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Let the World's Best-Sounding V6 Engine Bring Snarling Joy to Your Ears

Photo credit: NM2255 Car HD Videos / YouTube
Photo credit: NM2255 Car HD Videos / YouTube

From Road & Track

It'd be too cliched to say that today's V6-powered F1 cars sound like vacuum cleaners, but they definitely sound like some sort of home appliance. The tech behind the new hybrid powertrain is undeniably cool, but the visceral experience is lacking in romance. F1 could learn a thing or two from this Alfa Romeo.

What we've got here is a mid-1990s 155 V6 TI DTM race car, and my word, it sounds like a Honda grand prix car from the mid-1960s. The Alfa racer is powered by a 2.5-liter V6 making 420 horsepower at 11,800 rpm. Thanks to lots of aluminum and titanium, the engine is commendably light, weighing just a little under 250 lbs. You can find pictures of it on the Alfa Bulletin Board-it's quite possibly prettier than the car itself.

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The 155 won its debut season in the German Touring-Car Championship (DTM) in 1993 and had continued success until Alfa pulled out of the series at the end of the 1996 season.

If modern F1 engineering could find a way to make turbocharged, hybridized V6 engines sound as good as this Alfa, no one would complain again. This YouTube video declares it the "best sounding V6 engine ever," and we're inclined to agree.

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