The 2015 Ford Mustang marks a new era for the Blue Oval as the company has introduced the first pony car in decades to be powered by a 4-cylinder engine, in addition to the usual big-bore, multi-cylinder engine options. However, a recent tweet (picture above) from Road & Track raised our curiosity and even a few eye brows about the new ‘Stang.
Whilst test driving the 4-cylinder 2.3-litre EcoBoost Ford Mustang, Road & Track Editor Jason Cammisa (above) ‘accidentally’ pulled out a fuse under the dashboard only to discover that both the stereo and engine suddenly went quiet in the cabin. That clearly indicated the new Mustang might have some form of artificial engine sound being piped in.
Autoblog spoke with Ford engineer Shawn Carney to seek an explanation and Carney confirmed that the EcoBoost Mustang comes with this system, called Active Noise Control. Yes, we’ve heard of ANC, also known as Active Noise Cancellation, but this sound was being ‘manufactured’, not reduced!
According to Carney, the system serves two purposes, one for cancelling out some of the coarse noise and the other for “layering in certain sound-characteristics on top of what’s already there.” To determine the right mix, the engine processor monitor torque output and changes things accordingly. “The intent is to be a natural experience,” said Carney.
On another interesting note, for buyers who don’t like the idea of listening to an artificial engine sound in the cabin, they can actually turn-off the system (instead of pulling out the fuse and killing the radio). But be warned, his tech is integrated into the head unit, so if you upgrade your audio system, your car’s powertrain isn’t going to sound the same.
Oh well, there really isn’t anything like the exquisite sound of a big-bore V8 at full pelt, and obviously the 2.3 EcoBoost engine was not up to the task of providing that famed ‘Stang rumble, so it needed a little help. Let’s just hope Ford tuned the exhaust note too (Aston Martin has been doing that for ages) because the last thing anyone wants is a Mustang that sounds like a Prius from the outside…
Source: Autoblog, Road & Track
