Normal cars are not the issue here. As many have stated, on higher speeds, the engine is not really an issue, noise-wise.
It's all those overtuned, over motorised "sports cars". Maybe even going the speed limit, but apparently intenionally high revving their engines, just to be loud. And to not get me started on motorbikes. Where i live, the main road is about 500 meters from the house, give or take. There is even small forest between the house and the road. But that road is a place where motorbikes like to go fast, especially now that the weather is getting nicer. So damn annoying.
You can even hear them sometimes wrooming along on the Autobahn, which is roughly 4 kilometers away.
And don't get me started on that annoying kid in the area who apparently has a new moped. Whatever he did to that poor machine made it so damn loud, and he does not stay on the main road and sometimes drives by several times a day just below my window.
A couple of years ago, i read an article about one of the first Harley Davidson all electric prototypes. Supposedly that thing was *intentionally* build to be just as loud as a normal Harley. Shit like that should not be street legal.
And yes, i know that all electric machines, when going slow, need additional noise. I support that. But those noises can be made significantly less obnoxious than excessive engine noise.
EDIT: @chivra: If your "hobby" is to cause annoyance to virtually everyone near you, you cannot be surprised if people do not like said "hobby".