The earplug thing had always baffled me because I have a 420R and have never considered it to be particularly excessively loud on the move (in terms of sportsbike kind of loud). It has been the only 7 I have driven so have never had anything to compare it to. My car however has the rear exit exhaust and this week, for the first time, I had the opportunity to drive someone else's Duratec engined car (360R). This had the standard side exit exhaust and I can now understand the earplug thing. From the cockpit, the difference in volume is huge. Andy