[PrinceA5]

Hi ya all ..
I have my car (A5 1.8) for a couple of days now. The car is *supposed* to have xenon adaptive lights. The dealer told my so. The bad thing is that I cant confirm that myself. I mean ... I drive the car at night in curves but I cant detect any movement in the light beam. The lights are definetely xenon but it seems that there are not adaptive and that I am fooled by the dealer. I would be very greatful if someone pointed the differences in apearance between a xenon light and an adaptive xenon light so I can finally clear that thing out. Pictures of both types would be very helpfull for my case. Although I 've noticed o bulb in each light that I cant turn on myself (so there is a chance it turns itself on automatically in curves), I cant be 100% sure that THIS is the bulb that make the lights adaptive. Thank you all in advance! Besides that worry my car is the single most beautiful thing I have ever had in my possesion.

ps. Dont advise me to drive the car at night in order to see if it has adaptive lights.....I ve already done that! No clue.

 

[scratch113]

PrinceA5,

It does depend on where you were driving at night - you won't notice anything if you are driving at night in town, on a well-lit road or following other traffic. You need to get out into the countryside and drive down a twisty, unlit road, with nobody in front of you. If you've got adaptive lights then you will definitely notice as the movement is very sensitive to any steering input and is also speed sensitive.

Try driving as described above and find a straight bit of road. If you then 'wobble' the steering wheel just a bit, the car will weave a little (be careful with this though) and the movement should be crystal clear. If you still can't detect anything then you probably just have the standard Xenon lights.

I'm afraid I can't offer any further advice, although I would think there is someone out there who can give you the technical difference if you look at the back of the light units.

 

[JSC]

You can also tell if you have the adaptive xenons when you turn on your headlights. The adaptive lights sweep left and right, as well as up and down, where the "regular" xenons sweep up and down only.

 

[Quattrophenia]

You should definately be able to tell whether they're adaptive or not... As stated before you need to get out of town and be over a certain speed (either 30 or 40 mph I think?)....

 

[PrinceA5]

Thanks for all your quick replies fellas..
Well I guess I 'll give it another try an a dark curly road to see if I can get a clue.
I will post a closeup pic of my headlights later so that you can comment if it is the same lights as yours (adaptive or not).
Jsc, I havent noticed a movement left or right when I opened the lights but again I didnt paid much attention to it. I ll check it tonight.

 

[S5France]

You can also tell if you have the adaptive xenons when you turn on your headlights. The adaptive lights sweep left and right, as well as up and down, where the "regular" xenons sweep up and down only.

Are you sure of this? Mine has adaptive lights (or at least is supposed to) and doesn't do this - just up and down - can you possibly post a video of this?

Tks

 

[Serdinya]

I also have adaptive lights (supposedly) - they only sweep up and down when I turn the lights on.

 

[wrx_xb9r]

My adaptive lights sweep up/ down on startup. No side to side. The side to side movement starts ~6-8 mph. (It is in the owners manual).

I can easily see my light working back and forth while wiggling the steering wheel at 15-20 mph in my subdivision at night. Any fairly dark area should work well for testing this.

 

[TXcarguy]

I can easily see my light working back and forth while wiggling the steering wheel at 15-20 mph in my subdivision at night. Any fairly dark area should work well for testing this.

I can confirm the same. I did the exact same test last night in my subdivision after getting my car yesterday, and I was definitely able to see the light beam move when turning the steering wheel even slightly.

 

[Need4S5]

On a dark road if you turn your brights on wiggle the wheel back and forth
you'll notice it.

 

[PrinceA5]

I drove the car at night on a curly road to see if it has those adaptive lights but unfortunately it seemed that they are the standard xenons. I even had my bro in law in to help me out. I also drove the car in an empty parking lot wiggling the wheel left and right but again there seemed to be no movement. Unless the movement of the beam is really subtle and barely noticable, I can say that, despite what the dealer stated, the car has not adaptive lights. I paid a good 500 Euros for that characteristic alone and I can assure you that here in Greece you cant just pass that kind of money. Damn.

As far as the up/down movement of the beam is considered, that happens because every time you turn the ignition on the height of the beam is adjusted automatically according to the current weight (front/back) distribution of the car. I believe it has nothing to do with the lights being adaptive, neither can it prove the existence or not of this characteristic.

Thank you all for your input.

 

[Quattrophenia]

I think the adaptive lights only work after hitting a certain speed (I think) so your experiment wouldn't work in the car park anyway...

Why don't you look in the owners manual and get the option codes and get the dealer to check for you.

 

[Plob]

Hi all
I have adaptive lights and it is fairly obvious when you see them in operation. You have to be moving (as someone else said - over around 6-8mph) in order for them to work but they are quite 'active'. By that I mean that they move quite a bit in response to steering wheel movement.
I also think it would be sensible to find out what the option code is and see if they are on the vehicle sticker in your car to see if they are fitted.

Whilst I'm on the subject, I have a couple of other questions regarding the headlights:-
1) When I go over a bump or uneven surface, I can see the headlight beam wobble as if something is loose - but I can't see anything obviously loose on the car. This is something I haven't seen since I was a boy racer back in the 1930's and had loosely fitting spotlights attached to the bumper
Had anyone else noticed this behaviour?
2) The headlight aim seems very low to me. The beams seem to focus on a spot around 25-30 feet in front of the car at all times - rendering all that lovely xenon light pretty much useless. As an example, headlights in other cars I have driven pick up the reflective tape on hi-vis jackets or on the back on ambulances/police cars quite well but my A5 lights completely miss them unless I hit a big bump. The lights do move (auto level) on startup but they never seem to go high enough for my liking. Driving on unlit roads at anything over about 40mph can be quite daunting. Has anyone else noticed this?

Cheers
Plob
(2500 miles in 6 weeks and still loving my new car)

 

[TXcarguy]

1) When I go over a bump or uneven surface, I can see the headlight beam wobble as if something is loose - but I can't see anything obviously loose on the car. This is something I haven't seen since I was a boy racer back in the 1930's and had loosely fitting spotlights attached to the bumper
Had anyone else noticed this behaviour?

I noticed that too.

 

[Quattrophenia]

My adaptive lights appear to wobble a little on very uneven rutted road surface - must be because they are not fixed.

With regard to the distance of the beam - when you increase your speed the headlights automatically adjust to both steering input (left/right) but also up and down under acceleration and breaking. The beam increases in distance the faster you go.

 

[Plob]

My adaptive lights appear to wobble a little on very uneven rutted road surface - must be because they are not fixed.


With regard to the distance of the beam - when you increase your speed the headlights automatically adjust to both steering input (left/right) but also up and down under acceleration and breaking. The beam increases in distance the faster you go.

Thanks folks
Regarding the wobble, I've driven other cars with adaptive lights and they don't wobble. Also, they need to move up and down even without the adaptive option (auto levelling).

The beam on my lights appears fixed. If I'm on the motorway doing 70 they appear to focus at exactly the same range as they were at when I'm stationary. This is why its pretty dicey on unlit roads...

Anyone else got any experiences with this? I'm wondering if there is a problem with mine.
I will say that the headlights seem to be the weak spot on my car. I hate to make a controversial statement but I'd rather have the adaptive xenon headlights from my old Vauxhall Vectra - they make the Audi units seem like candles behind a draughty window

Cheers
Plob

 

[Vin]

the adaptive lights work between 10-110km/h. they suppoased raise a bit higher at 110km/h during motorway driving.

 

[scratch113]

PrinceA5,

The easiest way to check for sure is to check the list of optional equipment codes printed on the sticker inside the front cover of your service schedule (section 5 on this sticker). The code for adaptive lights is 8Q5 - if this is listed amongst your codes then you have the adaptive lights fitted. If they're not doing anything, then it's time to go back to your dealer to get them sorted. If you don't have that code, then maybe it's back to your dealer for a refund for something he charged you for and didn't deliver...

 

[YelloJello]

Just thought I'd post a video of them in use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_rO8BkmO-s

And starting up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51HnOJaVF74