is model S quieter than Lexus

[DrComputer]

Having now driven my S for three weeks and having previously driven a Lexus LS600hl for five years I can easily say the Lexus is much quieter than the S. The thing that really makes the Lexus LS600hL quieter is that they use double pane glass in ALL of the windows. This really helps reduce wind noise and exterior tire and car noise at freeway speeds. I really think Tesla should add this (at least as an option) to the S. Lexus also spent a lot of time engineering the HVAC system to be extremely quiet even at full fan speed. The S is not nearly as refined and is very noisy at full fan speed and when switching from exterior to recirculate mode. For a 1.0 car Tesla has done a fine job but there is room for improvement.

 

[rlawson4]

Having now driven my S for three weeks and having previously driven a Lexus LS600hl for five years I can easily say the Lexus is much quieter than the S. The thing that really makes the Lexus LS600hL quieter is that they use double pane glass in ALL of the windows. This really helps reduce wind noise and exterior tire and car noise at freeway speeds. I really think Tesla should add this (at least as an option) to the S. Lexus also spent a lot of time engineering the HVAC system to be extremely quiet even at full fan speed. The S is not nearly as refined and is very noisy at full fan speed and when switching from exterior to recirculate mode. For a 1.0 car Tesla has done a fine job but there is room for improvement.

How would you think (assuming you have rented Ford's and GM cars etc) it compares to most cars? I drive a Ford Fusion Hybrid that is pretty quiet. However, above 60 it's hard to hear people on the phone etc. Thanks.

 

[DrComputer]

How would you think (assuming you have rented Ford's and GM cars etc) it compares to most cars? I drive a Ford Fusion Hybrid that is pretty quiet. However, above 60 it's hard to hear people on the phone etc. Thanks.

It's all relative. Saying the S is quieter or noisier than a "Lexus" is a bit misleading as it depends on which Lexus you compare it to. Same is true with any other manufacturer. The Lexus LS600hL just happens to be the top of the line Lexus and there aren't many cars on the road that are quieter. But if you compared the S to say the Lexus IS250 I'm sure the S would be quieter. Same could be said if you compared the S to the Ford Fusion or the top of the line Ford Taurus Limited. It might be noisier than the Taurus and quieter than the Fusion. Either way the S is quiet, just not silent. There is room for improvement when the S 2.0 comes out.

 

[rlawson4]

It's all relative. Saying the S is quieter or noisier than a "Lexus" is a bit misleading as it depends on which Lexus you compare it to. Same is true with any other manufacturer. The Lexus LS600hL just happens to be the top of the line Lexus and there aren't many cars on the road that are quieter. But if you compared the S to say the Lexus IS250 I'm sure the S would be quieter. Same could be said if you compared the S to the Ford Fusion or the top of the line Ford Taurus Limited. It might be noisier than the Taurus and quieter than the Fusion. Either way the S is quiet, just not silent. There is room for improvement when the S 2.0 comes out.

Thanks. I will find out soon either way.

 

[Robert.Boston]

Sound is very complicated stuff. Boiling down all of the different pressures at various frequencies requires a particular frequency-weighting scheme, to arrive at a single number. Your subjective sense of sound may differ from a sound-meter's reading because you are more or less sensitive to various frequencies than the particular model the meter uses. I'm quite sure that the sound profile / spectrum inside the Model S will be quite different than the Lexus' spectrum -- higher in some frequencies, lower in others.

 

[strider]

I think with 19" wheel and quietCar paint in the back trunk floor, Model S will be much quieter.
I use quietCar paint on my 1999 S600 on the wheel well, trunk floor, it cut the noise by at least half

Tires make a huge difference in road noise. The 19" will give you a much wider range to make the choice between performance, longevity, and noise. The high performance 21" are loud, period.

 

[vfx]

Tires make a huge difference in road noise. The 19" will give you a much wider range to make the choice between performance, longevity, and noise. The high performance 21" are loud, period.

Tread design too.

RB's post is excellent as well.

 

[jerry33]

And casing construction.

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But my 2009 RX still has a tape deck! That is so 1990.

Toyota believes that no one over 25 listens to MP3s and no one under 25 buys a Lexus (or Prius). The did for the Prius too until every 2004 owner wrote or called and complained about the lack of MP3 support. This got fixed in the Prius but I guess not enough Lexus owners complained.

There was this horrible introduction video for the Scion by the Head of Toyota North America where he actually said "Toyota has created the Scion brand so that young people can have a brand of their very own". I couldn't believe anyone would talk down to customers that way, but he actually did.

 

[stephenpace]

[HVAC] is not nearly as refined and is very noisy at full fan speed and when switching from exterior to recirculate mode. For a 1.0 car Tesla has done a fine job but there is room for improvement.

Also coming from Lexus, I would have to agree. I think at least part of this can be fixed in software, though. For example, I liked how in auto my Lexus would aggressively get to the set temp but after that it regulated temp very quietly. The Model S seems to want you to select a fan speed (1-10) and then when it needs to run, it runs it at that speed. Like the mirrors, I would actually like two fan presets--the first, the speed to run when attempting to bridge a large temp gap (primarily on initial startup), and the second, the speed to run when maintaining the temp. Perhaps it can do this now, but if it can, I must have missed it so far.

 

[xhawk101]

Also coming from Lexus, I would have to agree. I think at least part of this can be fixed in software, though. For example, I liked how in auto my Lexus would aggressively get to the set temp but after that it regulated temp very quietly. The Model S seems to want you to select a fan speed (1-10) and then when it needs to run, it runs it at that speed. Like the mirrors, I would actually like two fan presets--the first, the speed to run when attempting to bridge a large temp gap (primarily on initial startup), and the second, the speed to run when maintaining the temp. Perhaps it can do this now, but if it can, I must have missed it so far.

Good grief I would hope it can aggressively vary fan speed based on temperature differential. That should be core component of automatic climate control.

from my Samsung galaxy s3

 

[cinergi]

Er, yeah auto climate control automatically varies the fan speed. Make sure you're on full auto.

 

[DrComputer]

Yes, the climate control in automatic mode does adjust the fan speed. Unfortunately is also adjusts the recirculate mode too. Since the blower unit is not very quiet it is extremely noticable when switching speeds and between air source modes. This is where the relationship with Toyota would be great. They could just "borrow" some Lexus HVAC components and fix the problem.

 

[NigelM]

Drove 220 miles today with 90% of it cruise control at a constant 65mph the first 110 miles and a constant 70mph on the way back; I needed almost no a/c going and auto a/c coming back. I can definitively say the determining factor when it comes to noise is road surface.

 

[dsm363]

Drove 220 miles today with 90% of it cruise control at a constant 65mph the first 110 miles and a constant 70mph on the way back; I needed almost no a/c going and auto a/c coming back. I can definitively say the determining factor when it comes to noise is road surface.

How many ideal miles did you have left?

 

[ChadS]

And did you notice the difference in energy usage between 65 and 70? I keep trying, but between elevation and temperature changes, and traffic changing my speed, it's really hard to get a good basis for comparison.

After a few ~198 mile trips from Seattle to Portland or vice-versa, starting with a range mode charge, driving about half at 64mph and half at 73mph, (with all sorts of weather variations, but generally requiring a small amount of heat and an occasional blast of the front defroster) I usually reach my destination with just under 50 miles of range.

 

[NigelM]

How many ideal miles did you have left?

21....! Nice. :smile:

P.S. started with 270.

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And did you notice the difference in energy usage between 65 and 70?

Yes, very small but noticeable. Little wind today and mostly flat terrain. Interesting that I could see lower power usage on concrete roads, second was blacktop and the worst for power usage was red top (don't what else to call it but its sort rust brown color, hopefully you all know what I'm talking about), new blacktop was the quietest, then concrete and then red top.

 

[DavidM]

Thanks Nigel. That confirms I can make trips to Ft. Lauderdale at reasonable highway speed with the AC on.

 

[Davidbrown]

We have a P85+ with 21" tires and a Lexus LS 460. I put a decibel meter on my phone. The Lexus is 5 db quieter than the Tesla at 80 mph on that grooved concrete freeway stuff. However the Lexus has standard tires. Lexus was 75db and Tesla was 80 db. Way too loud for me. There is a big difference as we all can hear on blacktop vs. concrete. I had my Tesla soundproofed recently with Dynomat. It cut the decibels by over 10 db. That is a big difference. Your local auto upholstery place can do that for you. Costs about $2,500 for the whole car.

 

[EdA]

We have a P85+ with 21" tires and a Lexus LS 460. I put a decibel meter on my phone. The Lexus is 5 db quieter than the Tesla at 80 mph on that grooved concrete freeway stuff. However the Lexus has standard tires. Lexus was 75db and Tesla was 80 db. Way too loud for me. There is a big difference as we all can hear on blacktop vs. concrete. I had my Tesla soundproofed recently with Dynomat. It cut the decibels by over 10 db. That is a big difference. Your local auto upholstery place can do that for you. Costs about $2,500 for the whole car.

Do you have a parcel shelf?

 

[Blurry_Eyed]

I have a P85+ with the 21" Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires. Using an iPhone and a feedback meter program, over freeway, my cars most pronounced frequency was at 212 Hz. I also was using my iPhone to do some noise tests as well. The readings varied greatly depending on the type of pavement and speed. I'm taking a long road trip in the next couple of days so I'll more accurately document my dB readings on this trip, but I seem to recall seeing readings from about 70 dB to 82dB between the 60 mph and 75mph, depending on the road surface I was driving over at the time.

That was with the parcel shelf in place, a thick floor mat over the trunk area and luggage fully loaded in the trunk space.

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We have a P85+ with 21" tires and a Lexus LS 460. I put a decibel meter on my phone. The Lexus is 5 db quieter than the Tesla at 80 mph on that grooved concrete freeway stuff. However the Lexus has standard tires. Lexus was 75db and Tesla was 80 db. Way too loud for me. There is a big difference as we all can hear on blacktop vs. concrete. I had my Tesla soundproofed recently with Dynomat. It cut the decibels by over 10 db. That is a big difference. Your local auto upholstery place can do that for you. Costs about $2,500 for the whole car.

So are you saying before the Dynomat the dB reading was 80 and it dropped it to 70, or was the dB reading much higher than 80 dB before the Dynomat and installing it dropped it to 80dB?