Driving home along the M5 tonight, I was overtaken by a Mercedes CLS which had LED headlights. You could see it coming from a long way back as the headlights were very bluey-white in colour (more blue than manufacturer xenons) but I also found that they were very distracting. They were somewhat like badly aimed aftermarket xenons which I thought they were at first. As it passed me, the beam pattern seemed decent enough but they didn't look appreciably better than my xenons.

Has anyone else seen any cars with LED main beams?

to hijack the tread slightly I have to say I find xenon's just (sometimes more) distracting and annoying that people driving with fog lights on

We've got 15 Hybrid buses fitted with LED headlights! Not driven one yet, And the light is bluer than xenons, Good output it has to be said!

The Pious and bigger Lexus can be had with LED lamps

Honda have fitted them to some models.

We've got 15 Hybrid buses fitted with LED headlights! Not driven one yet, And the light is bluer than xenons, Good output it has to be said!

The Pious and bigger Lexus can be had with LED lamps

What buses are these?! Sounds better than our ****box enviro`s

the lights are weird on the hybrid buses very intense

i have seen a few recently because we have sold a few to first bus (370,000) each apparently lol

A lot of the top end Audi's (R8 V10, A7, A8 etc) come with LED lights either standard or an option.

I've seen an A7 go past with them on and there was considerable difference in the illumination of the road upto 20m in front of the car compared with my OEM Xenon's. Beyond that the light output was probably the same (to the naked eye) not sure what scientific tests would show.

LED will eventually be the way forwards due to the lifespan of the bulbs (outlasting the car) and they draw less power than conventional or xenon setups. IIRC the R8 V10 headlight system only uses 18w (compared to 35w Xenon and 55w Halogen) it all adds to the Fuel and CO2 efficiency of the car so i can see it becoming the norm.

A lot of the top end Audi's (R8 V10, A7, A8 etc) come with LED lights either standard or an option.

LED will eventually be the way forwards due to the lifespan of the bulbs (outlasting the car) and they draw less power than conventional or xenon setups. IIRC the R8 V10 headlight system only uses 18w (compared to 35w Xenon and 55w Halogen) it all adds to the Fuel and CO2 efficiency of the car so i can see it becoming the norm.

I suspect not for a while on mainstream cars.

Too damn expensive at the moment!

I did find this article which may be of interest...

My link

I don't know as they have come down considerably in the last 12-18 months.

An R8 LED Unit used to cost circa £5k each. They now cost under £4k for both units. I reckon in about another 5 years one of the more mainstream models from the likes of VW/Audi/BMW/Merc and possibly even Ford/Vaux will start coming with LED Lights as an option.

What buses are these?! Sounds better than our ****box enviro`s

These are the LED DRL's / indicators (combined / dual function) adjacent to halogen projector headlights and main beam:

And then these are the very latest (not seen them on the road yet) LED dipped headlights:

If you think about it buses and coaches are often run all day every day on shifts so wear and tear on brake lights and indicators is high. All the buses around here drive on dipped headlights during the day too. Public service buses were running LED tail lights long before they appeared on cars.

As others have mentioned they are now being introduced on some high end Merc's and Audi's. Trust me though LED headlights are a long way off ever been seen on a Skoda.

I'm sure someone posted the same photos recently, and it was decided that the headlights were actually HID projector lights.

These are LED headlights:

http://www.roverantics.co.uk/

then clic on the headlights picture

What buses are these?! Sounds better than our ****box enviro`s

I'm sure someone posted the same photos recently, and it was decided that the headlights were actually HID projector lights.

That was me and no one mentioned that they weren't LED's, see here:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/222462-led-dipped-beam/page__hl__led+headlights

I am sure they are...

http://www.busandcoach.com/newspage.aspx?id=5411&categoryid=3

Manufactured by Ring specifically for the bus and coach industry...

Ah cheers for the pictures.

With regards to Buses having technology before cars, I find this isnt always true. Its the same as cars in that the more pricey buses get stuff first. For example, we have some slightly more expensive buses new in 2001 with LED rear lights. We also have a few cheaper buses from 2005 with normal rear bulbs. Its only recently the cheaper models have LED`s all round. Also, even now, only the coaches have Xenons, none of the buses have. Wish they did, since the Enviro`s headlights on the single deck buses are woeful, last night when I was driving one the indicators were brighter than the dipped beam!

I don't suppose you know how much they are?

Or would that be too frightening to ask?

The buses?

How will cars CANbus cope with LED's AND still give a bulb out warning?

Wouldn't they just lower the level of expected draw from the lights?

I was driving one the indicators were brighter than the dipped beam!

How a PSV passes any sort of regulation with poor headlamps is beyond me :no: