While most cars tout their ability to silence the outside world and give you a quiet, relaxing ride, BMW has other plans. For its all-new 2012 M5 sedan, the luxury carmaker wants to make sure you can hear the sound of its uber-powerful V8 engine at work. And what better way to tickle your eardrums with the grumbling of 8 cylinders than by piping a motor soundtrack right through the premium sound system? The company calls it "Active Sound Design," and it's one of the lesser-known features of the brand new sports sedan.

The M5 is a top-of-the-line performance machine, and its twin-turbo V8 puts out a pavement-peeling 560 horsepower. The car's staggering $93,000 starting price ensures that only dedicated BMW fans will be seated behind the wheel, and if there's one thing auto enthusiasts love, it's the sound of a high-powered engine. To provide the passenger cabin with a suitable motor purr, the M5's internal computer monitors the state of the engine and pumps a mimicked sound through the car's audio system. If you pound on the gas, the soundtrack changes to match what the beefy V8 is doing under the hood.

It seems like an odd idea — spending countless time and money perfecting a speedy, tuned machine, only to pump fake engine noise into the cabin. But BMW thinks hearing the motor at work is a crucial part of the driving experience. In a press release, the company states, "In generating its signals, Active Sound Design takes its cues from the firing sequence of the eight-cylinder engine and the frequency range of the exhaust system. This gives the driver an extremely accurate impression of current engine load and an even more intense sensation of the V8's high-performance characteristics." Now if only we could get the system installed on all those too-quiet hybrid cars jetting around.

[via Autoblog]

This article originally appeared on Tecca

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