What are ya'll using ? Has anyone swapped out and upgraded stock lights & is there a factory HID option ?

 

There are three options from the factory.
Normal halogens
Xenon's (HID)
Adaptive Xenon's (HID that turns into the curves as you steer)

I went with Xenon's and couldn't be happier.

 

Do you have to change the housing for the Xenons ? Did you get them factory installed ?

 

I ordered from factory!
There have been quite a few threads on this topic. A more recent one...
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...non-xenon.html

 

Thanks 4 the quick info.

 

Do some reading on it. Not a fun upgrade and potentially very expensive but well worth it IMO.

 

If you haven't ordered your car yet, I would go with the Xenon lights... I have the adaptive Xenon headlights and they are the best lights I've ever seen in any car (tied with a Land Rover LR3 we used to have)

I also have the accessory driving lights... Those do make a difference when they are on, but nothing too major (they serve a purpose but I would say they are more for show)

Kyle

 

I'm an MA and have brought a retro fit from Halogen to HIDs up with our service manager. He said don't do a retrofit for a number of reasons. First, the cost of the whole headlight assembly from MINI is really expensive. But the real crux of the situation would be that there would be some significant software updates required and he wasn't even sure if BMW/MINI had them as a retrofit.
If going aftermarket, many of the ballasts are not very reliable and die in a year or less. There are good ones, but not many and tough to find.
Best is to go with factory/OEM HID setups. I have them and they are awesome.
Best of luck.