[whitetiger]

I've ordered the DS with just normal headlights... Just curious how easy it would be to fit the adaptive headlights after the car has been made? Are the plug n play or extra cables needed?

 

[philn]

The headlights move on motors so would doubt if you can fit them after build, see if you can change the spec as they are well worth the money. I also noticed tht you have ordered the rear entertainment I was under the impression that it isn't available now.

 

[whitetiger]

Yeah you are right it's not available now but Theres a local company that specialises in non invasive installation of Rosen rear entertainment only £1000 installed..

 

[DSport]

I have adaptive headlamps on my DS 2016 but I can't see them move. Dealer says that the movement is very subtle. I say non existent. I used to have them on my VW Phaeton and they were brilliant.

Should I be able to see an obvious movement?

 

[rcbjr2]

I have adaptive headlamps on my DS 2016 but I can't see them move. Dealer says that the movement is very subtle. I say non existent. I used to have them on my VW Phaeton and they were brilliant.

Should I be able to see an obvious movement?

Yes, you should be able to see some movement. They don't move too far left or right, but I can wiggle the steering wheel quickly either way and watch the lights move back and forth. I sometimes drive a winding road near my house just to check them out since I haven't had them before. ;-)

 

[Hawks]

I find the enhanced (kerbside) lighting at low speed more helpful.

 

[LDP]

I've had them on a previous Merc - pointless option in my opinion. :|

 

[Chazman88]

I've got the adaptive lights on my '15 plate HSE.

Very Subtle??????? I've no idea what the dealer is talking about, they move a huge amount, as much as they move (quite literally) from one side of the road to the other if necessary.

I do a lot of dark country lane driving and think they are fantastic. Would always order them from now on if they are available!

 

[DSport]

Chazman88.

Many thanks, I can now go back to the garage and ask them to test them properly instead of taking the word of the salesman.

 

[Hawks]

I've got the adaptive lights on my '15 plate HSE.

Very Subtle??????? I've no idea what the dealer is talking about, they move a huge amount, as much as they move (quite literally) from one side of the road to the other if necessary.

I do a lot of dark country lane driving and think they are fantastic. Would always order them from now on if they are available!

Are you sure your not seeing the low speed kerbside lights turning on and off, they are separate from the moving main lights.

 

[Chazman88]

Are you sure your not seeing the low speed kerbside lights turning on and off, they are separate from the moving main lights.

Nope, it's definitely the adaptive headlights. Driving down a lane I can atchually see the "focus" point of the main beam moving across the road when steering.

The kerbside lighting comes on and then nicely fades out when turning tightly, i.e round abouts, in and out of roads etc etc

 

[Hawks]

Are you sure your not seeing the low speed kerbside lights turning on and off, they are separate from the moving main lights.

Nope, it's definitely the adaptive headlights. Driving down a lane I can atchually see the "focus" point of the main beam moving across the road when steering.

The kerbside lighting comes on and then nicely fades out when turning tightly, i.e round abouts, in and out of roads etc etc

Ok cheers, I need to find an unlit road and check mine out on dipped and high beam, because as others have stated, l don't notice mine moving that much. My wife's Porsche Boxster, has a similar system, and they are brilliant, much better and more noticeable than my DS, you can clearly see the light beam turning ahead of the car, even on dipped lights.

 

[rtdf]

I had them and they moved a little bit. Nothing like the BMW which were really good. Jumped in a volvo with them after DS and again a noticeable improvement. Forgetting the adaptive part, With the BMW I noticed the Xenons would change the beam pattern if you put on front fogs or if your speed increased to a certain speed (increased range) but I didn't see that with the DS although it may do it.

 

[Hawks]

I had them and they moved a little bit. Nothing like the BMW which were really good. Jumped in a volvo with them after DS and again a noticeable improvement. Forgetting the adaptive part, With the BMW I noticed the Xenons would change the beam pattern if you put on front fogs or if your speed increased to a certain speed (increased range) but I didn't see that with the DS although it may do it.

Unfortunately How they work does vary manufacture to manufacture, some seem to simply automatically raise/lower and possibly change the light spread pattern if the rear or front fogs are turned on, where others also do various other things like following the steering, increase the dipped beam at motorway speed, provide additional kerbside lighting etc,
Also the light output/performance varies quite a bit between different Xenons systems, which I would of expected to be more consistent, at the end of the day its down to the discretion of the design team, and thats what you get, IMO the only function that I hate is automatic high beam, in fact in some circumstances it's dangerous, and on the DS, it's really poor, especially on duel carriageways where it's absolutely rubbish, and a real annoyance to other road users, so I always turn it off. Unfortunately my wife thinks it's cool, so after every time she drives it, to my annoyance I find it's back on again.
Edit: Hope that last statement hasn't started a Male/Female shared driving rant!!! For example, why does she have to take all my loose change, and leave chocolate wrappers in the door pockets etc.

 

[rtdf]

When I first had high beam assist on a BMW it was not good. Road signs would have it up and down and that was on the last of the previous 5s. When I had the F10 and prior to a facelift it was so much better and could be used reliably. So the DS was a step back in time for me to 2009 when it didn't work very well and I was surprised but at least on BMW it was a button and you didn't have to go into menus to turn on and off.

What I am impressed with on the BMW and the Volvo LED lights is the new (well it has been out a bit but costs) way to leave high beam up but the system then works out not to shine in the direction of oncoming cars or those that you are following.

Facelift Evoque can have LEDs I think I saw?

 

[BFGDSMan]

I had them and they moved a little bit. Nothing like the BMW which were really good. Jumped in a volvo with them after DS and again a noticeable improvement. Forgetting the adaptive part, With the BMW I noticed the Xenons would change the beam pattern if you put on front fogs or if your speed increased to a certain speed (increased range) but I didn't see that with the DS although it may do it.

BMW, Merc, VAG, Vauxhall adaptive use a couple of lenses to completly change the light pattern, keep it on full beam and block the light from blinding the car in front etc. The DS adaptive lights are very crude and about 10 years behind the technology curve (no pun intended). Upto about 20 mph a small led light lights up the corner you are turning into (based on use of an indicator or steering angle). After that then the physical headlight project swivel horizontally a little bit. I had this on my 2008 Ford Focus!

I had this system on my last RRE and it works fine, but in reality it makes little difference to night driving (apart from the slow speed corner light). Sadly this is another frustrating example of JLR being behind the premium product curve.......

 

[Hawks]

Are you sure your not seeing the low speed kerbside lights turning on and off, they are separate from the moving main lights.

Nope, it's definitely the adaptive headlights. Driving down a lane I can atchually see the "focus" point of the main beam moving across the road when steering.

The kerbside lighting comes on and then nicely fades out when turning tightly, i.e round abouts, in and out of roads etc etc

Ok cheers, I need to find an unlit road and check mine out on dipped and high beam, because as others have stated, l don't notice mine moving that much. My wife's Porsche Boxster, has a similar system, and they are brilliant, much better and more noticeable than my DS, you can clearly see the light beam turning ahead of the car, even on dipped lights.

Had a closer look at the cornering feature last night, on unlit country roads, and TBH they are a lot better than I first thought, the movement seems more on high beam, and less on dipped, which is probably why I haven't really noticed them move that much on lit roads.

 

[DSport]

The manual says that they only work on "low beam". Odd because I would have thought you would want them on high beam on country roads.

 

[Hawks]

The manual says that they only work on "low beam". Odd because I would have thought you would want them on high beam on country roads.

100% definitely they work on high/main beam, as far as I can work out they operate at about the same time as the kerbside lights stop functioning, which would make sense, it was a bit foggy, and I would have thought the lights would change the beam spread pattern when the fogs lights are turned on, but no change at all, also it still auto selects high beam, but is then very slow to react to approaching head lights, I have noticed that if you pull the lever back when auto high beam is actively on, it temporarily disables the auto feature, and the symbol in the dash goes out.

 

[philn]

The manual says that they only work on "low beam". Odd because I would have thought you would want them on high beam on country roads.

100% definitely they work on high/main beam, as far as I can work out they operate at about the same time as the kerbside lights stop functioning, which would make sense, it was a bit foggy, and I would have thought the lights would change the beam spread pattern when the fogs lights are turned on, but no change at all, also it still auto selects high beam, but is then very slow to react to approaching head lights, I have noticed that if you pull the lever back when auto high beam is actively on, it temporarily disables the auto feature, and the symbol in the dash goes out.

Handbook tells you to pull back lever to disable, problem is as soon as you select main beam again auto function is back on. In CRV you had to hold lever back through dipped position for a couple of seconds before auto high beam was selected, hold back again to deselect, no messing about in menus, much better in my opinion.