how do i find out if my skoda octavia vrs estate 11 plate has xenon headlights

Other than the colour of the light output itself, headlight washers and no manual height adjustment are two good clues.

Look at the codes on the manufacturing sticker, I'm sure some clever person on here will tell you what three characters indicate there are factory xenons fitted.

look at the headlights. If you see a greyish globe like a big lightbulb, you have xenons.

If the lights flash then get brighter over a few seconds then they're zenons/HIDs or if you have no manual height control then they will be factory zenons. You can't look at the lens or rely on having washers to tell, many cars have projectors and have washers but are still only standard halogen bulbs. 

look at the headlights. If you see a greyish globe like a big lightbulb, you have xenons.

That's incorrect, both xenon & halogen have the projector housing you describe.

 

As stated in post 2, pop-out headlight washers on the bumper & no headlight adjuster dial.

 

unless the xenons have been fitted aftermarket - it's not hard to remove the headlight assembly & look inside the first cover for the ballast.  It's about the size of a cigarette packet.

Well there are also subtle differences between the projector lenses that come with a Xenon equipped car and the projector lenses that come on a halogen equipped car - what with one set of lenses being approved for Xenon use and the other not.

Code or the missing height adjustment/washers is still the easiest way to show factory Xenon's.

On a UK supplied 2011 vRS.

 

1) Are headlight washers fitted? Yes it has xenon's.

 

 

 

2) Do you have a knob that allows you to manually adjust the height of the headlight beam next to the headlight switch? No? You have xenon's.

 

This Octavia has xenon's...

 

 

This switch is from a car that doesn't...

 

 

3) FL MkII Octavia's with xenon's have AFS (cornering function), so it is possible to tell a non-xenon headlight from a xenon headlight. If you have xenon's you get this small rectangle on the outside of each projector lens...

 

Silver1011 gets the prize for the best answer

On my 2010 elegance dsg I have the head light washers and the knob that adjusts the headlight height but I don't think I have xenon if that makes sense.

Silver1011 gets the prize for the best answer

Here Here! Very comprehensive answer.

On my 2010 elegance dsg I have the head light washers and the knob that adjusts the headlight height but I don't think I have xenon if that makes sense.

You have the same as me. Ordered washers but no xenon. Meanwhile got xenon now.

On my 2010 elegance dsg I have the head light washers and the knob that adjusts the headlight height but I don't think I have xenon if that makes sense.

 

In the UK the Elegance specification gets headlight washers as standard, with or without the optional xenon headlights.

 

Same as the 4x4 and Scout.

 

The knob to adjust the beam height confirms you do not have factory fitted xenon's fitted.

On my 2010 elegance dsg I have the head light washers and the knob that adjusts the headlight height but I don't think I have xenon if that makes sense.

If you have the height adjusting knob and the globe like lens above then you don't have Xenons, you have projector type halogen headlights. In this instance the halogen bulb is enclosed behind a glass lens which focuses the light in the same way a cinema projector lens does. Normal halogen lights have the bulb open in the light cluster and have a multi angled plastic/glass reflector behind the bulb to focus the light.

Xenons use a similar lens to the projector halogen units (hence the confusion between them) but the bulb is significantly brighter. They also have a different light colour (whiter with a slight tinge of blue) and often take a few moments to get to fill brightness while they do their auto self levelling dance.

Also, as mentioned above, xenons have a large ciggy box sized ballast behind them off which the bulb is attached to as one part, hence their higher replacement cost.

This is the first car I have owned with xenons, I am not sure I could ever go back!