Hi, I'm looking into getting a used pre-facelift vRS diesel  (/rant) as a stopgap car until SUK stops force-feeding sub-standard 100mph ACC on all but basic equipment Superbs (while denying the 130mph ACC or standard CC options to us). (rant/) 

 

But as I drive mostly at night, and a lot of it to/from/across Germany at high speed, I need to know if the AFS Bi-Xenons fully switch to "flat beam" or just dip the Z-beam and angle it to the right for the Continent.

 

Could a friendly soul please post a photo of 2015-2017 vRS lights set to tourist mode projected against a wall about 5m-10m away (when it is dark and cutoff is clearly visible)? Ideally, with one headlamp covered at a time.

 

And yes, I found an earlier picture on the forum but it is taken way too close to the wall, you really cannot see beam shape from this.

 

Help much appreciated, but given the number of tourist mode threads I think everyone will gain from this.

 

Edited 24 October, 20196 yr by dieselV6

Could a friendly soul please post a photo of 2015-2017 vRS lights set to tourist mode projected against a wall about 5m-10m away (when it is dark and cutoff is clearly visible)? Ideally, with one headlamp covered at a time.

 

Come on, don't make me get a Mondeo ST TDCi

I don't have mine anymore so can't photograph but my Xenons fully changed from driving on the left to driving on the right automatically while on the channel tunnel.

 

I didn't have to touch anything, all done on the GPS.

 

The Z beam on these lights is very flat anyway, there's no big kick up towards the kerb.

How did you find the brightness compared to driving in the UK under similar conditions?

 

My main concern with Z-beam dipped down and to the right is that the hotspot/peak intensity also moves to the right, and a good few degrees. So basically the road is lit with leftover light that normally is used only to illuminate roadside. Funnily enough, I found Valeo brochure that shows every AFS beam except Tourist Mode from page 68 onwards, likely because Tourist Mode is bad. 

 

Hence my request to post photo of wall 5m-10m away from the car, illuminated by AFS Bi-Xenons in Tourist Mode.

 

I drive 70%+ time across Europe at night, so would prefer good lights. True fllat beam as found on Mk1/Mk2 cars when you flicked the switch inside the headlamp was perfect, but Mk3 onwars seems to be Z-beam. And to make things worse, dealers call Z-beam a flat beam, which is nonsense.

Frankly, I find it appalling that we have to put up with inferior road lighting when abroad,  In my opinion, it has way more to do with keeping part markets separate than with any engineering issues, even old style xenons could have been made with 2 shutters, one for LHD and one for RHD. 

It seems I have to resurrect the thread and share my observations, now that I own a Mk3 vRS

 

Bi-xenon AFS HID headlights indeed dip down and to the right in Europe, and in my opinion are adequate abroad only if you aim them at the limit of UK MOT headlight aim spec and enable cornering lamps using VCDS or similar .

Without cornering lamps, I would frequently find a dark spot on the driver side when entering /exiting motorway on a tight bend and in other situations.  

At least on my vRS, you have to select left or right hand traffic in the car settings / lighting menu on the satnav.

Once back in the UK, they Bi-xenon AFS HIDs are excellent, though high beam again could be better on account of too much near field lighting (known feature of bi-xenon lights compared to dual headlight setups). 

 

Compared to projectors (set to flat beam) in Mk1 Superb and Mk1 (dual headight) Roomster, I find the AFS  bi-xenons slightly worse abroad, though in fairness, I am comparing stock AFS lights to flat-beam halogen projectors using uprated light sources (H7 HID and/or  H9/H7 Osram Super lamps boosted to 14.5V).