I'm a little perturbed about the DRL functioning (xenon equipped cars), I mean they are not really DRLs they just keep the headlights on, which is actually the setting if you just keep the headlights on (position 2 in the manual). It also basically negates the auto headlight function if you got that. I'm not one who worries a lot about wear and tear, and always considered DRLs a great safety feature (that should be standard here in the US) but considering the price of the xenon bulbs to replace, it seems a waste of money to have your headlights on all the time for safety. So I'm keeping them off.

 

My Clubman is still running 4 years on with it's original xenon bulbs, in Norway your headlights are always on unless your car had DRL's. I've never heard of anyone having to replace the xenons, they should last at least 3000 hours which is a hell of a lot of driving. Turning them on and off all the time will decrease the lifespan of the bulb, if you leave them on they will last a lot longer.

 

JudgeS, I agree, I do not like the like of flexibility. I am working on NCSExpert to try to find the right settings to adjust it. I'll keep you updated if I find a fix.

 

You can turn DRL's off right?

 

Yes. And I belive that if you keep pushing buttons and whacking at the joy stick, you can get deep enough in the program's youification to change your name and file your taxes, too.

Sealy - Who's still trying to figure out PO.

 

The other feature with the headlights I find a little strange is that if you have the adaptive headlights, they have to be in position 3 to work, otherwise your headlights are in non adaptive mode. I will have to adapt to this myself.

 

On my '05 (Halogen) the DRL's were on at a reduced brightness.
I have Halogens on my CM and the DRL's are also full on, I would also prefer them to be dimmer.

I think on my 05 the high beam was used for the DRL at 1/2 voltage...

The way it is now I might as well just leave the headlights on all the time...

 

Had to replace them at around 4 years 60K on my Audi allroad, thats with no DRLs, so only on at night. Only car I've ever had them on before this car.

 

OK ... Dumb question here ... What is position 3? Is that auto mode?

 

Yea if you go by the manual, up once (parking lights) is position 1, up twice (headlights) position 2, down once (auto headlights) position 3.

 

MINI took the easy/cheap way out for the 2nd gen. Halogen bulbs are dimmable but xenons are not. When bi-xenons were introduced in the 2nd gen, they simply turned on the regular low beams instead of installing separate DRLs, and made it operate the same even for the base halogen headlights.

 

This is how VW does it too. When I had my GTI the xenons were always on. It bothered me at first but I just dealt with it. What really annoyed me was that there was another set of halogen lights right next to the xenons that only worked when you "flashed to pass". You would think that VW would have used those for the DRLs