See, Im a car guy and this thought process bugs me. Now at a certain noise level or manner of behavior I do agree but if I can offer a counterpoint?
Every school holidays or long weekend around where I live the roads get absolutely clogged with caravan and boat owners just looking to escape. Be among nature or on the water and forget about their responsibilities for a few days and I just have to sit there and quietly sit in bumper to bumper traffic while my commute takes 3 times longer than normal so they can indulge themselves in their escapism. Every time I take my daughter for a walk along the waterfront theres some teenage girls doing a tiktok dance or some influencer with a photographer I have to walk around… sure I could be a dick and just plow through but I try not to fuck with people just trying to be happy.
So I put an aftermarket exhaust on my car so that for just a few minutes a day I can feel like my life isnt just a relentless crushing grind of work, parenthood and sleep. I can pull away from an intersection and for just a second, I can pretend that life is the “fast and the furious” not “monotony and the tedium”. Like the people towing a caravan too big for their car up a hill and inconveniencing a bunch of people, I dont want attention I’m just more concerned with my happy than other peoples. But I’m not also a toolbag who floors a painfully loud shitbox around suburbia at 3am, there is a line.
You really had me rooting for you until you turned to the dark side in the second paragraph lol.
Maybe instead of a muffler you could just install a muffler sound simulator on your phone or something and listen to the sounds quietly while you drive?
If you like your car, you want it to sound nice. Not an app on your phone.
I know this place is very anti car. But like most things there’s a middle ground.
You can have a slightly louder exhaust system that accentuates the good sounds of your engine while not being a nuisance.
I’m not anti-car a bit, I’m a mechanic from a family of mechanics and though I appreciate the sound of a nice engine running, I don’t see the value in volume personally. Loud doesn’t equate to running efficiently or having power (edit) all of the time.
I also hear so many at work that maybe it’s taken the fun out of it. Nothing like having engines constantly running full throttle around you all day to make you value a quiet ride home.
I definitely get it as a car guy, I just have had loud engines bother me so much throughout life that I try and be as considerate as possible unless it’s absolutely necessary but again I don’t judge you, it’s just not for me. Gas engines bother plenty of people but I still like and drive em so hey I’m no different
Maybe the boat owner could sit in the tub and wear a silly hat while he insists people call him “Captain”.
People doing TikToks or pulling their boats arent disrupting conversations in my own home nor scaring my pets. You may be escaping life for a few minutes a day but I, and many others have to live with your noise constantly throughout the day.
Even though you only do it for a few minutes, there are many other people doing the same thing so it’s nearly a few times an hour that I have to listen to it
I’m a postman and every day I put up with aggressive and loud dogs for my whole day, so do all my coworkers. Do we ban your dogs?
If the dogs are impeding your enjoyment of your own home, yeah?
Also loud exhausts ARE banned, the police just never enforce it in my city