How Loud Is Your Mini Inside

[DFL18]

i think this belongs in general so more people will answer it, but if not mods feel free to move it

now onto my question

how loud is your mini cooper or (s) inside the cabin? i was driving a lexus ls400 last week and it was the quietest car i have ever been in, i couldnt even hear the engine (almost tried to start it again) and when driving the car was really quiet inside also

i currently drive a 99 jeep grand cherokee limited, its decently quiet inside but not the best

how quiet is the cabin inside the mini?
ive seen people dynamat the interior panels, if u read this and have performed that task did it help a lot?

thanks for anyones input

[Paul]

I'd say it's quiet for road noise, engine noise etc. compared to other similar sized cars on the road today, but louder than a lot of 'bigger' cars which put more space and material between you, the road, the engine, and the exhaust. The 'S' is designed to be louder inside, you have the supercharger whine, and the vents in the rear parcel shelf to allow more exhaust noise in!

[ScoobyDoo]

I know that your question was aimed at noise in Cooper's and CooperS's, but I have a MINI One and I have to say that whilst I do get a little noise (which is to be expected) it's nothing that I can't live with. The noise has increased now that I have added an induction kit (which sound sexy!!) and now that I have gone bigger with my alloys I am getting more road noise. But none of the above would EVER put me off my MINI. Hope this helps.

[RedUn]

I believe people are only dynamatting their boots becuase they have changed their exhaust for a loud one and there is too much resonance inside the car.

[Richard Crofts]

I have a relatively standard Cooper running the 17" S Spokes and SS+ suspension. Road noise is noticable and in fact is probably a little louder than most other small modern cars I've driven (however they normally only had 13" - 15" wheels with large profile tyres)

Induction noise is also prominant but not loud by ant means and its only under heavy throttle. Exhaust is more a muted purr than anything but in slightly throatier than most other cars

It is just right, my only complaint would be the transmission whine which in 5th in overrun is quite prominant.

[HarryHBMCC]

My MINI Cooper, at over 30k km is fairly loud. The well worn tires yield a fair bit of road noise on rough pavement and the engine has a fairly loud note even with the stock exhaust and just a K&N filter. Not in a bad way, mind you, I like the sound but it ain't no Lexus. My Saturn LW200 wagon is much quieter at freeway speeds, except when strong crosswinds make the roof racks sing.

Harry

[MarkW19]

Quote: Originally Posted by RedUn

I believe people are only dynamatting their boots becuase they have changed their exhaust for a loud one and there is too much resonance inside the car.

Redun,

Where do you get dynamatt from? Wouldn't mind getting some 'cos my Magnex is great, but does resonate annoyingly at certain RPMs/speeds. Is it expensive?

[SteveM3]

Quote: Originally Posted by DFL18

how loud is your mini cooper or (s) inside the cabin? i was driving a lexus ls400 last week and it was the quietest car i have ever been in, i couldnt even hear the engine (almost tried to start it again) and when driving the car was really quiet inside also

I wonder how much Lexus spend on R&D to make their cars as boring
as possible? Quality not quantity should be the issue with sound.

[plugot]

If you have the 17" runflats your car will be louder than with the standard tires. The very hard side walls of the runflats don't absorb road noise but pass it into the passenger compartment.

[Dark Silver S]

I keep meaning to do sound tests with an SPL to quantify the sound levels. Soon, maybe.

With the sunroof and windows shut, my S is VERY quiet. More-so than my full-sized custom van (and all of it's interior padding and carpeting). With the roof and windows open, the wind noise is pretty loud. But then, so is a roadster. I'm thinking that if I change the angle on the roof flaps, I can 'tune' the wind noise. We'll see.

[Z1GZAG N]

If you're expecting the Mini to be as quiet as a Lexas, please, go by something else. The Mini is not in the same class as the Lexas just as a Tribant will never be in the same class as the Mini.

[BartMack]

The only significant noise that I notice in my Cooper is from the A/C, which makes a strange (loud) howling/resonance noise around 3k rpms. But outside the car I've noticed the A/C is so loud you can't hardly talk over it. Even though July and especially August are miserably humid where I live, usually September gets better.
And since the A/C also sucks so much power out of the engine, I'm looking forward to cooler weather with the A/C off. Other than that there is no unusual or uncompfortable noise or noise levels. The Cooper also does not have the Whine (which S owners love, but I'm not sure I'm ready to live with yet, so another Cooper + for me)

[obehave]

Quote: Originally Posted by MarkW19

Redun,

Where do you get dynamatt from? Wouldn't mind getting some 'cos my Magnex is great, but does resonate annoyingly at certain RPMs/speeds. Is it expensive?

I've done a good amount of sound dampening for various reasons. Did I need to? Not really but some I did for my daughter who sets in the back. My Magnaflow was louder than stock.
The boot, under the rear seat and the doors. Car sounds much better now but I really don't think it had to be done. I am glad I did it though.
I still have 2 pics in My Gallery of my install.

Dynamat isn't cheap. B-Quiet is much cheaper.

Dynamat : http://www.dynamat.com/

B-Quiet : http://www.b-quiet.com and a comparison link: http://www.b-quiet.com/dynamat.html

[OctaneGuy]

FWIW, I own a Lexus LS400 (and have driven extensively an LS430), and an SUV (Isuzu Rodeo 4WD), and before that had an Acura Integra GS. I will be taking possession of my MINI in a few days, but I did rent one for a week.

There really is no comparison between an LS400 to ANY car on the market. It's is so quiet, that it makes any other car seem very loud. But I don't like driving it much. I let the wife drive it because it puts me to sleep. I love being able to hear the engine and to feel the road. Though a quiet cabin from wind noise is very important. My Integra was very noisy with it's frameless windows. I like how the MINI drops the window when closing the doors to ensure a good seal.

The Rodeo is NOISY from both the point of view of tire noise to engine noise to the howling wind.

My wife didn't want me to buy the MINI because she though it was too noisy (compared to the LS400). But in reality what she was complaining about was the fact you could hear the engine revving, and that's just music to my ears.

I did experience once during my week of renting the MINI on a stretch of pavement. It was a freeway interchange with grooves. Road noise in the MINI became deafening. I'm not sure why it was that way. I hadn't experienced it anywhere else. I will revisit that stretch once I get my own car and see if I still think that's true.

[plugot]

Runflats on grooved highway surfaces are well known in the MINI. Once when driving through a Interstate stretch outside Las Vegas in a Corvette with runflats the noise was so loud that I thought something had broken off the suspension. Then the pavement changed and the noise and vibration stopped. Don't know why, but it happens.