Hi all,picked up my new SE L 1.6tdi dsg last month,which I had ordered with,amongst other things,xenon headlights. I've not owned a car with xenon's before,but I have driven cars with them during my days in the motor trade. My initial thoughts on them were...'is that it?,I've just paid £1100 to have these,and they're only marginally better than the halogens on my previous mk3. They did appear to get slightly brighter over the course of the first week,unless I was imagining it,but to be honest,I was expecting xenon's to be much brighter than this. Also,I arrived at work one morning this week,and just as I was parking up,one of ,my colleagues with a 15 plate xenon equipped Polo parked next to me. His headlights were like daylight,so much brighter than mine. Can this be right? And yes,I definitely have xenon's! Is there any adjustments that can be made to them in any way? Going on my own experience,I wouldn't recommend them on the mk3,and I wouldn't pay the extra again. Any thoughts,suggestions,or advice most welcome. Thanks in advance.

Hmmm - I've got to say, the MkIII headlights aren't nearly as good as the MkII xenon set up. The only improvements I can suggest is to replace the bulbs with upgrade ones which are now available (although changing them isn't as easy as traditional ones) and look at the settings. On my MkII I found they were set far too steeply angled down and the range was rubbish - but the dealer recalibrated and they were far better and far reaching.

At this time of year it doesnt really get proper dark in the North. perhaps thats a factor. I have gone from a Mk3 with halogens to a VRS and the xenons are far better- more beam length, better brightness, more sign reflection etc.

 

they are self levelling so no adjustments can be made other then changing the bulbs for a different brand

 

Although the LED headlights on the wifes Audi are twice as good again......

Here's the range of upgrades: http://www.powerbulbs.com/store/category/xenon-hid-bulbs-d2s-d2r-d1s-d1r/fitting/d3s

Don't bother with the upgrade bulbs - they are only slightly whiter but no brighter (I tried the osram ones)

The mk3 headlight have realitively poor projectors which is they don't look that bright.

Unfortunately there aren't many options and all of them require a reasonable amount of work.

I have changed the ballasts to 55w and this makes a noticeable difference but isn't that easy.

carrock,

where in the North are you, Shetland, Iceland, Norway?

I had same feeling. When I got my MK3 which is my first car I own and before I was driving my parents Peugeot with halogen bulbs. Octavia Xenons were WOW!!! And now they don't look wow as much when I see new Passat B8 with Xenons which are more wight beam even on day you can clearly see Passat ones are better.

 

Why IDK? When I look my O3 Xenons are white.  :wonder:

In my GTD there are small hex adjusters that can alter the throw of the lights, I take delivery of my vRS tomorrow so I'll have a look and see if I can see a similar set up.

That's a real shame, the xenon's on my MkII were very good.

 

Are the MkIII xenon's really a step back?

I had same feeling. When I got my MK3 which is my first car I own and before I was driving my parents Peugeot with halogen bulbs. Octavia Xenons were WOW!!! And now they don't look wow as much when I see new Passat B8 with Xenons which are more wight beam even on day you can clearly see Passat ones are better.

Why IDK? When I look my O3 Xenons are white. :wonder:

New Passat has LED headlights as upgrades, not Xenon - that's why they'll look so much better.

It's funny what we get used to and quickly good things things become passe or underwhelming!

 

I have come from my 2009 Mazda 6 with halogen lights and my Octavia is brilliant in comparison - clean, strong, white light which cleverly adjusts so I can clearly see the footpaths and road edges on suburban back-roads and pretty much lights up as far as the eye can see on full beam when driving those unlit national speed limit NZ B-roads, all whilst helpful turning round corners to safely light the direction of travel.

 

One would have to ask, just how much more light do you need to drive safely in the dark?!

 

 

(Now thinking back to the lights on my 1978 Vaxhaul Chevette hatchback... )

Scottish border

 

still twilight at 1030pm

It's funny what we get used to and quickly good things things become passe or underwhelming!

So true! Currently have a Passat 12 plate with halogens and my wife's 09 Mazda with Xenons is superb in comparison for night driving.

I previously had an Ibiza FR and A4 avant with Xenons which were miles better then my Passats halogens too and have no doubt my new vRS Xenons will outshine (pardon the pun) the Passat as well

There has been discussions on another thread around the performance of the Xenons on the Mk3, and quite a few people have said they aren't really that impressed by them, myself being one. Yes they are much better than halogens, but you can tell some cars with Xenons have much better light output on the road than the Octy, and LEDs are in a different league. Although, one of my friend has a Seat Leon with LEDs and they aren't very good at all!

I guess as they were standard on my VRS I have no grounds to be disappointed...maybe if I had paid extra, but as I said - I am comfortable that mine light up everything I need to see perfectly well!

Complaining that they are not as good as LEDs or even as good as similar lights on a more expensive car does seem a little redundant though - anyone genuinely upset their VRS isn't as quick as a Golf R?

I don't have much experience of xenon lights, but I can say the standard fit xenons on my mk3 vRS are much better and brighter than any halogen headlights I've had previously. Would still think twice though before paying £1k+ to add as an optional extra.

I had a car with LEDs recently. Thanks, but no thanks - I'll stick with Xenons.

As I think I said somewhere else on here, I noticed the mk3 Vrs ones didn't seem as bright as the mk2 L&K ones. Put it down to tinted glass lens. But others said it was bulb quality. However got used to them, now give them a second thought

I had a car with LEDs recently. Thanks, but no thanks - I'll stick with Xenons.

How come you didn't like LEDs? What car was it too?

How come you didn't like LEDs? What car was it too?

Peugeot 508, newest version all bells and whistles, with led lamps that did cost me some serious $$$ on top of Allure version.

Leds were not as powerful as biXenon (even one from Octy 3) and had an ugly violet halo around them that was pretty distracting at times, cornering was crappy too. All together one of the least annoying problems with that piece of sht car but yet another reason for me to dump an almost new car and suffer the cash loss associated to such sale.

Maybe in some time they do it better but so far I was not impressed.

Peugeot 508, newest version all bells and whistles, with led lamps that did cost me some serious $$$ on top of Allure version.

Leds were not as powerful as biXenon (even one from Octy 3) and had an ugly violet halo around them that was pretty distracting at times, cornering was crappy too. All together one of the least annoying problems with that piece of sht car but yet another reason for me to dump an almost new car and suffer the cash loss associated to such sale.

Maybe in some time they do it better but so far I was not impressed.

Sounds like a bad experience...sorry to hear that!

I must say as I mentioned in an earlier post, I was totally underwhelmed at my mates Leon with LEDs, but was recently in a Prius taxi with them and the illumination was fantastic, and also my colleagues new 3 series has them, again far better than my lights on my L&K!

Sounds like a bad experience...sorry to hear that!

I must say as I mentioned in an earlier post, I was totally underwhelmed at my mates Leon with LEDs, but was recently in a Prius taxi with them and the illumination was fantastic, and also my colleagues new 3 series has them, again far better than my lights on my L&K!

Varies from case to case, for sure. French job being on the usual place in this race though :P

But again - I guess we have to give it a time. Now it's a novelty and thus being charged stupid money, while giving imo comparable/sometimes inferior experience to Xenons.

I guess similar issues are part of any new technology implementation - see ABS, seatbelts, etc. Good idea from the very beginning, not sooo good usability at first.

With time, certain standards will come in place for quality and price. Till then I would stick to "good" things rather than take a lottery in search for "better".

I was on the understanding that there are only a few headlight manufacturers globally, Hella being one of the big ones.

 

I'm therefore surprised that there is quite so much variety in light output from one model to another.

 

Perhaps there are varying levels of quality, BMW pay Hella top dollar for the best quality materials whereas Skoda who are working to tighter margins have had to make cuts to their specification?

 

https://www.hella.com/hella-com/en/Passenger-Cars-479.html

Edited 18 May, 201610 yr by silver1011

Thanks for all your replies guys. It would seem that the Octavia xenons are perhaps just not up there with the best? As I mentioned in my original post,I've driven several xenon equipped cars over the years,and all of them were much brighter than the Octavia xenons. A bit disappointing really,I'll speak to the dealer and see if there's any adjustments that can be made,otherwise I guess this is just how they are. Thanks again.

Thanks for all your replies guys. It would seem that the Octavia xenons are perhaps just not up there with the best? As I mentioned in my original post,I've driven several xenon equipped cars over the years,and all of them were much brighter than the Octavia xenons. A bit disappointing really,I'll speak to the dealer and see if there's any adjustments that can be made,otherwise I guess this is just how they are. Thanks again.

 

Again though (genuinely curious, not being combative!) do you feel that the lamps don't actually light up everything in front of you within a more-than-suffiicent distance in order to let you drive safely and confidently through the dark (mine certainly do!) or is it just that as you paid extra, you were hoping for something a little more akin to a small sun strapped to the front of your car?

 

Given they are self adjusting, not sure the dealer would be able to do anything for you here...unless they are actually faulty or totally out of whack!