over into "regular' cars, it might be worth a look.

colm_mcm

I don't think the engine noise is as big a factor as road noise. Obviously if you're in a bargain basement faux-crossover, you'll have more road noise and given the price you can't expect great sound deadening.
A petrol Superb vs a diesel one wouldn't make any odds in my opinion, in some cases the diesel might feel quieter as you're not revving as much on acceleration.
Things like tyres make a huge difference in some cars. I put Michelin Energys on mine and the difference in road noise is actually huge.

Into The Blue

Had a v40 for a rental in England while back.. quietest car this side of an s class imo.

Would definitly spend my own cash on one.

galljga1

colm_mcm wrote: »

I don't think the engine noise is as big a factor as road noise. Obviously if you're in a bargain basement faux-crossover, you'll have more road noise and given the price you can't expect great sound deadening.
A petrol Superb vs a diesel one wouldn't make any odds in my opinion, in some cases the diesel might feel quieter as you're not revving as much on acceleration.
Things like tyres make a huge difference in some cars. I put Michelin Energys on mine and the difference in road noise is actually huge.

Two tyres need replacing shortly so will look into quieter tyres. Normally I don't specify a brand. I think they are Continental something or other.

galljga1

Into The Blue wrote: »

Had a v40 for a rental in England while back.. quietest car this side of an s class imo.

Would definitly spend my own cash on one.

I nearly had one in years gone by. I was put off by the instability of the company at the time.

galljga1

Thanks for the thoughts folks. Gotta go and do crap with the kids.

Jayop

There's barely a whisper from my old petrol 06 Citroën c5.

bazz26

I think a lot of this comes down to the level of refinement especially in the cabin. My F10 is very quiet on the inside but roll down the window and you hear the standard diesel clatter.

Of course a petrol engine will be a lot quieter than a diesel but in a cabin with low levels of refinement/insulation it will still have a noticeable sound.

Special Circumstances

Few posters here reckon recent skoda diesels are virtually silent :pac:

GustavoFring

As Bazz says it depends on the car. Mines a diesel, hers is a petrol and there's less engine noise in that than hers because the cabin is better insulated. From the outside its the opposite.

Buying a well insulated petrol is probably what you're after. It will be quieter than the same model diesel version. It's also worth keeping to smaller wheel sizes to reduce road noise too.

Henry Ford III

Jayop wrote: »

There's barely a whisper from my old petrol 06 Citroën c5.

What's it like with the engine running?

Into The Blue

What's an f10?

colm_mcm

Current model 5 series bmw.

micks_address

colm_mcm wrote: »

Current model 5 series bmw.

On quiet cars... Has anyone added dynamat or insulation to make their car quieter..?

https://youtu.be/f5Qi2AMm7sI