[1] 2018 Honda Accord

[2] 2017 Mercedes CLA250

[3] Ford Mustang, F-150

[4] Porsche, Lexus LFA

The list goes on. Ford and VW are the worst, but every ICE auto manufacturer does it to some degree.

There's nothing funnier than hearing someone act so smug with the sound of revving their A3 2.0T, then telling them to get out of the car and listen to it from the outside, watching the look on their face when they realize it sounds like a V6 on the inside and a lawnmower on the outside.

Basically, if your car has a turbo'd 4 cyl engine made recently, you almost definitely have fake engine noise. As displacement goes up, the need for it goes down, but even the most popular V8 engines have it (everything Ford makes, Audi does it as well). The only manufacturer in this class that I can't find any evidence deploying fake engine noise is Mazda, but given their close relationship with Ford it wouldn't surprise me.

[1] https://www.driveaccord.net/forums/249-audio-electronics-lig...

[2] https://www.mercedescla.org/forum/5-cla-general-discussion/2...

[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/americas-bes...

[4] https://www.caranddriver.com/features/faking-it-engine-sound...

I understand you're saying it's common across several manufacturers, but you overstated it, perhaps for effect, when you said every sporty car.

I remember reading about how the Mazda Miata was tuned to have a nice exhaust note when it first came out, but that isn't what I would call fake engine noise. Conducting sound where and how desired doesn't make it fake.

I also note some of your citations appear to involve random and possibly confused people making guesses on enthusiast forums which are less than an authoritative source.

I feel ya I wish ford wouldnt do it, but as a silver lining it took me 30 seconds to disable it on my 2017 focus rs, so at least it's easy to turn off.

How does it sound without it?

Much quieter than before but it's much more authentic then before and you hear the crackles and pops better. Also its not like the car is quiet it's certainly louder then most cars on the road especially in sport or track mode. Finally I was planning on getting an intake and exhaust anyway so it will be much louder in the future.