LED Headlights?

[audio2]

Just noticed all the comments about how poor the standard headlights are. Is this still the same on the latest Ocean? Just spoken to my dealer who stated "there is a difference BUT the original headlights do the job." He also said it was not too late to add them to the order.

Do not want to pay an additional £1500, but aim to keep the vehicle for some time. I have had a car a long while ago with poor headlights & I would not want a similar experience. My BMW 5 series has ordinary headlights & are more than adequate, are theOceans a lot worst?

 

[cundf]

It’s like day and night!
In my opinion it’s a must

 

[SimonB]

There have been a few threads on this recently, have a look at other people's views;
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/led-lights-worth-the-extra.16738/
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/im-getting-flashed-and-not-in-a-good-way-either.13777/

I have them on my demonstrator Cali and I am very impressed by them. It is a white light as opposed to the yellowish light from my previous Cali.
I am however not impressed by the light assist that dips your lights automatically. It doesn't dip them fast enough to avoid dazzling oncoming drivers for a second or so and it doesn't put them up again fast enough either. There is a long list in the manual about what can confuse the sensor, from road signs, to rain, to hedges, etc. Whilst a person can do it faster an more accurately that is one assist too many for me.
Hope this helps
Simon

 

[daveyboydanger]

Just noticed all the comments about how poor the standard headlights are. Is this still the same on the latest Ocean? Just spoken to my dealer who stated "there is a difference BUT the original headlights do the job." He also said it was not too late to add them to the order.

Do not want to pay an additional £1500, but aim to keep the vehicle for some time. I have had a car a long while ago with poor headlights & I would not want a similar experience. My BMW 5 series has ordinary headlights & are more than adequate, are theOceans a lot worst?

If I could reorder I’d totally go for the LED.
the standard lights on ocean are ok (and way better than the H4 beach lights - I have the exterior pack which upgrades my lights to H7 lights like the ocean).
If you’re keeping for a while then you’ll def get your money worth out of the led upgrade. Plus they look really cool!

 

[T6 CFO]

I thought long and hard on the LED lights and glad I went for them.

Mike


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Wongo]

Yep one of the things I believe is a must have, I had H4’s on my Bilbos Conversion, hopeless unless street lighting is adequate.

Agree about the High Beam Assist though.

LED Worth the money

 

[Ady77]

Not having LED headlamps is my biggest regret on spec, I have tried various aftermarket bulbs and most are pants.

If you are keeping the van I would go for LED's, its a no brainer

 

[Jonathan Duke]

The standard headlights on the Ocean, are much better than the standard on the Beach. I added the "exterior pack" to my Beach, which includes an upgrade to the standard Ocean spec headlights.

I find these adequate, but would add the LED headlights if I could afford to and ordering again, as I'm sure they are even better.

But for comparison from sdtandard Beach to standard Ocean, yes there is a noticeable improvement.

 

[mccp]

I've followed a lot of the threads on LEDs and I think that you could summarise the situation as:

Standard Beach (H4) - everyone thinks these are pants.
Standard Ocean (or Beach+exterior pack) (H7) - views range from adequate to OK, but some would prefer LEDs.
LEDs - very good, but some get flashed at by oncoming drivers.

I haven't ordered LEDs on our new Ocean. I think that they are expensive and we probably don't do enough rural night-time driving for LEDs to be worth it.

 

[GrannyJen]

i have gone from bi-xenon to LED on Albert 2.

I really do like to see what I am hitting

 

[audio2]

Thanks for all your comments, as we live in a village, no street lights, decided to amend the order to include led headlights.

 

[blondebier]

Standard Beach (H4) - everyone thinks these are pants.

It's all relative. I guess it depends what you are comparing them to...

I came from a MX-5 MK1 with pop up headlights. In comparison the standard beach headlights were like floodlights mounted on the front.

I did also have the front cornering fog lights and was suitably impressed with the illumination.

Compared with the LEDs on our Golf GTE, yes, they aren't as good.

The standard headlights are still perfectly fine and do the job well IMO.

You've also got to factor in the amount of night time driving you'll be doing. For those of us that aren't using the Cali as a daily driver it becomes even less of an issue.

 

[Mark Garrett]

I went for them & was so glad that I did - especially as the nights have drawn in and my commute takes me on country roads.

The DRL (daytime running lights) also look cool !

It depends on what amount of night driving you expect to do, but every passenger who has been onboard during night driving has commented on how well they light the road...

 

[WelshGas]

More light - Higher Speed - more risks.

Standard lights are more than adequate and cheaper to replace.

 

[SimonB]

Look at this thread to see the lighting from LED headlights
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/4-day-hire-and-some-observations.21516/ look at the first picture of the cattle on the road caught in the headlights. I'm pretty sure that is taken using LED headlights.

 

[WillSS]

More light - Higher Speed - more risks.

Standard lights are more than adequate and cheaper to replace.

you're right WG, we should all drive at 20mph as we can't see properly thanks to VW profiteering over safety.

Never had a problem with our 2012 SE but couldn't believe how poor the standard Beach H4 ones are.
When we first got on a motorway my other half was convinced we only had the side lights working as the van was casting shadows by everything coming from behind!
I tend to put the front fogs on in the unlit lanes now and that gets it back to something verging normal.
I'm sure the Ocean H7s are adequate but the Beach lights are a joke.

 

[WelshGas]

you're right WG, we should all drive at 20mph as we can't see properly thanks to VW profiteering over safety.

Never had a problem with our 2012 SE but couldn't believe how poor the standard Beach H4 ones are.
When we first got on a motorway my other half was convinced we only had the side lights working as the van was casting shadows by everything coming from behind!
I tend to put the front fogs on in the unlit lanes now and that gets it back to something verging normal.
I'm sure the Ocean H7s are adequate but the Beach lights are a joke.

We were talking about the Ocean, NOT the Beach. I have no personal knowledge of the Beach, but there are upgraded bulbs you can try if they are not good enough for you.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/35970/bulb-test-h4-blue

 

[Ocean Spirit]

I asked a similar question to this a while back.
Ultimately, if it's not at the sacrifice of other options nor the final straw that breaks the financial camels back then great...do it!!
But if money or dropping some other options comes in to it have confidence. H7's do the job well enough and LED's do it better, that seems to be the consensus.
I went without to allow me to get stuff I'll use more or appreciate more often. If I felt H7's were not up to the job I would have swapped my options around a bit. But it's not just LED's I had to compromise on so no point in dwelling on it.

 

[bec2557]

I hired an Ocean with standard headlights and drove on dark roads up the NE of Scotland and I thought they were poor - very happy with the LED's on my new Ocean especially with the high beam assist however they are an expensive option ( shame on VW )

 

[WillSS]

as posted earlier here's Westfalia's subtle solution to boost the standard lighting...

 

[B J G]

I see that you have gone LED but my findings on Ocean are that after having a BMW with active Bi-Zenon lights the Cali was poor especially on dip.
I put Phillips Racing 150% bulbs in and a definite improvement.
What I now find is that the headlights have a very acute cut off in dip, good lighting up close but no light in front of that., even cats eyes give no reflection. More of a problem when Continental driving.

I couldn't justify the LED price at the time but now would make a few more moths homeless and empty my wallet.

 

[westfalia]

So if you really want to see anything with your headlights whilst driving in the dark, it´ll cost
an extra 1500 quid.? ffs.

Nice marketing by vw.
Why aren´t they all fitted with the same lights.

Whats next, seatbelts , airbag upgrade ? roof rust upgrade ?

Imagine selling it in 20yrs time,
It´s a good runner but you´ll need one of them led torches if you want to
drive it at night. And bye the way, if you have any problems don´t go
to vw. They didn´t have a clue when it was new so you´ve no chance
now.

 

[Borris]

Having owned a T5 SE and a T6 Beach at the same time, I can tell you that I found the standard headlights on the SE to be fine whilst the standard lights on the beach are hopeless. I have recently changed the Beach bulbs to fancy pants Phillips racing ones. Whilst better they still aren't good but just slightly better.
When I buy our next Cali the LEDs will definately be a must have option.

 

[frenchie]

well I must say that I like a good headlight. and was a little bit put off after reading all the posts about poor headlights. however on the drive back from Scotland at night in the rain, I found that the ocean lights are not too bad, yes they are a bit yellow, but I don't think that the sky high price of the LED,s are worth the money and I drive a lot at night. mine you in Europe I mainly drive on tipped bean anyway or I am always being flashed. The headlights on the Mercedes Marco polo are way better then the VW range of headlights and its a pity that VW just want so much to improve what is a basic van. F

 

[B J G]

So if you really want to see anything with your headlights whilst driving in the dark, it´ll cost
an extra 1500 quid.? ffs.

Nice marketing by vw.
Why aren´t they all fitted with the same lights.

Whats next, seatbelts , airbag upgrade ? roof rust upgrade ?

Imagine selling it in 20yrs time,
It´s a good runner but you´ll need one of them led torches if you want to
drive it at night. And bye the way, if you have any problems don´t go
to vw. They didn´t have a clue when it was new so you´ve no chance
now.

LED headlights also have a washer system and auto levelling, can be slight delay on bumps which is why you get flashed by on coming drivers. Plus taxes added.

Still about £700 to £900 over priced.

Put led's on the rear as standard so why not on the front? Even the DRL's aren't LED when most cars now have led ones.
I thought that the 2018 model would have leds.