Russr,

Cant you have those upgraded at the dealer after the car comes in, it might be a few hundred dollars more, but I would gladly pay that rather then wait another 2 months. Initially I didn't think the Xenons were that big of a deal on my test drive, they looked nice and were definitely brighter then the halogens, but I've had my MCS for a month now and the other night I drove my Nissan Armada for the first time since getting the Mini, and Wow, what a difference!! I thought too myself, how did I ever get by without the Xenons, they were so much brighter and a more natural looking light, everything has much more definition at night. I think they got the light just right, not too much blue or yellow, it's very clean looking.

 

thanks for the comments, i don't think they can be added at the dealer or even the VDC. I should find out though. I bet they wouldn't be as good as the factory job.

I still don't get the leveling...they start pointing down and then when do they point up?

 

Within about 5 seconds. And they're not really pointed down so much as lower than normal driving position. By the time you've got it in gear, they're ready to go.

 

I think it comes as the whole light assembly, not just the bulbs, so I would imagine that it would be just as good as factory. They must be available, I mean what happens to people who get into an accident and destroy their headlight. My guess is that they are probably close to $400 each, but that is just a guess.

It's actually a mandatory EU standard, this article may help:
Beginning in the 1970s, Germany and some other European countries began requiring remote-control headlamp levelling systems that permit the driver to lower the lamps' aim by means of a dashboard control lever or **** if the rear of the vehicle is weighted down with passengers or cargo, which would tend to raise the lamps' aim angle and create glare. Such systems typically use stepper motors at the headlamp and a rotary switch on the dash marked "0", "1", "2", "3" for different beam heights, "0" being the "normal" (and highest) position for when the car is lightly loaded. Internationalized ECE Regulation 48, in force in most of the world outside North America, currently requires such systems on all vehicles. The regulation stipulates a more stringent version of this antiglare measure for vehicles equipped with headlamp bulbs producing more than 2,000 lumens, such as Xenon headlamps; such vehicles must be equipped with headlamp self-levelling systems that sense the vehicle's degree of squat due to cargo load and road inclination, and automatically adjust the headlamps' vertical aim to keep the beam correctly oriented without any action required by the driver.

 

Don't know about the MINI, but on my BMW just the igniters alone are $400 each. That's not assemblies, etc.

 

minicobra1, thanks that was a great explanation of the leveling.
Do u know what kind of life I can expect from these xenons? 3 yrs? 5 yrs? or longer than that? Cuz otherwise, these might be expensive to replace just as normal maintenance.

 

The HID bulbs are good generally for several thousand hours of operation. I've read where most D2S bulbs last around 2000-3000 hours. The bulbs cost around $100 for OEM replacements. You would probably pay that in halogen bulb replacements over the life of a HID bulb.

I owned my Evo with HID lighting for almost 4 years and I never had any problems from them.

 

Event-Horizon, 2000-3000 hours of operation comes out to how many years of owning the car? I've had regular halogen headlights last more than 10 years and they are dirt cheap to replace. If a Xenon lasts 10 years also, then it is clearly worth it, however if it needs to be replaced every 3-4 years, halogens would be cheaper.

 

My brother has a 2001 Mercedes E320, and he has NEVER had to replace his Xenon Headlamps. But for his tailamps, his had to replace it several times already. Also, Xenons use less electricity than Halogen, once the lights are on.

The other post referring to self leveling. When you turn on the headlamps, they will point down and then will rise up to the automatic leveled position. If you drive where you might see deer, then I would definitely recommend the Xenons. They are very bright and will help you see more clearly, because the light more closely resembles the natural light of the sun. Also they reach further, specially when you have the high beams on. They are about twice as far reaching as the halogen lights on my Toyota Corolla.

 

I dunno- I love and hate the xenons. I love them when they are on bright. I hate them on dim. They have a very sharp end to the light, and I cannot see past it. So, deer, dogs, pedestrians- when my lights are on the lower setting, I don't see 'em. In my Altima, I can see far on down the road even on the lower setting. In the MINI, I feel like I am seriously overdriving my headlights, even at only 40 mph. I'm not sure what I am going to do on the interstate.

Maybe my lights are adjusted too low? How do you know (without driving 3.5 hrs to the dealership) and how do you adjust?

 

Minerva, that's what mine looked like when I first got the car. Definitely had to adjust upward, and I'm happy now.

I'll second byhsu's post. Our '01 BMW is on original xenons.

 

I have Xenons and I love them but I would never re-order for a different set of headlights. Forget about upgrading to factory Xenons it would cost you at least 2K. If I orded a car with the stanard halogens and needed more light for country driving I would get the driving lights.

 

working at a dealership, I can tell you it's very rare to see xenon's to burn out & extremely rare to see them burn out while the car's still in it's ~4yr warranty period (during which the xenons are covered) ...
odds are you should have the car completely paid off before you can expect any chance of having to buy replacement bulbs. Knowing what a difference they make and how expensive every other wearable/breakable part of the car is, it's pretty easy to justify the expense.
If you can't afford to replace the headlight bulbs, I suggest you buy a kia or a hyundai instead of a car built by bmw.

 

I have a MCs with Xenon's and I wish the DRL's when on only activated the headlamps and not all the tail lights etc but can't be too choosey.