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If you put your foot on the gas when starting the engine, it's definitely 'vroom'. Each increase in revs gets a vroom of it's own (three squeezes of the pedal, "vroom vroom vroom").

If I were asked to mimic a starting car, I'd try something like "v-v-v-vroom!"). So, I think va-va-voom can apply to starting an engine as much as revving it...

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    You meant of its own.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 15:20

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I would go with vroom, not va-va voom, because of the dictionary definition.

va-va-voom in British English (ˌvæˌvæˈvuːm ) NOUN informal the quality of being interesting, exciting, or sexually appealing

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/va-va-voom

Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers

Another reason why: we say an engine “purrs”. A purr, by definition, is a vibrating noise or hum. “Vroom” definitely is a vibration, but not va-va voom.

  1. VERB When the engine of a machine such as a car purrs, it is working and making a quiet, continuous, vibrating sound. Both boats purred out of the cave mouth and into open water. [VERB preposition] The sleek car purred down the country road. [VERB preposition] [Also VERB] Purr is also a noun. Carmela heard the purr of a motor-cycle coming up the drive. [+ of] https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/purr Hope that helps.
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    va-va-voom in British English (ˌvæˌvæˈvuːm ) NOUN informal the quality of being interesting, exciting, or sexually appealing surely entirely applicable to the starting note of a car engine, or at least to the hoped-for note!
    – High Performance Mark
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 5:52

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