Not sure about the overall amount of motor noise, but the 80-400 is not an AF-S lens, so its bound to be a bit slow in focusing. More to the point, I dont believe it is equipped with Nikon's SWM (silent wave motor) so its not really made to be ultra quiet. By comparison, my 70-200 VR is really quiet, but that is probably the SWM working. On the 70-200 you can hear the VR adjusting more than you can hear the focus motor. So I dont think this is a Nikkor issue as much as it is one of the lens type.
The 80-400 is supposed to be a very good lens for general photography. Although its f/stop range is a bit higher than I personally like, I wouldn't mind having that huge focal length range.
Also, for what its worth, the Sigma lenses that I used in the past were much noiser, and generally the overall lens quality was much worse as well.
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