Renault Kiger vs Maruti Ciaz: Measuring & comparing cabin noise levels

I used a very basic setup for this task & found some interesting results.

BHPian abhisheksircar recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Many reviews that I read of the Kiger kept mentioning that there is in-cabin noise that one needs to be aware of. I would agree as well as the 3 cylinders are not as quiet. They hum. That said, it never bothered me enough to mention it as an issue but then I thought, let's measure it.

I used a very basic setup including my Samsung S22 Ultra with an app called Decibel. I checked it at a sensitive place to start with, which is my home office room and the measure came to about 34 dB. This is a quiet room and good enough for silent client meetings as well. So it works, if it can catch that silence.

I measured the noise levels in my Ciaz:

• On idle it was around 52 dB.
• On the road, it went as high as 74 dB.

And then the moment of truth, the Kiger:

• It has similar readings, with idle it was as low as 53 dB.
• Whereas on roads it was about 75 dB (around 80 km/hr on the tarmac, windows up, AC on).

Both the cars were around 35 dB when the engine was off.

Now, why do I not hear this much when I drive? I have this habit of listening to music when I drive and when I put on the music, it goes up to 77 dB which masks the engine or ambient noise.

So this is how it stacks up.

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