Are the LED option headlights worth £1750?

[Ocean Spirit]

Thank you for that! How come washers are a legal requirement? Seems a daft law if you dont need them with standard headlihhts.

I'm not entirely sure if it is still the case to be perfectly honest.
Nor am I completely sure of the figures but as far as I remember, any dirt on headlamps can cause more glare to oncoming traffic so headlamps producing over a certain lumen count (brighter lights) had to have them fitted to reduce the likely hood of blinding glare increased by dirt. Hence not so critical for lights with less lumen count (dimmer lights effective less glare).
The odd thing is getting your head around the fact that dirt increases glare.

 

[Gary&Heather]

If you want LEDs by then if you don't want LEDs don't buy them........simple

 

[MarkVw2017]

If you want LEDs by then if you don't want LEDs don't buy them........simple

Well its not that simple, i do want them (and iibet alot of people do) but £1750 is alot of momey so its nice to get some feedback from people who have them before we give our hard earned cash to VW

 

[SimonB]

Well its not that simple, i do want them (and iibet alot of people do) but £1750 is alot of momey so its nice to get some feedback from people who have them before we give our hard earned cash to VW

I volunteer on one of the heritage railways in Snowdonia, so go up to North Wales a lot. When it is dark in North Wales it is properly dark. You don't have the excess of street lights that we have in Bristol.
I am very grateful for the LED lights when I drive around in the evenings or early mornings. Apart from anything else, they enable you to see animals on the road that don't always move to safety and also any other obstacles in your way.
We like them and would probably spec them if we bought another car.

 

[Gary&Heather]

Well its not that simple, i do want them (and iibet alot of people do) but £1750 is alot of momey so its nice to get some feedback from people who have them before we give our hard earned cash to VW

I made it easy on myself I asked the boss and then I got permission.......

I just hope she doesn't find out......

 

[MarkVw2017]

I volunteer on one of the heritage railways in Snowdonia, so go up to North Wales a lot. When it is dark in North Wales it is properly dark. You don't have the excess of street lights that we have in Bristol.
I am very grateful for the LED lights when I drive around in the evenings or early mornings. Apart from anything else, they enable you to see animals on the road that don't always move to safety and also any other obstacles in your way.
We like them and would probably spec them if we bought another car.

I know where you mean, ive worked on most of them railways stations surveying, inc llanberis & pwllheli. Snowdonia, not a bad part of the world for volunteering and driving through!! And yes, when you leave the A55, you will be lucky to get any street lights, i defo agree with you there!!!

 

[GrannyJen]

I had Bi-Xenon's on my previous Cali. The same debate as with LED's now. Frankly after a few late night bad weather trips in the Scottish highlands I swore by them. The same for LED's now. I struggle to put a price on them so struggle to say whether they are worth that price or not.

For me I only need one bad night on a dark road and they are worth every penny.

 

[Ksar-el-kebir]

Just a quick poll as its a ridiculously priced option so a massive investment for me and suppose emany people so would like to hear from people who have paid it and people who have the standard lights and if you could order again, would have paid the £1750 for LED lights option??

I didn’t spec my California, it’s an ex demo. Didn’t reckon much to the headlights, standard H7s. I replaced them with GE 477 130%. Great!

 

[larrylamb]

I made it easy on myself I asked the boss and then I got permission.......

I just hope she doesn't find out......

Ha, my wife has just seen this thread, fainted then shrieked !*%+, how much?, have we got them?

 

[T6 CFO]

Ha, my wife has just seen this thread, fainted then shrieked !*%+, how much?, have we got them?

Less discount.

If the Cali cost £1750 more and the LEDs were standard would you buy it?




Mike

 

[Amarillo]

Less discount.

If the Cali cost £1750 more and the LEDs were standard would you buy it?

Good point.

Our LEDs were £1439 inc VAT and discount (MY16 prices).



Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[larrylamb]

Less discount.

If the Cali cost £1750 more and the LEDs were standard would you buy it?




Mike

Good point Mike, I think the affordability of a new Cali for ourselves is at tipping point. Cost has increased quite a lot in the 3 years since I bought a new T5, another 1700 quid on top just to include LED lights would make the cost to change too much. I like the VW configurator but an improvement for me would be to start with a proper base vehicle then be able to choose more options e.g. manual /electric roof /parking heater etc thus creating the Cali for you and your budget.
Our Cali is our 3rd vehicle for weekends, days out , holidays etc and we do very little night driving so Led lights whilst being very pretty and brighter are not a biggie for us over our H7 headlights.

 

[MarkVw2017]

Even though decided im not getting them, jist seen these original oem led headlights for £459 (per headlight). Have no idea how.micj they would cost to fit but thouhht they might be of interest to someone https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/183280439607

 

[Victor]

Modules plus fitting you will be getting close to the option price

 

[MarkVw2017]

Modules plus fitting you will be getting close to the option price

Thought it sounded good! But suppose it does give another argument getting them fittedat time of purchase via vw!

 

[WelshGas]

Even though decided im not getting them, jist seen these original oem led headlights for £459 (per headlight). Have no idea how.micj they would cost to fit but thouhht they might be of interest to someone https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/183280439607

If you read further down the description it says they are Bi-Xenon headlights.

 

[MarkVw2017]

If you read further down the description it says they are Bi-Xenon headlights.

My bad

 

[B J G]

I didn’t spec my California, it’s an ex demo. Didn’t reckon much to the headlights, standard H7s. I replaced them with GE 477 130%. Great!

I put Phillips racing +150% in the Cali but after reading a headlight upgrade bulb test the GE Megalight +130 came out top.
Bought a pair GE's for our Citroen and first impression is that they are better than the Phillips. About £22 for a pair of H7's

 

[MattBW]

Anyway, you can see the difference below (should be obvious). As you can see, the light is brighter and spreads wider (see either side of the pavement). Useful for dogs/kids on the way home from school in winter etc.

View attachment 35292

View attachment 35295

View attachment 35294

For me I am not sure they are brighter, just whiter, closer to a daylight colour temp than the warmer tungsten ones... There is more coverage on the left it seems close to the van. It could also just be the camera exposure making it look that way.

I could happily test the lumens with a light meter if I had one of each but to me they look similar just difference colour temperature

 

[MattBW]

These threads make me laugh, all the people who are against the LED lights are the people who have not got them. Haha If the LEDs fail its NOT the whole unit that needs to be replaced, the LED lights are made up of several parts and the LED module which houses the actual LEDs is less than £125

I love my LEDs they make driving at night safe, easy to change over when on the continent and best of all they look really cool

We have them on our other car and other than being whiter light I genuinely don't see the difference everyone claims. I do believe its just whiter light closer to daylight, which is probably also why it messes up my night vision more than a regular tungsten bulb but also why people perceive it as brighter.

Does seem if you get dazzled these days it will be a LED headlight doing it.

The ease of change for europe is a great feature, and I do fancy LED upgrade for my beach but I certainly wont get the VW ones. I want them purely because they look good nothing more.

 

[B J G]

If VW put a proper LED DRLs with the Halogen lights I'm sure most would be happy with that and not want the expensive LED headlight option.

Probably a marketing issue to do with bling.

Must admit to feeling 'better' driving around with LED DRL's now that I've upgraded to LED bulbs from the dim standard ones on the H7 light units. And I've still got about £1,700 left to spend.

 

[Moakesy]

For me I am not sure they are brighter, just whiter, closer to a daylight colour temp than the warmer tungsten ones... There is more coverage on the left it seems close to the van. It could also just be the camera exposure making it look that way.

I could happily test the lumens with a light meter if I had one of each but to me they look similar just difference colour temperature

The white balance on the camera does a pretty good job, it's virtually how you'd see it in real life. I agree that the colour temperature is definitely different, one is yellow light, one is white light.

Standard bulbs in the Ocean light up the road ahead perfectly well (can't speak for the H4's in a standard Beach), the LED's coverage goes a bit further and quite a bit wider.

With the LED's, more of the left and right hand side are lit up, as is further ahead (so if standard bulbs light up X meters, LED's might be more like X+5 meters). Worth noting that on high sided country lanes, having more reach on L&R hand-side makes no difference. It's high sided so there is nothing to see but mud or bushes. However, if you are driving on an open road (moorland, the fens or a campsite) then it helps to have the wider reach.

Having driven them both back to back within minutes on the same night (to make the video) I came to the conclusion that the choice is between 'Good' and 'Better'. Can't speak on the H4's though.

It comes down to your own personal view of what makes an item worth the price....I'd never consider spending £10k+ on a Vertu phone, but people did. Not enough of them in the end....but some did.

 

[Sandyvan]

Not read through the whole thread so sorry if duplicated. No their not worth the cash but yes are better than standard. For a flagship vehicle they should be standard equipment. Our first Cali had standard lights which were ok, having said that did not drive at night much, our T6 has the LED head lights which are great and can be switched over to continental driving from the steering wheel. Disadvantage is you cant get the lens protectors as per standard lights. Heaven knows how much a replacement is if holed by a stone.

 

[Legin]

I havent read everything but I recall a friend commenting that the LEDs had one major issue in cold weather that being they dont get hot. This was an issue in depth of winter as ice tc just built up on the lense giving him real vision issues.
Anyone else experienced this ? LED nice but not for me even at half that price.

 

[WelshGas]

I havent read everything but I recall a friend commenting that the LEDs had one major issue in cold weather that being they dont get hot. This was an issue in depth of winter as ice tc just built up on the lense giving him real vision issues.
Anyone else experienced this ? LED nice but not for me even at half that price.

A friend had this problem last winter. Had to spray a de-icing fluid on the lenses as ice would form when driving. Not a California but LED headlights.