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As I’ve grown older I’ve come to realize that what truly makes high end luxury cars is the suspension and the sound deadening. The other stuff is important but doesn’t really set the cars apart. Sitting in a little mobile room completely divorced from the sensory input of the outside world truly feels luxurious

I'm in the same boat regarding sound deadening, so when I was in the market for a car this was my #1 priority. But outside of the luxury segment, they do not even talk about sound deadening or noise isolation. This idea simply does not exist. It was very disappointing because this is a fairly low tech, inexpensive feature that could easily find its way to mainstream cars. Sure it adds some extra weight, but the improvement in riding comfort easily outweighs the fuel consumption. It's like flying with noise cancellation headphones. You don't know what you're missing unless you try it once, and then you can never go back.
> when I was in the market for a car this was my #1 priority

Did you look at recent model year trucks? The acoustic treatment on these vehicles is almost too much. I feel like I am in a recording booth every time I roll up my windows. I have to keep them open a little bit or my tinnitus starts to bother me.

Trucks are not a thing where I live, but I wish I could drive in a recording booth.

NAD, but opening up your windows like that might actually worsen your tinnitus. Wind noise can be pretty loud at speeds and you're teaching your brain to expect such background noise at all times. Might be better off playing some audio. If you have a quiet cabin, you can get away with very low volumes, just enough to give your ears something to focus on instead of getting bored and starting to wail by themselves.

Have you considered hearing aids for the tinnitus?
I'm sure it does, but this just made me realize something.

I drive a Smart Fortwo, which goes in the opposite direction - there's not much suspension to speak of, and the short wheelbase means you rock around a lot more on uneven street surfaces, so you're very much connected to the outside world. One of the things I've noticed when switching back and forth between that and a normal sedan is that, if I'm not consciously thinking about it, I'll drive slightly more aggressively in the sedan than in the Smart. And I think it's precisely because of that difference in connection with the outside world.

The same happened when I rented a pickup truck a while back to move some furniture; I don't remember the model, but I think it was a fairly recent/common one. It was very clear that movements that would have felt pretty aggressive to me if I were walking or biking around felt less so from the driver's seat. And I bet the same is true of these luxury cars.

This is of particular interest to me because my day-to-day method of getting around is not driving but rather walking and biking, and it's worrying to me if drivers are subconsciously acting more aggressively just because they feel more disconnected from the world around them.

Rolls Royce made the Ghost so quiet testers called it nauseating. They had to remove some sound dampening to make it more comfortable.

Which is pretty neat considering it has a 6.7 liter bi-turbo under the hood.

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