Just curious- does the hard top cut down on wind noise significantly? Does the engine seem louder or softer with the hard top? Does it improve stock stereo sound (through sound reflection from the top)?

-B

 

yes.
softer.
not through reflection so much as pressurization. an enclosed firm-walled environment will sound better than an open (top down) or soft-walled (top up) environment.

 

yes,softer.

 

So here it is ...a confession that the S2K really is a loud car. I have had my 2002 since April and I am VERY disappointed with how much interior noise this car makes....and I have a Glass rear. I can only imagine how loud it is in the standard 00, 01. Make no mistake. This is really a sports car. Creature comforts are few and far between. Thats a good...and bad. Boxsters are not nearly as loud inside....heck I dont remember my Miata being this loud.

Cheers!

 

Yep, they don't waste any weight on sound dampening- well actually they do, but very little...

-B

 

Yeah, it's especially loud with the softtop UP. Seems like more engine noise reverberates in there. I can't image what it's like with a CAI and/or aftermarket exhaust.

 

It is quiter with the hardtop, the stock stereo sounds a lot louder to me. You do not have to turn the volume up 3/4 of the way to here it. It seems loud at just under 1/2 volume.(figeratively speaking)

 

After 2 6-hour trips with the hardtop, my feeling is that the wind and road noise is somewhat reduced, but engine noise is a bit increased, 'captured' as it is in the cockpit. However, it wasn't so bad that my wife and I couldn't listen to some 'books on tape' type stuff with good clarity (though I do have lucid's rear Polk speakers installed, and that helped A LOT).

JonasM

 

Is it good noise or bad noise?

One of the things said about Italian sports cars is they are loud, but the engine noise "is music to the ears." Or is this sound just droning?

I wouldn't mind nice engine noises. How is the road noise from the wheel wells? I know our Civic's road noise sucks (I'm going to be installing dynamat soon).

 

It's a bit of a drone (just cruising at about 70-75MPH for a couple hours) - not enough to be annoying, just more than you'll hear with the top down (or just with the softtop).

I don't specifically recall hearing anything much else from the wheels or the wheel wells - at leant nothing beyond the usual.

JonasM