BMW has been offering its customers what they call Active Sound Design for quite some time now and, no matter how they tried to sugarcoat it, it remains one of the things that most enthusiasts don’t agree with.
That’s because most of them feel that it’s like cheating. The sound you get inside the car is not coming from the engine department but from the speakers in the doors. That was done because sound insulation became better over the years and isolated the driver from actually hearing the sound of the engine.
That, in turn, lets you know when to change gear without taking your eyes off the road. When driving on a track, it makes a huge difference, while, in highway driving mode, it’s rarely given any importance.
Well, as cars have become more comfortable and silent for cruising, something had to be done. On a personal note, I think it’s a good add-on but only if the sole thing it does is enhance the sound the engine already makes.
What Hamann is proposing with its latest offering is on an entirely different level. They now have on offer a device that lets your diesel car sound like a petrol V8 when activated, it’s a neat trick but this time, even I have to say it feels like cheating.
With it you can adjust the volume, the impedance, and even the note of the sound which would be nice but if you had the proper ‘gear’ under the bonnet.
How does it work?
BMW’s ECUs have various soundtracks for nearly every model out there embedded in them. The Active Sound Design feature is found on every car, from the 318i to the X6 M and all electronics come with all the soundtracks pre-loaded.
The only difference between cars is what sound is pre-loaded when it leaves the assembly line. Well, Hamann tuned into this software and unlocked the V8 sound, altering it to its own needs with this new app. Quite nifty but nothing too complicated nonetheless.
That's for the occupants though but Hamann claims that their exhaust is doing the same on the outside. No specifics were offered but we have a hunch of how this came to be and Audi might be to blame.
The same soundtrack is being used but in order to make the sound noticeable on the outside of the car as well, Hamann must've installed speakers in the mufflers, speakers that can be adjusted via a smartphone app. This way, your diesel will sound like a V8 from a distance. As I said, Audi were the first to do this sort of thing but not at this kind of volume.
Unfortunately, at the moment, the device only works on the M50d X6 and X5 models but we're expecting it to be available for all cars in the future.
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