why do our cars whine in reverse?

[pasadena_commut]

autos dont really have "gears" they have clutches that drive it

Wrong. The vast majority of automatics do have gears, usually in a planetary gear set. The biggest exceptions are the Prius transmission, which effectively uses electric motors instead of gears, and CVT transmissions, which vary the "gear ratio" use a belt on two conical pulleys. The P5 transmission is a conventional automatic with a gear set.

 

[chromal]

I love the sound of a transmission with straight-cut gears. Here's a video of Jeff Zwart setting a new Pikes Peak hillclimb time record summer'10 in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Listen to that tranny's overtones! Symphonic beauty, or something.

 

[tweety2300]

I love the sound of a transmission with straight-cut gears. Here's a video of Jeff Zwart setting a new Pikes Peak hillclimb time record summer'10 in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Listen to that tranny's overtones! Symphonic beauty, or something.

For a short time period yes but my friends 94 5.0 mustang was horrible. Imagine hearing that whine for over an hour on a short road trip it gets so freakin annoying

 

[chromal]

For a short time period yes but my friends 94 5.0 mustang was horrible. Imagine hearing that whine for over an hour on a short road trip it gets so freakin annoying

Yeah, I think it would get pretty old in a daily driver, that's true. Kinda feel the same way about some aftermarket exhaust options too. Cool for a few minutes, wearying for the long haul. I guess automotive romanticism has to stop somewhere, and that'd be about 15 minutes into the commute.