I know this is an incredibly minor thing to make a topic about, but here it goes...

Let's say you're picking up a girl from her apartment to take her out for dinner. Obviously, you don't want to be the douche who sits in his car and calls her and says "I'm here, come on out". But it's equally strange to go to the door and try to buzz her with the doorbell, because really...who does that? As a compromise, you could get out of your car and call her while standing by the door, but that seems pretty strange too.

How do you all handle this situation?

Why does it matter ? do whatever you feel most comfortable with.

That's the whole point of my post. I'm wondering what the "normal" thing to do is in this situation.

When you arrange to meet her, tell her what time you're picking her up and tell her not to be late or you will honk your horn outside her place. If she's not ready when you arrive, you have every right to honk your horn, just like you said She most likely won't be late because the social pressure of pissing off her neighbours will force her to get ready for you in time. It also makes you more in control, because she is forced to react and behave like a good girl to meet your schedule, not hers, this is exactly the frame you want, she has to be on time if she wants to be lucky enough to date you.

Obviously, this means you shouldn't be late yourself so make sure you leave enough time to get there! If you're feeling nice, you could drop her a text saying you're 10 minutes away en route to make her rush her final makeup touches so you're not kept waiting.

genius! I think I wish shed be late so I start honking like a mad man bwahahhaa

What do you consider normal behavior around a doorbell if ringing it isn't? Only the 'calling in front of her door' option sounds lame to me, why would you call when there's a doorbell? However the honking thing sounds better.