“Toyota…well known near silent vehicles”
On the basis of my experience with my friend’s Rav-4, I am going to disagree.
Perhaps Camrys and Highlanders have good sound-deadening insulation, but Rav-4s?
Definitely NOT!
On a day with torrential rain coming down, if I go from my Outback Limited to my friend’s Rav-4 Limited, the difference is…pronounced. The rain hitting the roof in my car causes only a slight bit of background noise, while the effect in the Rav is like sitting in a tin-roofed hut, and the difference is disturbingly different.
Of course, these two vehicles are in different categories when it comes to price and size, which helps to buttress my belief that cheaper vehicles tend to have more of a noise…problem…than more expensive vehicles.
I never wanted to make my friend feel bad about the relative lack of sound-deadening insulation in his Rav, but he was the one who said something to the effect of, Why is your Outback so quiet, while the noise of the rain hitting the roof of my car is almost deafening?
He was actually very critical of the–obvious–lack of sound-deadening insulation in the roof of his Rav.