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Does anyone have an explanation why most Japanese cars I have driven all have weaker sounding horns than European cars? A recent show on Men & Motors channel had a Mazda MX-5, which they highly recommended, apart from the horn which made it sound like a toy car! IMHO, the horns on Fords and Vauxhalls have always been far more powerful.
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I think French cars used to be as bad. I had an old Citoen Visa (not a good car) and its horn was so 'toytown' it was embarassing to use.
Imagine, someone has just cut you up and they receive a cheerful little 'parp'!
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Err yes, The scenic was pathetic in this repect. I never ever used the horn, afraid of the laughter and scorn it produced.....
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Peugeots have good horns though.
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Growing up, I always wanted to eventually own a car with an air horn that could replicate the noise of the car in the Dukes of Hazzard TV series! Has anyone ever had a car with an air horn?
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CApri no 2 and Fiat no 1 had tripple Fiam air horns. Wire along side the exoisting horn, meant a short tap on the horn button just gave the normal horn sound, a longer press wound up the compressor and scared high flying jumbo jets.
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Yes, bought a SAAB with air horns which played Cornel? Bogey. They were a must have fitting in my youf.
Bought a 3 tone switchable Maserati air horn for the Elan, removed it when I sold the car and it is now in the garage awaiting fitting to son's MX5. In the drawer with it is also a Helfos spot lamp with fitting ring and the original glycerine to stick it to the inside of the windscreen.
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"Growing up, I always wanted to eventually own a car with an air horn that could replicate the noise of the car in the Dukes of Hazzard TV series!"
Well, lookee here: tinyurl.com/6elxa . I think you want "Dixie". I found this while looking for Coleoney Bogey
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Arghh......oh for an edit button.
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Oh Gawd. To be more specific, here's the url I meant to post:
tinyurl.com/b9b4b
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All my 605s had dreadful little parp parp horns. I was too embarassed to use it. Haven?t tried horn on current 406.
I guess the horn on an MX5 is quiet so as not to frighten the driver.
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Their bikes are bad too.
I hooted my suzuki horn at a mercedes driver on the 'phone - he had just pulled out regardless. I'm sure he thought it was a 'call waiting' signal on his 'phone.
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Surely horns have to be one of the cheapest and easiest things to change on a car. And worth doing too. There's nothing worse than a good looking woman laughing at your horn.
(sorry... someone had to say it)
----
Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
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Agreed. My uncle's in his Mitsubishi Warrior is frequently put to this very test and embarasses me no end.
My Fiesta had a much more manly sounding horn.
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I found a possible reason...extracted from google...
In Japan, drivers use their horns and headlights in ways that [A] baffle visiting Americans and [B] are extremely dangerous. The retardedest element of this usage is its foundation in etiquette. The Japanese use car horns and headlights to be courteous.
In Japan, drivers that stop at a red light will often dim their headlights so as not to shine at oncoming traffic at the other side of the intersection (or at the car stopped directly in front of them). This is the single most dangerous practice covered here, and can be observed at night anywhere in Japan. As stated above, this is considered a common courtesy by what I would judge to be around half of all Japanese drivers. In fact, this practice is so widespread that a lot of people think it's required by law, and a lot of drivers fail to think that dimming headlights at night is a dangerous practice at all.
Wow..
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In Japan, drivers that stop at a red light will often dim their headlights so as not to shine at oncoming traffic at the other side of the intersection (or at the car stopped directly in front of them).
This sounds to me to be a perfectly sensible thing to do.
Certaintly in a stationary traffic queue, there is no benefit in keeping dipped headlights on.
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I have said before on here how my wife and I joke with the kids about her Clio's horn being a gentle parp "excuse me though if it is not too much trouble would you be so kind as to let me pass, thank you so much" where as my Mondeo's is more of a "get the &*£$ out of here you £$&*ing $%&@#?@".
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Surprised no one has mentioned the very poorly designed 'centre of the steering wheel' press action for the horn with the Nissan Micra. The early models, sort of pre-2000, were far too easy to catch accidentally when reversing. The new Micra one is far too stiff to actuate in a hurry and the emergency has gone by the time the feeble sound occurs.
I prefer a stalk action. It is always in the same place.
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