In a car that’s as close to perfection as anything I’ve owned, I hate to chirp about the horn on my 2009 Sonata, no matter how wussy I think it sounds for a vehicle this size.

But today I stumbled across a 2005 BBC story headlined How a Car's Horn Says: Buy Me.

It was conducted by the University of Cardiff, and I have to tell you, this sentence jumped right out and grabbed me by the collar: Evidence from car buyers suggested some had been disappointed in the past after buying large, imposing cars only to find a tinny parp emanating from under the bonnet when they sounded their horn.

I’m not sure my Bama Beauty qualifies as a large, imposing car, and I'm not quite clear on what a tinny parp might be (though I doubt that it would help much in a singles bar.)

Point is, I’m now sufficiently emboldened to suggest the Sonata horn sounds kinda wussy, even if it is a part of a car that’s as close to perfection as anything I’ve ever owned. DW

I find the horn in my car more than adequate. I am not sure why other people are not happy with it. Sonata has dual horn and are pretty good.

Speaking of a poor horn, I have a Kawasaki ZX14, which is like 0 to 60 in 2.5 seconds however it has one horn and that too kind of a slim horn. Go figure!

Hey dog.....welcome aboard!

I agree with you on the horn thing but removing the bumper for access just isn't worth the hassle. I'll just keep beep beeping.

The horn sounds fine to me. I find it a bit obnoxiously loud when I'm walking near it and cause it to beep at me (tapping the lock button and all)

Have you ever heard a Jeep horn? It's the most high-pitched, girly sounding horn around! I'll try to make a sound clip of it sometime :P

hhmm im glad i have a police siren then.

Welcome to the forums dogwood.

A tinny parp sounds just like you'd think it would sound 'paaarp'
I'll take a loud, brash 'hooooonk' any day.

Which reminds me, I need to get my new horns installed before winter :)

While I'm not 100% satisfied with the sound of the horn, it did make easy work out of naming her - her name's Mep (any OddTodd fans here?). After getting custom license plates (MEP06), it just doesn't seem right to change the horns out.

BTW, :00000732: dogwood747.

This post has been edited by SonataRobbie: Oct 11 2008, 09:01 AM

There are a few of us that have changed out our horns on here, including me. The horn on Gracie (06 Sonata LX) is from a company called Stebel and is a dual note, self contained air horn with a very european sound. It's mounted where the factory horn is right behind the grill and I just unplugged the other factory horn behind the bumper. You can unplug it without removing the bumper. I also went with Stebel on the Benz but not the air horn, it's a dual note setup but using more traditional-style horns. Both setups are Very loud.

Here's a pic of the Nautilus on Gracie:


And the TM80 Magnums on Gretta:


I've been thinking of getting some of the Magnums for Gracie too but haven't decided yet. A company called Wolo sells one called the BadBoy that is almost the same as the Nautilus.

Anyway, if interested here's a link to their site for pics and sounds.

http://www.stebel.it/stebel/index2008.htm

Like the TM80 sound!

Is it just me or did the ;Nautilus' claim that once you try it will you be "hard"

lmao

Bwump!

Reason I raised the subject is I'm going into a self-imposed No Horn Exile for the next 6 months.

Buzzing through Florida all winter with Ontario plates on the back of my Sonata requires a certain level of restraint in the cockpit.

No matter who does what to me - the bozo in the car ahead can slap the anchors down in the passing lane to hunt for coupons to the Shoney's Early Bird Special and I'll sit there quietly without even thinking of, um, Parping the horn. Gotta be a good guest and a decent ambassador.

When I return to home turf in the Spring, however, that's a different story. Man's got to do what a man's got to do, and sometimes a wussy horn just doesn't get it done. DW