[avisidhu]

Originally Posted by Reisender

I have a different view to this rattling & stuff:
Vehicle rattling is directly proportional to the vehicle suspension setup.
Explanation: The more the vehicle gobbles the potholes on the road .. the more you take them on good speed... the more jerks the vehicles take ... the more rattles start to appear from nowhere.
Often the bumpy & hard suspension setup cars have less rattles becoz you take them slowly at almost every potholes/bumps.
Thoughts?!!

But then how will that explain a rattle free car such as Linea? As compared to ANHC, I believe it glides over potholes without much fuss, which means people must be driving over potholes with greater speed. Yet an overwhelming number of owners say that it is rattle free.

Edit: Just noticed that you drive a Punto. so I guess you should be best equipped to answer this query

[patil]

The i20 is not on the list above but my i20 crdi even after 50k kms does not rattle even a bit. It feels the same as new even today after a lapse of more than 2 years.

[fuel_addict]

Originally Posted by patil

The i20 is not on the list above but my i20 crdi even after 50k kms does not rattle even a bit. It feels the same as new even today after a lapse of more than 2 years.

Good to know that you haven't experience steering rattle that many other i20 owners have been reporting.

[akj53]

Our old Ambassador in 60's was the rattle king.

My Altis is now more than 2 years old and it does not rattle.

But my vote will go to Matiz which I kept for 10 years and drove over 1 lac kms but it never bothered me with rattling.

I hope all Matiz owners will testify to that.

[swiftnfurious]

Off-topic:

Originally Posted by Poitive

Didn't know of Fiat's involvement in the SX4. Could you share it (in brief, as it may be partially OT here)

Waiting for the Fiat 500? Try a Suzuki - NYTimes.com

[sgiitk]

All do a bit after four to five years. However, the worst offenders are Maruti cars after four years or so.

[Speed Pujari]

Till date I have owned only a Fiat Palio and a Fiat Linea.

Linea had been rattling since day... ahem!.. day-1.

[Captain Slow]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

All do a bit after four to five years. However, the worst offenders are Maruti cars after four years or so.

You think? Most figos start rattling within the 1st month!

[patil]

Originally Posted by fuel_addict

Good to know that you haven't experience steering rattle that many other i20 owners have been reporting.

Actually initially i had the steering rattle problem but it was effectively fixed by Trident Hyundai Bangalore and since then no problem at all till date. So i am extremely happy and satisfied with my car.

[Fornax]

Note: All numbers in the post are sound levels measured in db(A) unless specificed.

Thanks to this thread - I was compelled to measure sound inside my SX4 cabin on the way home. Normally I use my sound-meter, but since I didn't have it handy I went ahead with a free symbian application called NoiseTube installed on my Nokia phone. This application is already calibrated using my sound-meter, and measures ambience sound every two seconds with an accuracy of +/- 5 compared to the sound-meter.

The graphical output of the measured sound can be found attached below. (Click the image to see its full-size version)

Significant points to note:
- The cabin-sound ranged within the prescribed norms by World Health Organization. [see: http://snakeoilsheikh.files.wordpres...g?w=616&h=349]
- The spikes are from the car-horn. Before judging this as poor noise insulation, please bear in mind the difference is a mere 15, and provides insulation of about 45-50 assuming the outside horn is 120!
- The difference between sound-level while in motion vs that while stationary was 10.
- Traffic noise seepage in Mumbai is possibly quite high, as vehicles drive at hardly 30-40 kmph within inches of each other.
- Needless to say - I did not hear any rattle from within the car, as a rattle would have showed up at atleast 70+.
- A dead-silent room in Mumbai is pegged around ~30.

It will be quite interesting if other car-owners do something similiar, i.e. measure actual sound levels and post the findings in this thread. It might be more beneficial to others than my-car-is-silent-than-yours posts.

[avisidhu]

Originally Posted by Fornax

Note: All numbers in the post are sound levels measured in db(A) unless specificed.

Thanks to this thread - I was compelled to measure sound inside my SX4 cabin on the way home.

Now that's spoken and done like a true BHPian, nice job Fornax
A humble request, while others are at it, will it be possible for you to try some other vehicles using this app? Reason I'm saying is, the ambient noise will be different for different folks, so we might not get a truly accurate comparison. On the other hand if this is noted on the same route, we can arrive at a definitive conclusion.

Also, any idea if a similar app is present for Iphone, so I can contribute

[Fornax]

Your wish is my command: Here's the same graph plotted alongside sound-levels measured during a Rickshaw ride.

I'll do an apples-2-apples comparision in my brothers' Aveo and post a follow-up in a day or two.

Regards the sound-level app for IPhone, I did find a few free ones but none that can provide data-logging for free.

IPhone Sound Meter Free - Google Search

[iFuel]

I voted for the ANHC, my dad owns that car, has been with us for over a year or so and even now it hardly rattles, so much so that i can positively say 'it does not rattle'.

I have my Accent and boy-o-boy does it rattle. Someone should call that thing a rattle snake so to say. I have spent numerous days and nights trying to tinker with things, but to no avail. Something or the other has to start rattling every other day no matter what you do, and this has been from the 2nd month of ownership, now it is almost 7 years old and it is a tin can on wheels filled with small pebbles.

[channelv]

When it comes to a rattle free vehicle, I have to vote for Lancer Diesel, (not in the list).
The car I own has been run 2L+ km, almost 10 years old, driven through mostly bad roads and in some cases off roads.

I do not generally slow down much on potholes and it rattles lil only at 3 places and that too not always. I have to also admit, those three places had been messed around by some DIY projects. Same is the case with most Lancers which are pre 2002 make and I guess it should be a reason why the car gets good resale value.

I really wonder why they can't make cars like that anymore.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by Fornax

Note: All numbers in the post are sound levels measured in db(A) unless specificed.

Thanks to this thread - I was compelled to measure sound inside my SX4 cabin on the way home. Normally I use my sound-meter, but since I didn't have it handy I went ahead with a free symbian application called NoiseTube installed on my Nokia phone. This application is already calibrated using my sound-meter, and measures ambience sound every two seconds with an accuracy of +/- 5 compared to the sound-meter.

The graphical output of the measured sound can be found attached below. (Click the image to see its full-size version)

Originally Posted by Fornax

Your wish is my command: Here's the same graph plotted alongside sound-levels measured during a Rickshaw ride.

I'll do an apples-2-apples comparision in my brothers' Aveo and post a follow-up in a day or two.

Regards the sound-level app for IPhone, I did find a few free ones but none that can provide data-logging for free.

IPhone Sound Meter Free - Google Search

Good experiments but I have to say these plots does not help to judge the level of rattling in a car. While car is on the move through our roads, there are a lot of factors which is contributing to the interior noise and most of the rattling sounds will be just part of them and we just cannot distinguish them from such a graph. Some of the rattling sounds are very low but since our ears are tuned to (or rather we tend to notice them more) such sounds, we could easily notice them while it may not appear as a peak in the graph. The plots could help us to determine the average noise levels in a car - which may indicate how good is the noise isolation is.