I've got a 2017 5.0l Mustang with a Roush exhaust. No valves and it certainly doesn't sound strangled or overly controlled. Manual gearbox, rwd and not overloaded with electronic aids. A proper sports car but very comfy and relaxing for long journeys, inside it's very quiet at a cruise. I've had more compliments on the Mustang in a year from passers by and strangers than any car I've ever owned. I've even had two coppers on bikes asking me to rev it when stuck in traffic at a town carnival. In general and with the exception of some posters on this thread it's a car that makes people, especially me, smile. Yes it's got more performance than you can use on UK roads but that's what track days and autobahns are for.

Cars sound more 'controlled' then they used to. They sound strangled to me.....

....I miss the raw sound of the old air cooled Porsche 911's, or the TVR Griffiths. The valve flap in the exhaust is just not the same.

V8 engines are intrinsically rough, even with a flat plane crank, because they are inherently unbalanced. Many bhp are absorbed in keeping them quiet. My 6.0l 12cyl engine has electronically controlled flaps in two of its four tailpipes for serenity, but at >50% engine load and >2,500revs they open, producing a satisfying howl that would be tiresome if persistent.

I remember the early M3s - they had a nice 'purposeful' sound and I thought were classy. The modern brash ones are horrible - though not as bad as AMGs. The Mustang sounds right with cross-plane V8, I don't think the euro-boxes do. Some big auto SUVs make an enormous amount of noise to move very slowly, especially over speed bumps

I've done enough work on noise - both traffic surveys and in the lab calibrating noise meters for legal use to know that all this noise is a real nuisance. I think vehicles that are modified to be more noisy should get one warning and then be scrapped if they are caught again - but then again I know from my noise-meter days that this is a very difficult area.

I know some motorcyclists think they are 'safer' on noisy bikes (& scooters) - but that's just an excuse. I've been out with enough class 1 bikers to know that noise does not equate to safety.

No vehicle makes a 'nice noise' when the world around you is too noisy, and that's the case for the majority

Many years ago i worked at a hotel in the lake district, one of the locals who frequented the pub attatched to the hotel, ran an old Nissan Patrol. It had a 3.2 litre n/a straight 6 diesel and i loved the engine note!.

Also, the recent posts on this thread put me in mind of not quite so long ago when working at a VW dealer. I had the opportunity to drive 2 Passat's on a run of 32 miles each, taking one from the garage to Aberdeen and the other back to the garage. On the way there i had a 1.9 TDI (130 BHP) and on the way back, a 2.5 V6 TDI (150 BHP). Although there wasn't a big difference in overall performance, there was a huge difference in the way they delivered it, and the refinement. The 1.9 actually felt quicker off the mark, but it seemed to deliver all it's grunt in one great dollop low down in the rev range, and there was absolutely no pleasure to be had in taking it beyond about 2500. The 2.5 delivered it's power over a broader rev range, and had a much nicer, creamier and more cultured note.

I find the sound of 4cyl diesels particularly offensive.

There was a refuse truck around here that had a particularly distinctive 'rasp'. I quite liked it.

That would most likely of been a straight 6

I find that a lot of modern cars sound like vacuum cleaners on steroids.