Don't get me wrong here, folks, as I think they are great, but are the bi-xenons on the Superb as good as those on, say, a BMW, Merc or Mini?

The approach of autumn/winter and the prospect of driving to and from work in the pitch black got me thinking about an observation I made during last winter. Whenever I pulled up next to another car with bi-xenons, or followed one down the road, the xenons on the other cars always seemed brighter/whiter than those on the Superb.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is there a difference in the quality/brightness of bi-xenons between manufacturers? If not, maybe I should get the dealer to look into it at the next service. As an aside, the lights don't seem to swivel like they are supposed to, whether set on Auto or On.

Cheers.

Andy

I had Bi-xenons on my SAAB 95 and the Skoda ones are every bit as good

There's more to "how good/bright/long-ranged are the headlights" than just the luminaires installed. The reflector and lens design, unit mounting height, default beam aim angle and wiring quality will all affect this too.

Also (and someone else may have numbers to go with this) the Superb mya use a different light temperature to the other cited makes.

If you have the "steering lights", I think that only works on the main beams; certainly that was the case on the Citroens that invented the concept. Check with the dealer though.

I have the AFS Headlights on my Octavia (Xenon only on low beam) and you can quite easily notice the lights moving whilst going round corners etc.

Easiest way to tell if they are working is start the car up at night and watch the light self test sequence. They should do the following:

Engine Start

Lights Come on and get to full brightness (2 Secs Max)

Lights Dip

Left hand light moves left & right hand light moves right at same time

Left & Right lights return to centre

Lights raise

All this takes about 10 secs.

German ADAC has done some test of Xenon lights and the Superb was also in this test:

http://www.adac.de/infotestrat/tests/autozubehoer-technik/scheinwerfer-test/ (in german).

You can see that Skoda's Xenon's are very good. Mercedes Xenon lamps are a bit better but also a lot more expensive.

I've been driven a few weeks ago in Germany at night and was VERY pleased with the Superb's Xenon lights.

German ADAC has done some test of Xenon lights and the Superb was also in this test:

http://www.adac.de/infotestrat/tests/autozubehoer-technik/scheinwerfer-test/ (in german).

You can see that Skoda's Xenon's are very good. Mercedes Xenon lamps are a bit better but also a lot more expensive.

I've been driven a few weeks ago in Germany at night and was VERY pleased with the Superb's Xenon lights.

Me too, we have some dark nights here in Sweden, the xenon on the Superb is just...ehh.. superb!

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I've tested the headlights on the mk2 Superb and they put out approximately 4200 Lumen/Lux EACH, which equals about 50W HID/pcs @ 4000 ~ 5000 Kelvin.

The new Mercedes E350 2011 model puts out approximately 4800 Lumen/Lux each in comparison.

When talking lumen/lux and the visibility of your eyes, then remember, you need 10 x more light/lumen to visibly get 2 x more light/lumen to your physical eye. Also remember, if you put out much more than 10000 (2 x 5000) lumen/lux on the road, your eyes will think it's daylight thus making it a lot harder to readopt for darkness. This actually means you will get "blinded" by your own headlights. Of course it's not a problem, if you can drive with high beam all the time, but i guess eventually you'll meet another driver.

There's a lot of factors when talking light output. If you have too many bugs splattered on your headlamps or if the glass is milky then the output will be heavily reduced. But in all i can tell you all new cars 2010/2011 put out about the same amount of lumen. It's actually more as KenONeill wrote:

"The reflector and lens design, unit mounting height, default beam aim angle and wiring quality will all affect this too.

Also (and someone else may have numbers to go with this) the Superb mya use a different light temperature to the other cited makes.

If you have the "steering lights", I think that only works on the main beams; certainly that was the case on the Citroens that invented the concept."

For the light temperatures i can tell you that the highest lumen/lux output is between 4300~5000 Kelvin. If you choose to have 8000 Kelvin (Blue) HID, then your lumens/lux are reduced to about 3200~3500. And the more blue or purple you go, the less visible light/lumen comes out. Around 5000 Kelvin equals sunlight temperature light which makes your eyes relax.

Is it just me or is that ADAC site hopeless?

Pop up advert in front of results, cannot click onto other tabs? Or is it a case of one has to register first?

Is it just me or is that ADAC site hopeless?

Pop up advert in front of results, cannot click onto other tabs? Or is it a case of one has to register first?

No problem for me on the Adac site (with google chrome).

I can compare mine favourably with the current Merc E class and the Volvo xc70 all fitted with xenons. I find the Skoda lights excellent and use them regularly in darkness on unlit rural roads. The adaptive function, i.e. lights which turn in the direction of the front wheels, works very well and does indeed work on dipped beam. There may be others which are better, but I've no complaints with mine.