I think the sound of a car is too 'personal' for us to expect to all
get it.
My example, A decade ago I had a gutted cat convertor on my supercharged miata. I instantly
hated it. (but it was better than a loud rattle from a broken element under the car) My work
forced me to take like 13 comp days off, so I drove it out to Virginia and took one high school car buddy for a spin... He'd never been in it with the blower on. When I hit third gear Jim said
"Your exhaust sounds like ass." and I had to agree. About 4 days later I drove down to NC and another HS buddy got to ride in her for the first time with supercharger... Same sort of sprint to 70 or 80mph and Paul was giddy and said
"It SOUNDS awesome!!!! This car couldn't sound any cooler!" I had to laugh.
Both guys were V8 dudes at heart... one dug it, the other was nearly ready to break out his charge card and buy me something aftermarket to see if it would sound better!
Personally I'm a much bigger fan of my college buddy's MGB exhaust note over ANY 16valve 4banger I've ever heard. The Fiat SOHC thru carbs is pretty sweet too, though not quite as
'roorty' as some of the old brit cars. The two 83 X's I bought this summer both have FI... hopefully when I get one running the sound won't disappoint.
I also think alot of it depends on what you grew up with. 18-20 year olds who grew up with 16 valve honda's and mitsubishi's in their dreams probably love the K20. To me it's
ok... I've definitely heard worse. But it doesn't tweak my
'16 year old gearhead' heartstrings. What does? About 2 years ago I nearly threw my back out spinning around to find the car emiting the sound when I heard a Yugo start up in a Walmart parking lot! When I saw the little Yugo backing out of a spot I had to laugh out loud. It sounded like someone was stealing my old Fiat 128 from highschool!