325xi Lock Sound

It's something which is rightfully banned in most of Europe (noise pollution) so perhaps has been removed as an option worldwide?

Ask around - many people are irritated by unnecessary horn honking. Including, perhaps, your neighbours. In urban areas, honking attracts unnecessary attention to your beautiful ride.

Me, I just think it's déclassé, but maybe that's just me.

I am not sure I would use it. I was browsing the computer options and saw it in the manual. While playing with it, I found that the computer display and the manual did not agree; the manual had this option in the list for locking the car, but the computer did not. Just wondering why that is.

You are probably right. It is probably rude anyway. Flashing the lights is enough.

Thanks for the info.

-- garskof

Presumably that restriction only applies to using the cars horn. Not the 'Plink' that some alarms make when being armed, including the Piranha one fitted to mine? Mike.

Older ones which did are still 'legal'. But on most cars you can hear the central locking activate so why want anything else?

The one fitted to my old E34 chirped the siren. Quite loud - certainly enough to be heard by neighbours.

"Dave Plowman (News)" haute in die Tasten:

Depends on the locking mechanism. If it is fitted by Mercedes or VW, chances are good that the locks are activated by a vacuum hose, and you hardly hear any noise. But AFAIK almost all contemporary cars with factory fitted remote control and central locking indicate the locking by one or two brief flashes with the indicator lights, which I regard as a very good solution.

Frank

Except for all that light pollution... It's getting hard to see the night sky these days. (insert ob-smiley here).

Well actually it (E34) only chirps if you press the remote lock button twice which indicates that the doors are double locked and the alarm is armed. Pressing the remote once will lock the doors with the corresponding "clunk" for conformation. But what the chirp or flash does that the clunk does not is to confirm that *all* of the locks are engaged and the alarm is armed.

And the chirp is not all that loud. It is no more loud or annoying than the sound of the engine and exhaust, even in stock trim. At least not on my '94.

The one on my '92 525SE was an aftermarket type - I'm not sure if BMW offered a factory fit one in those days. They didn't even fit a radio. ;-)

That noise certainly annoyed enough for it to be made illegal in the UK. Perhaps because of the density of housing in many towns.

You need to purchase the alarm system to have it supply an audible confirmation.

E46 does not come with an alarm standard, only remote lock/unlock.

Brett Anderson KMS