by "404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
Published 02/19/2017 at 11:29
by "404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
Published 02/19/2017 at 11:29
No Tags
STARS: 3
No, not the engine and exhaust.
I mean the chimes. It shows a bit about the attention to detail a manufacturer has.
I think BMW was the first one to make it sound nice, all the way back in 2003 in the 7-series:
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They have since used the same tone for all their cars up until the current G11 7-series, and have unique versions for Mini and Rolls-Royce (though I found a few Rollers that just use the BMW chime):
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GM is among the worse. You have a Chevrolet Spark that sounds exactly like the top of the line Cadillac:
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...only to be topped by Volkswagen AG, in which a Bentley sounds like a Jetta:
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Which is interesting because Porsche uses nice tones (on most ones.)
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The old Honda chimes... ugh. Sounds exactly like an alarm clock, and it always bothered me. They did fix it with the later gens, sort of.
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Nissan back then used bicycle bells:
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Hyundai has an interesting take, you have entrance, ignition and shutdown tones:
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"Echo51" (echo2047)
02/19/2017 at 11:31, STARS: 0
The honda literally sounds like my dad’s alarm clock...
"Viggen" (viggen37)
02/19/2017 at 11:35, STARS: 0
No love for the ‘80s and ‘90s Mopar death buzzer?
"TheHondaBro" (wwaveform)
02/19/2017 at 11:37, STARS: 1
The Honda chime brings back good memories from our old Odyssey. I miss that thing.
"Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap" (ddadragon)
02/19/2017 at 11:38, STARS: 0
As far as I know toyota hasn’t changed theirs in years. The door ding and the lock/unlock.
"jimz" (jimz)
02/19/2017 at 11:39, STARS: 2
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Lincoln gets its own:
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"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
02/19/2017 at 11:42, STARS: 0
They did, actually. Early 2000s and earlier used a chime, and they used beepers now.
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Whereas Lexus started using the Toyota chime.
"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
02/19/2017 at 11:43, STARS: 0
Yep, them, and Volvo also started using musical tones.
"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
02/19/2017 at 11:45, STARS: 0
Well if we go that far, you have to bring up the Nissan phonograph and Mopar synthesis systems:
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"Viggen" (viggen37)
02/19/2017 at 11:46, STARS: 1
oh god pls no
"jimz" (jimz)
02/19/2017 at 11:52, STARS: 1
This, however, is my fav
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"jimz" (jimz)
02/19/2017 at 11:56, STARS: 1
I look at that Nissan module and wonder how it was ever able to pass any automotive durability testing.
"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
02/19/2017 at 12:02, STARS: 0
Either durability standards were much more lax back then, or they really built things differently back then.
"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
02/19/2017 at 12:04, STARS: 0
On the topic of Ford chimes, funny story was I was able to identify my boss’ car over a morning scrum meeting call, as he was driving in to work. My guess was a “mid-large Ford” (since Foci and Fiestas uses beeps), and I successfully identified his Fusion. Cemented my rep as the car freak in the office.
"Probenja" (probenja)
02/19/2017 at 12:08, STARS: 1
Hyundai also used a bell:
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The Veyron also has the typical VW chime:
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Nissan also uses an alarm clock for a chime:
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"whoarder is tellurium" (whoarder)
02/19/2017 at 12:26, STARS: 0
The Rolls Royce wins. That starter sound too.... hnnnggg
BMW is also a win because I have a weird thing for Bangle era BMWs
"jimz" (jimz)
02/19/2017 at 12:28, STARS: 0
Focus and Fiesta have used the three-tone “Ford DNA” chime since 2010 and 2011 respectively, though generated and played by the tinny sounder inside the gauge cluster. Starting with the 2013 Fusion and MKZ, all cars are moving towards polyphonic chimes generated by the radio and played over the sound system.
"Matt Nichelson" (whoismatt)
02/19/2017 at 12:33, STARS: 0
I like the BMW chime. It sounds pleasant. It’s like a happy little upbeat tone. The Hyundai one caught me off guard the first time I heard it. I had a rental Sonata a couple years ago and was not expecting it to sound musical. The car itself was kinda meh, but the chime was nice and unique.
"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
02/19/2017 at 12:33, STARS: 0
Not all models it seems.
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"Jayhawk Jake" (jayhawkjake)
02/19/2017 at 12:38, STARS: 0
My girlfriend has a new Sonata. The welcome chime is cute...once. It’s super annoying otherwise. Fortunately you can turn it off.
"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
02/19/2017 at 12:41, STARS: 2
Up until the moment you hear this version while driving:
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They used it for the low ambient temperature warning on mine... freaked me out at first. I know it’s cold, but don’t need to alarm me like there’s an engine failure.
Nonetheless I still like them, and made it my messages tone on my phone, regular version for group messages, warning version for messages only for me.
"Jayhawk Jake" (jayhawkjake)
02/19/2017 at 12:43, STARS: 0
Sometimes mine plays from the cluster. It’s odd. Usually it’s the kinder one through the speakers.
"gmporschenut also a fan of hondas" (gmporschenut)
02/19/2017 at 12:45, STARS: 2
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"jasmits" (jasmits)
02/19/2017 at 13:04, STARS: 0
Oh man, my mom had a similar-era Avalon to the older Camry when I was growing up, that chime brought more nostalgia than I would ever have expected.
"fintail" (fintail)
02/19/2017 at 13:08, STARS: 1
The BMW chime is indeed the winner. From the first time I experienced it, it stuck with me.
The old MB buzzer might be the most annoying. Imagine listening to this while doing any electrical troubleshooting:
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I like the 80s era VW chime:
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"jasmits" (jasmits)
02/19/2017 at 13:11, STARS: 0
On the other hand my 1991 Toyota 4Runner was not trying to be melodic..
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"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
02/19/2017 at 13:16, STARS: 0
Maybe it was trying to be a Ferrari.
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"DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!" (daft-ryosuke)
02/19/2017 at 13:27, STARS: 0
Someone’s been watching Saabkyle04
"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
02/19/2017 at 14:03, STARS: 0
Wav files... Hoping there’s one day we can download sound theme packs for our cars.
"jasmits" (jasmits)
02/19/2017 at 14:42, STARS: 0
Or, more likely, Ferrari bought their door alarms from Toyota or from the same supplier as Toyota
edit: I can tell you for sure that my 4Runner has no illusions about being a Ferrari with it’s 150 horsepower 3.0 liter V6 pushing around 3900 pounds of truck
"BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo" (bluemazda2)
02/19/2017 at 14:50, STARS: 2
BMW, Mini, and VW have the best chimes in the industry.
Whenever I’ve tried to discuss this with friends, every response is somewhere along the lines of “It’s just a chime.”
"jimz" (jimz)
02/19/2017 at 15:09, STARS: 0
Focus is an odd duck; it does some things the Euro way and some things the North American way. It does the Ford DNA chime after playing that “beltminder” ding several times, I think he just cut the video before that could happen. and the pre-2014 Fiesta had this pleasant bit:
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"jimz" (jimz)
02/19/2017 at 15:13, STARS: 0
Some chimes like “key left in ignition,” “transmission not in park,” and “beltminder” are FMVSS requirements, they have to play when needed. If the cluster doesn’t see the radio wake from sleep in time, it’ll take over chime control as a fallback.
"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
02/19/2017 at 15:26, STARS: 0
BMW, Mini, and
VW
have the best chimes in the industry.
But I just gave an example why VW sucks above...
"BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo" (bluemazda2)
02/19/2017 at 15:33, STARS: 0
I drive a 2015 Passat. I like the chime in mine. It sounds nice.
"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
02/19/2017 at 15:37, STARS: 1
I guess... maybe next time when you see a Bentley or Bugatti you should pull it beside it and give them your Clarkson face. :P
"Vicente Esteve" (vicente-esteve)
02/19/2017 at 17:20, STARS: 0
The Bentley being the same as the Jetta chime is an insult. I do like BMWs.
"Spasoje" (Spasoje)
02/19/2017 at 18:35, STARS: 0
I definitely notice the sounds, and appreciate a good one! As a marketer, I can say branding via sound is definitely a thing (hell, all 5 senses are fair game for branding).
Seems like there are two schools of thought in all this – the BMW school, where the sounds are meant to differentiate the brands within the group, and the VW/GM school, where the sounds are meant to unify all the brands within the group. I feel either way works.
Now that I think about it, the only exception to the second rule within the VW Group is Porsche – the one brand with differentiated status within the VW Group! Guess showing belonging to the group (or lack thereof) really was the idea after all hehe
The Honda sound is like that b/c four short beeps represent the letter “H” in morse code! But yeah, the result is kinda annoying. I find that Hyundai tried too hard and overdid it, though – it’s like that episode of Family Guy when Peter has theme music for every single thing he does.
"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
02/19/2017 at 19:06, STARS: 0
As a marketer, I can say branding via sound is definitely a thing
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Now that I think about it, the only exception to the second rule within the VW Group is Porsche – the one brand with differentiated status within the VW Group! Guess showing belonging to the group (or lack thereof) really was the idea after all hehe
So I guess within VW AG, Bugatti and Bentley were not worthy of differentiation...
The Honda sound is like that b/c four short beeps represent the letter “H” in morse code! But yeah, the result is kinda annoying. I find that Hyundai tried too hard and overdid it, though – it’s like that episode of Family Guy when Peter has theme music for every single thing he does.
Interesting theory, but I guess Nissan doesn’t start with “H”...
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"Spasoje" (Spasoje)
02/20/2017 at 02:08, STARS: 0
Good example with Intel! It was actually one of the most repeated examples of sound branding my profs used back in university.
Anyway, the 240SX sound you posted (almost identical to a
Hyundai Accent’s
), the Sentra sound you posted, and the sound in our old Pathfinder (
this sound
) were all different. So clearly, Nissan doesn’t give a damn about sounds and just uses whatever. But the Honda “morse code H” story has multiple times been credited to reps from Honda itself, and it’s used consistently in all Honda (and many Acura) products.
A little background on the VW Group: Porsche had always cooperated with VW to some degree, but was its own separate brand and company. Even after the eventual takeover by VW (which started with Porsche almost buying VW before the situation did a complete 180), Porsche has always stayed far from the VW parts bin when you compare it to any other VW-owned brand – this includes even Bentley and Bugatti.
With Bugatti, the Veyron is a VW product through and through: the VW boss commissioned the specifics, and VW engineers created it, all to show what the VW Group is capable of. Boil everything down, and the Bugatti name is just marketing.
Same thing with Bentley. The Mulsanne is the only bespoke platform in the entire lineup (in fact, it’s Bentley’s first bespoke platform since 1930). The rest of the range are purely VW products, namely the VW Phaeton and Audi Q7. Again, take the fluff away, and Bentleys are VWs through and through.
Compare that to Porsche: bespoke development, parts, and platforms (with the exception of the SUVs – the Cayenne more so than the Macan); a unique history, mission, and brand image from anything else in the group portfolio; and isolated political status within the group itself. No other VW Group brand is that independent and differentiated, so it doesn’t surprise me that they are the only VW brand with different sound marketing (and keyfobs, come to think of it).