i3......headlights? Standard or LED? Who has which?
Discussion
Hi, First post here and looking forward to the EV forum threads, very interesting so far.
My question is as I have already test driven the i3, Outlander PHEV and eneded up buying an Audi A6 Hybrid (one of the VERY few!).....our next car will almost certainly be the i3 REX next year, ans I'd like to have opinions from owners of the performance of the headlamp options (if anyone actually specc'ed the LEDs), one thing I really like in a car is excellent headlamp performance.
So are the standard OK...or brilliant or fair? And the LED type, got to be better yes? Or have you seen better HiDs or Projector Halogens?
My local dealer cannot (will not) let the car out for a night drive, and besides neither i3 they have are LED equipped. I will try again mid winter for a late afternoon (dark hopefully) drive, but for now......any views?
Oh BTW the A6 is a cracker.....quick brisk and soooooo refined to drive, love the bursts of EV only gliding along.
My question is as I have already test driven the i3, Outlander PHEV and eneded up buying an Audi A6 Hybrid (one of the VERY few!).....our next car will almost certainly be the i3 REX next year, ans I'd like to have opinions from owners of the performance of the headlamp options (if anyone actually specc'ed the LEDs), one thing I really like in a car is excellent headlamp performance.
So are the standard OK...or brilliant or fair? And the LED type, got to be better yes? Or have you seen better HiDs or Projector Halogens?
My local dealer cannot (will not) let the car out for a night drive, and besides neither i3 they have are LED equipped. I will try again mid winter for a late afternoon (dark hopefully) drive, but for now......any views?
Oh BTW the A6 is a cracker.....quick brisk and soooooo refined to drive, love the bursts of EV only gliding along.
I ordered the i3 Rex with he LED lights as I live in the sticks. They were sold as adaptive LED lights...HOWEVER they are neither adaptive or fully LED!!
Dipped is LED and they are fine with a crisp cut off they are not adaptive and thus do not swivel round corners. Main beam is Halogen it is the lower two lights which look like fog lights.
I was understandably very miffed at this as I don't like mixed color lights ie white LED and yellower Halogen and they didn't swivel!
In the end BMW refunded me the £700odd as they are not as described.
Would I order them again? Well I like the LED dipped and I have upgraded the Halogen to white bulbs so they look right but I wouldn't pay £700 for the privilege.
Dipped is LED and they are fine with a crisp cut off they are not adaptive and thus do not swivel round corners. Main beam is Halogen it is the lower two lights which look like fog lights.
I was understandably very miffed at this as I don't like mixed color lights ie white LED and yellower Halogen and they didn't swivel!
In the end BMW refunded me the £700odd as they are not as described.
Would I order them again? Well I like the LED dipped and I have upgraded the Halogen to white bulbs so they look right but I wouldn't pay £700 for the privilege.
Ouch! Now that is interesting and very worrying, very glad you have er. enlightened us of that issue.
I am very surprised BMW can get away with that, and obviously in your case they didn't, well done for sticking to your guns and getting some sort of resolution.
Seems like maybe the best option is standard halogens and just upgrade the bulbs as is usual, what a great pity as you would have expected LED bulbs (full lighting) would have been the preferred option in a EV vehicle to save energy!
Very odd indeed.
I am very surprised BMW can get away with that, and obviously in your case they didn't, well done for sticking to your guns and getting some sort of resolution.
Seems like maybe the best option is standard halogens and just upgrade the bulbs as is usual, what a great pity as you would have expected LED bulbs (full lighting) would have been the preferred option in a EV vehicle to save energy!
Very odd indeed.
If you mosey over to the i3 forum you'll find two massive threads on this subject, one of which I started over a year ago although I almost wished I hadn't as it got stupidly complicated regarding what the 'adaptive' part of their description actually meant.
I spec'd them and do like the bright light that they emit although I don't know how good they are compared to others as the i3 is the first car I've owned with LED headlights. I've driven the dealer's i3 for about 3 weeks in total (2 different times) and that had the standard lights, they seemed ok to me, certainly not sub-par but the LED's are definitely brighter and have a much whiter colour (even looking quite blue'ish at times).
There's also a slight range benefit but it's pretty small.
I spec'd them and do like the bright light that they emit although I don't know how good they are compared to others as the i3 is the first car I've owned with LED headlights. I've driven the dealer's i3 for about 3 weeks in total (2 different times) and that had the standard lights, they seemed ok to me, certainly not sub-par but the LED's are definitely brighter and have a much whiter colour (even looking quite blue'ish at times).
There's also a slight range benefit but it's pretty small.
Legacywr said:
I wrongly assumed, that a car full of hi-tech like this, would have come with xenon's as standard!
This is the Germans remember. They'd be still trying to sell you a car with wind up windows and a cassette deck, with the CD player being a £500 options list special if they could get away with it ( with some people for whom badge is all, I bet they could)Otispunkmeyer said:
This is the Germans remember. They'd be still trying to sell you a car with wind up windows and a cassette deck, with the CD player being a £500 options list special if they could get away with it ( with some people for whom badge is all, I bet they could)
So I assume from your statement all the Japanese EVs come with Xenon or LED lighting as standard then? 
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