Does any else feel that the Bi-Halogen headlights fitted on some models of the Fabia11

are not as good as the Fabia 1 set up?. does not seem to light up the road as well?.

Is the height adjusted properly?

Uprated bulbs are also a great (safety) investment

Thanks for your reply.

I have fitted better bulbs,(same 55wattage), and raised the height a little,

which has improved them a bit. ( they do have a very sharp cut off, no doubt to the internal shutter

mechanism, I assume that they do not dazzle oncoming drivers as badly?.because of the very sharp

cut off .!

I think the 55w bi-Halogen projector set up is miles and miles ahead of the H4 set up in the fabia I.

I've not owned both but have had both as hire cars in winter for over a week.

The Fabia 1 lights are not bad, they are seperate as well, didnt think it was H4 but I could be wrong

The sharp cutoff sounds more like xenons, to be fair?

There is only one H7 bulb in the Fabia 2 setup if they are projector lenses which most of them are. The only real way to improve past fitting uprated bulbs (Which never last very long) is to fit HID's but even these have their own set of issues.

Uprated bulbs can be fine, just dont get the highest rated ones. The 30-50% uprated ones are absolutely fine, and they last a normal time when used daily (like at least a year).

Some of the super high brightness ones burn out after 3-4 months based on those Osram threads though, so I'd give those a miss

Sorry my bad, no the MK 1 isn't H4, i got wires crossed, but certainly the newer MK II projectors give a much better throw of light.

If it was my car I'd throw a set of osram silverstars in there, +50% so brighter, but also last a good while. I had a set in the car for 3 years without issue.

I remember a post...

According to a Finnish car mag's measurements, the standard lights (the first pic) have great low beams but sucky highs and the lens lights (2nd pic) have better high beams, but sucky lows. If you have sucky high beams, that can be easily fixed with additional high beams, such as the Hella FF 200, which, according to a car mag comparo is a very good light, providing 3 lux of light to over 200 m.

IMHO the headlights on the Fabia are very weak. I have tried the Halfords own-brand super (+50%) and extreme (+90%) lamps and they definitely improve things - the Halfords lamps have been very well reviewed in the past - but the best fix for the problem has been to fit 80W H1s (which I only use off-road, of course).

The lights are still not that good, but they are at least acceptable now. By comparison my other car (pensioned off at present) which is a 2002 Zafira has quite stunningly good headlamps. So it is possible to fit good headlamps to a car - I'm rather disappointed to see how a car which is five years younger can have headlamps which are so inferior.

Obviously many people do not test-drive a new car after dark so this is something that you are left to discover only AFTER you've bought the car.

I am one of these strange people who has owned 8 Skodas on the trot. Started with a cheap second car...an Estelle, then 2 favorits.....awful quality and then Felicias and Fabias. Without doubt the new lights on my Fabia 11 are by far the worst I have ever had. It is radically worse than my previous mark 1 which in my opinion were the best ever. It is worth bearing in mind that on main beam there were double headlight beams but on mark 11 only one filament per side to do everything. This defies the laws of physics to be as good. Also I feel the use of the opaque glass on the unit reduces the light quality further. I got to know my previous garage owner in the earlier days well and it was clear tha VW's influence ensured that all the quality issues were fed back and the next production version usually addressed and corrected the various problems. This time for the first time ever since the first Favorits we seem to have taken a backward step. Why?....if it wasn't broke the don't fix it!!!!! The sad thing is I am now retired and had hoped to keep this one for many years but I am now stuck with my first model that I am genuingly disappointed with. Engine, gears, ride etc beautiful but I am at an age where lighting is more important. I hope Skoda will listen to the concerns as has happened in the past and improve it.My problem is can I afford to trade again from my pension. Has anyone got a mark1 with a mark11 engine, gearbox etc!

Have been in my friends MK2 quite a few times now including at night and I find the lights very good... the projector lenses throw the light out much more efficiently than reflector headlamps... they focus the light and don't waste it by having glare shining off at the side etc. Maybe that's why they seem worse to you as there is no light being thrown out the sides etc?

Phil

Have been in my friends MK2 quite a few times now including at night and I find the lights very good... the projector lenses throw the light out much more efficiently than reflector headlamps... they focus the light and don't waste it by having glare shining off at the side etc. Maybe that's why they seem worse to you as there is no light being thrown out the sides etc?

Phil

That's exactly why I thought they were better.

Daft question but the adjustment switch is up at 0 not 3 I assume?

It's worth asking the dealer to look at adjusting the lights so they fall towards the top end of the legal range if you perhaps need them to throw light further.

Have been in my friends MK2 quite a few times now including at night and I find the lights very good... the projector lenses throw the light out much more efficiently than reflector headlamps... they focus the light and don't waste it by having glare shining off at the side etc. Maybe that's why they seem worse to you as there is no light being thrown out the sides etc?

Phil

Sorry, but they are just plain WEAK. It's not down to the beam pattern, there just isn't much light going out. Believe me, other cars are MUCH better than the Fabia. As I said, my Zafira's lights are vastly brighter and make the Fabia's (particularly with standard bulbs) look like guttering candles.

I appreciate that you're trying to look on the bright side (sorry, pun intended), but there is NO bright side here!

Having owned a Fab 1 and a Roomster with the Fab 2 lights I can honestly say that the Fab 2 lights are fine and stack up against a lot of other cars.

If you want a car with REALLY bad lights, try a Calibra, or a Mk2 Punto

Edited 19 February, 200917 yr by Decron

I have the Fabia Mk2, level 3 with the projector style headlights. I have owned a number of different cars over the years and although not the best, I find the lights perfectly acceptable.

The worst I've ever seen were the lights on a Y reg Primera I had (which co-incidentally also had projector style lights). The beam was very short and not very bright. Had them adjusted by an MoT station to the highest they could go and put in some of the 'brighter' bulbs - I saw a slight improvement but they were still about the worst I've seen.

I had a Zafira last (56 reg) and the lights on that were maybe slightly better than the Fabia but not dramatically so.

I agree that the beam has a very abrupt cut-off on the Fabia though (along with a pretty rainbow effect on the edge of the beam!) but don't find them a problem.

I agree that the beam has a very abrupt cut-off on the Fabia though (along with a pretty rainbow effect on the edge of the beam!) but don't find them a problem.

I did wonder if i was hallucinating. I didn't like to ask if anyone else kept seeing it

I did wonder if i was hallucinating. I didn't like to ask if anyone else kept seeing it

Simply put it's where the lense is separating those colours through dispersion and as a result it has a certain level of chromatic aberration.

Chromatic aberration - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I was finding the light from the projector lights very poor in comparison to the Mk1 Fabia even trying both night breakers and x-treme bulbs. so much so that driving in poor weather felt dangerous.

Previously have taken the lights to be aligned only to be told they were fine.

However this weekend I changed the lights to philips eco-vision bulbs (H7 Philips EcoVision 12v 55w NEW! (pair)  - H7 Bulbs - Upgrade Xenon Headlight Bulbs - Autobulbs Direct Ltd - Car Lights, Car Bulbs, Headlights, Wiper Blades & Xenon Bulbs) which are only +10% and took it to a garage which were much more competent to be aligned.

Driving tonight there was a huge difference the lights actualy light up the road properly, they now reflect road signs and there is more light on the drivers side, actualy feel much safer and more relaxed. If your lights seem really poor I suggest it may be worthwhile having them aligned.

David

Hello everybody!

anybody know how and/or the alignment procedure, which screws to use? or any web resource talking about this (for projector type lights on Fabia II ) Thanks! TS

Hi, to be honest I really wouldn't know how to align them myself. Best thing to do is ring up some local MOT centres and ask them if they do headlight alignment. They can set it up properly with machines and it only costs about £5 to £10.

David