Hey, newbie here. I have recently discovered that some Fabia MkII headlights look different. I tried to investigate this but got lost among Xenon, HID, halogen, etc. and could not find useful info.

 

• Does anyone know what types of headlights the Fabia MkII comes with?
• How can I tell them apart?
• What are the pros and cons of each?

 

Thanks!

There's more heat than light when it comes to headlamp type advice:

 

Halogen = Can see in the dark.

 

Xenon, HID = Can see a bit more in the dark.

 

Mark 2's can come with either type depending on the model, if you live in town it's a moot point since you'll hardly ever use main beams although paradoxically townies seem much more hung up about headlamps than us country types.

Welcome to the forum.  Maybe you could say what year of Fabia you have and what name of model or trim it has.  There are pre facelift models and post face lift and there are different light types, with or without shutters.  

I actually don't have a Fabia, I'm currently looking at the market to buy my first car. I'd have budget for a MkII Fabia (year around 2009-2011, so probably pre-facelift.) And browsing through secondhand offers, I found headlights that look like this and others that look like this. Also, there are models with this, although I only saw it on facelifted models. I wonder what the difference is.

 

I have previously driven an Opel Astra G and a 20-ish-year-old BMW in the family, both had weaker than usual headlights, so other drivers regularly blinded me outside of residential areas, even with their high beams off. So I wondered if there is any practical difference between those types of headlights.

The red vRS you show has custom eye brow bits fitted, it has the same lights as the Blue vRS. These are pre Black pack.  They had 2 bulbs.  And the small blue sidelight bulb is dummy ones.  The DRL unit is the Sidelights as well, but lit dimmer. 

Edited 7 November, 20232 yr by Rooted

Oh, I didn't even notice the eyebrows. But I haven't only seen those refractors on vRS models, here is a non-vRS example.

I know nothing about the non vRS models and Shutters or anything else that other trims have. 

I have a 2009 Elegance and has lights similar to the red one. It has one bulb and a mechanical shutter to switch between high and low beam. For light intensity think candle in wet paper bag.

We have the projector lights and they are abysmal. I tried "brighter" halogen bulbs which did not improve lighting in the pitch black. I have tried a couple of LED bulbs and one got some improvement.

Technically they are illegal to be retrofitted in England but the car passed the MOT.

16 hours ago, 26DIPP said:

I have tried a couple of LED bulbs and one got some improvement.

Do you have details of the one that worked and any ideas why the one that didn't, didn't?

 

8 hours ago, MikeTheThinker said:

Do you have details of the one that worked and any ideas why the one that didn't, didn't?

 

Some LED lamps have very poor performance and others are excellent. That may well have been the issue. If the LED light source is not exactly in the right position in the manufactured lamp (not in the OEM unit) they perform very badly.

Edited 25 November, 20232 yr by Jocko

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354630002572?hash=item529198678c:g:ySkAAOSwe1VkBanJ&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAABAN%2Fkhn4a2H2rMkJh5g7ugj%2FKii4%2BhobmBDAOx4bfvyBW5Mhs9oqtZbQtd6gBXWkX4aWmoPVTknkd38r22JAwUctspKggEQdVTQXsNHsbbiE6KKXN9UCX9IdaOOi06uIhGCvRhxHrMSy2CHswjZrx3FanM5IXzDEYfUH4%2FzoSetw%2FwnP5hU8XR0ZuS3UYx7IKub2hUezIwTgW1V9tbebzrT6xqP96dX9e4jaRoK99J8VhJJjFUhz5m8jPvUjlpFnQkFO3EkujKgHgODgWV9KDDSq4n6swJZsBCiCH3ZcZoc1TWG5U0NyvQVPivKiEp5Rb1LzZHcgh9C%2BZqVEihqDNmTo%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR5i62dmBYw

 

These are the bulbs I have used and think they are better than H7 halogen.

They are not like LED headlights but provide better output and more even distribution. The light is bright white.

On 26/11/2023 at 21:53, 26DIPP said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354630002572?hash=item529198678c:g:ySkAAOSwe1VkBanJ&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAABAN%2Fkhn4a2H2rMkJh5g7ugj%2FKii4%2BhobmBDAOx4bfvyBW5Mhs9oqtZbQtd6gBXWkX4aWmoPVTknkd38r22JAwUctspKggEQdVTQXsNHsbbiE6KKXN9UCX9IdaOOi06uIhGCvRhxHrMSy2CHswjZrx3FanM5IXzDEYfUH4%2FzoSetw%2FwnP5hU8XR0ZuS3UYx7IKub2hUezIwTgW1V9tbebzrT6xqP96dX9e4jaRoK99J8VhJJjFUhz5m8jPvUjlpFnQkFO3EkujKgHgODgWV9KDDSq4n6swJZsBCiCH3ZcZoc1TWG5U0NyvQVPivKiEp5Rb1LzZHcgh9C%2BZqVEihqDNmTo%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR5i62dmBYw

 

These are the bulbs I have used and think they are better than H7 halogen.

They are not like LED headlights but provide better output and more even distribution. The light is bright white.

Thanks for that.  I've ordered some and we'll see how they compare.

So, I have bought a Fabia from 2011 (so MkII facelift), and it has non-projector halogen headlights. After driving it for a few days, I realized that the brightness of a halogen lamp really depends on the bulb and on how much the body has faded. Thus, for anyone worrying on the same thing - any headlight type will do just fine. Maybe you'll have to buy a more expensive bulb, though.

On 08/11/2023 at 13:06, Jocko said:

I have a 2009 Elegance and has lights similar to the red one. It has one bulb and a mechanical shutter to switch between high and low beam. For light intensity think candle in wet paper bag.

 

Jocko, I guess you could improve your brightness with an extra bulb. Those bodies should enclose two, it even says "bi-halogen".

On 20/12/2023 at 14:09, sfphoton said:

 

Jocko, I guess you could improve your brightness with an extra bulb. Those bodies should enclose two, it even says "bi-halogen".

The bi-halogen uses a single bulb for high and low beam, using a shutter to switch between them. There is no space in that housing for another bulb.

 

At least some vRS models got a unit with projector low beam and a separate reflector high beam but that was only on that model.