what could honda have done to reduce the engine noise?

 

I opened my hood and no matter how much I looked, I never did find the engine. That's probably it.

 

I also noticed that my 2012 Fit is really quite idle and the engine noise is not too bad.

 

That must be it!

So to answer the earlier question about what Honda can do, I'm not an expert of course, but I have read up on the various issues involved. A car engine actually makes a surprisingly large number of vibrations which can enter the cabin (unless you have a I6 or V12 anyway). But in addition to that, there's road noise transmitted through the wheels, up through the bottom of the car, and wind noise from the front and sides.

So put together, there's a lot of things. Sheets of sound-deadening material of course, in the firewall, doors, floor, ceiling. Slightly absorbent engine mounting points. Thicker glass. Multiple layers of metal instead of just two in the doors. Thicker carpeting. Sound-cancelling noise through the stereo (Accord, Odyssey). Buick touts it's "quiet tuning" including special steel, but I don't know if that might be just marketing talking. In serious sound deadening efforts - such as turning the Cruze into the Verano - they actually fill up parts of the door panels and the structural member holes with spray foam! (Presumably to be discovered by dismayed maintenance techs in 6 years time when the window regulator goes). So those are some of the things, hope that is interesting. I don't know which of the above Honda did in THIS case, but I'm guessing it's mostly sheets of sound material in new places, and thicker glass.

I assume there's more techniques, but again I'm not an expert, and I know from experience and hearsay that it's something of a black art and very additive (ie, even major changes have little effect until you do enough of them). For example, our Fits have "body plugs" underneath that help cancel mid-range noise - if that were the only deadening they did it would be unnoticable, but on top of everything else it does make a difference. Nissan puts little "tabs" on the headlights of the Leaf that make them slightly less aerodynamic, but they deflect the airflow up away from the wing mirrors and quiet the car, how cool is that? Basically, the manufacturer can make any car really quiet if they design for it - it's just that if they put in all that effort to an economy car, it's more money to build and it doesn't encourage you to trade up. Mercedes probably has a whole department dedicated to it!

I'm pretty happy that the car has been quieted. I think it's OK, but I wouldn't want it much more noisy. My CRV and previously my del Sol were both much worse, and big complaints of mine ...

 

We almost didn't buy a Fit at all because the 09 model we test drove was way too loud for my wife. We were about to buy an Xb but tried out a 2012 Fit because we heard they made it quiet. They sure did! and we were sold.