Just like a Korean muscle car.
Khodrocar - Enthusiasts are chomping at the bit to get their hands on the new Kia Stinger. The Korean marque has set pretty high expectations for its first-ever sports sedan, with promises that it will best rivals from Porsche, Audi, and Infiniti alike. But Kia's latest move should especially appeal to the American audience.
According to Roadshow, Kia hasn’t completely fine tuned the exhaust note just yet. The publication reports that engineers are still trying to figure out a way to make it louder, specifically for the U.S. market. Like the BMW M4 and plenty of others before it, the company admits that it will emit engine noise through the stereo system – not that you'll be able to notice.
"It sounded like a hissing note, like a restriction, something from the seventies." said Vice President of Product Planning, Orth Hedrick, prior to the update. "As a general rule, Korean consumers don't appreciate loud exhausts -- because they consider it [to be] a bad muffler, [that] someone's not taking care of their car. It's not refined."
Part of the exhaust revisions included moving baffles within the muffler. Headquarters reportedly needed to ship 18 exhaust systems to the U.S. to be fitted onto media preview vehicles. The company spent more than a week fitting and fine tuning the exhaust so that they would have the proper sound prior to their debut.
That same hardware will carry over to the first customers cars, too, says the company. Still, Director of Corporate Communications, James Bell, admits that "it’s like 38 percent of what I would like" in regards to sound.
Whatever the case, the new Kia Stinger will start at $32,795 in the U.S. when it debuts, or $39,985 for the more powerful V6 model. The base four-cylinder model comes with a turbocharged engine good for 255 horsepower (190 kilowatts), and the higher-up 3.3-liter V6 model will be good for 365 hp (272 kW). Rumor has it that a 5.0-liter V8 model could be headed to the U.S., but that remains to be seen.
Source: Roadshow
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