[Sommos]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

Also in rainy season i have found that trick is to set the headlight to position 2 and switch to highbeam,so lights are adequate for me,though an upgrade is on cards,probably a projector set up with HID for the oomph factor.

Thanks Akshay. I actually tried your technique for a couple of days and found the combined light was well sufficient even in the rainy conditions. But the flip side is I can do it sometimes within the city but not always, others will start glaring at me.

Thinking of upgrading the low beam to Philips extreme vision or Osram night breaker.

[aqualeo2040]

I did not find the Punto's Headlight bad. However, I liked it more after upgrading to Osram NBs.

The Spark too had decent spread, specially the Fog lamps. However, educated blinds and Colin McRaes in Indicas on Outer Ring Road driving with high beams forced me to upgrade it to a 100/90 set up.

I love the headlight spread of the Palio Stile as well. Very decent spread.

I think if we consider stock setups, the worst affected are the ones which were victims of cost cutting i.e. Fabia (moved from Projector Setup which I loved to that single reflector), Polo (internationally sold as a twin barrel setup, cost cutting got it) and their elder siblings Rapid & Vento.

To put things in perspective, I was driving our Rapid on the Vidyasagar Setu (famous Calcutta Landmark) and was probably doing 60kmph. I could not see the long rumblestrip which shook up every one inside the car! Never had such a problem with my 2005 Zen VXi or any of my other rides!

[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by punto_

I recently drove polo at night and felt the stock headlamps are very weak... I would like the owners to comment on this.

I agree. After changing to Philips X-treme vision (same rating as stock), it has generally improved. Stock Fog lamp is not a problem - Has good lateral spread.

Now, I can comfortably drive at 80 - 100 Kmph with my headlight + foglight on. This I think is good enough.

Originally Posted by aqualeo2040

I think if we consider stock setups, the worst affected are the ones which were victims of cost cutting i.e. Fabia (moved from Projector Setup which I loved to that single reflector), Polo (internationally sold as a twin barrel setup, cost cutting got it) and their elder siblings Rapid & Vento.

Fabia's projector setup was awesome! Also, Skoda did a lot on cost-cutting other than the headlights. Present Fabia is a step down when compared to it's predecessor, in terms of build quality...

[carwatcher]

Yesterday evening when I was driving back home overtook a Linea and when viewed in IVRM the Fog lights were glowing much much more than the headlamps when viewed from a distance of 100 mts or 1 Km. So much so that among all the cars one can easily notice which one is Linea. So it reaffirms that Linea Low Beams are not good.

[torquecurve]

Originally Posted by coolboy007

The low beam for most cars nowadays is very poor, Linea included but high beam with fog lamps pretty much makes up for it and as for going on high beams inside city, yes its a wrong practice but i will prefer my and my family's safety first than worrying about other motorists (90% of whom switch on high beams just after starting their cars).

I don't mean to chide you or sound like a teacher but I find this sentence wrong, please don't misunderstand me.

"An Eye for an eye and very soon the whole world will be blind". Why do 90% of motorists switch to high beam- because informed people like you and me do it. You are as responsible for the other motorists on the road as you are responsible for yourself. This is the basic rule of defensive driving.


I almost never drive with high beams on in the city as our speeds are limited to 60 kmph and at most times average about 40 kmph, where your stopping distance should be about 25-30 metres which I feel is where we do have illumination with Low beam as well.

In the city, road illumination is decent and low beam tends to actually give best results. Drive safe, follow the rules and yes, your family will be safe if you drive defensively.

Originally Posted by Deep Blue

The illumination is reasonable only when the stalk is held in a position between low beam and high beam. But it is impossible hold the stalk in the inbetween position continously in single carriageway highways with vehicles continuously
coming from the opposite side. I hope the new Figo will have better headlamps.

Dont do this too often. The bulbs that almost all single reflector type lights have is H4 which is a twin filament bulb. What you are doing is flashing, this will light up both filaments and if done for extended periods can easily overload the wiring.
Why not add a pair of Auxillary lamps, this will help extend the reach of the light.

I find that most of us are not happy with the cars that have a single bulb/single reflector setup. the reason being that these lamps have a H4 bulb (typically). The H4 has a plate between the filaments for the low/ high beam. When on low, the plate also acts as a cutoff for light, but affects visibility as focussing is based on lower reflector only. The high beam on the other hand has a low end cutoff which tends to give a "dark patch" right in front of the car.

Most cars with double headlamps (mine included) have better lighting as the reflectors and lamps are separated by internal margins. On mine the high beam lights up both, low and high beam giving both near and far vision with minimal blind patches.

We need some legislation changes to enforce better lighting. H4 is an outdated technology system.

[mempheS.D]

Originally Posted by Chethan B G

Fabia's projector setup was awesome! Also, Skoda did a lot on cost-cutting other than the headlights. Present Fabia is a step down when compared to it's predecessor, in terms of build quality...

I do not consider this a personal attack at all so I hope you don't mind me raising a flag here since I tend to disagree with the statement.

True - The present gen Fabia is a product after a lot of cost-cutting. A lot. The armrest is gone. The sunroof is gone. The hydraulic steering is gone (I think! Not sure. At present, there's an electro-hydraulic.) The projector lamp is gone. No height adjust for front passenger seat. No rear defogger. That's a list! Thankfully the tire upgrade from Matador to Apollo Accelere was a good one.

False - The present gen Fabia is NOT a step down in terms of build quality in comparison to the old gen. Skoda shaved closed to 1.5 lakhs off the old gen by minimizing luxury but did not compromise on build quality AFAIK. Can you cite an example for me that can help flatten out my misunderstanding if in case?

[drpullockaran]

Originally Posted by recshenoy

Hi All,

I have recently bought Figo and headlights are simply horrible. Many times I feel that I am going with a candle against pitch darkness, and when there us vehicle in high beam, I really struggle to find road ahead.

The Figo, Vento and i10 have headlight assembly specifically for near field vision. You could say they are some what like souped up fog lamps placed higher up. Your best option is to install Hella 500 or preferably far reaching spot lamps in the present position of the fog lamps or as you called it the bumper lamps. You would have to remove the bumper assembly and give it to your innovative mechanic to install the after market lamps. Remember you need far reaching spots and not another set of driving lamps or also called Euro beams. The present lamps are excellent for near vision or when driving in the fog with the right bulbs.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by Sommos

Thanks Akshay. I actually tried your technique for a couple of days and found the combined light was well sufficient even in the rainy conditions. But the flip side is I can do it sometimes within the city but not always, others will start glaring at me.

Thinking of upgrading the low beam to Philips extreme vision or Osram night breaker.

Go for Phillips extreme power,Osrams have a blue tint,let us know the results once you upgrade.I just calculated few days back that replacing 6 stock bulbs with
Phillips extreme power will cost around 3.5-4K:O

[KL01BE]

My earlier Palio had dedicated bulbs for High Beam and low beam. (High beam meant two more bulbs lighting up and not the usual switch over from one bulb to another in the same unit) After my Palio, I find the unit in my 2012 Honda city inadequate - May be I am spoiled by Palio!

[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by mempheS.D

I do not consider this a personal attack at all so I hope you don't mind me raising a flag here since I tend to disagree with the statement.

True - The present gen Fabia is a product after a lot of cost-cutting. A lot. The armrest is gone. The sunroof is gone. The hydraulic steering is gone (I think! Not sure. At present, there's an electro-hydraulic.) The projector lamp is gone. No height adjust for front passenger seat. No rear defogger. That's a list! Thankfully the tire upgrade from Matador to Apollo Accelere was a good one.

False - The present gen Fabia is NOT a step down in terms of build quality in comparison to the old gen. Skoda shaved closed to 1.5 lakhs off the old gen by minimizing luxury but did not compromise on build quality AFAIK. Can you cite an example for me that can help flatten out my misunderstanding if in case?

Hi!

Yes. That is a big list. I agree with you on most counts.

I always considered Fabia to be a high quality car. In fact, when we were shopping for my friend, we would have booked one, but for the PD engine. Now he has a white top-end Fabia-TDI with him. It is approximately about an year old. I look at it very closely and very often, since my friend is my neighbor.

My car Polo is more than 2 years old and has done close to 43k Kms. Paint quality is superb - No squeaks at all.

But I can see Fabia ageing faster - Faster than Polo. This is a general feeling and nothing to pin-point at, other then the squeaks...

Could be the build quality of Polo is making me to think that way, since I thought that Fabia was on par...

Just my opinion...

Sorry to be

[Sanjay1707]

Surprisingly, most of the people are not satisfied with their car's headlights. I drove Swift earlier. Thought, it had terrible lights. Now, I drive 2010 Cruze. Its lights are even worse. At night, it is really difficult to drive. Planning to upgrade, but I am worried about the effect on the electrical system. Any suggestions from the members ?

[vikramv007]

The Polo and Vento headlights are awful. Cant see a thing when you drive on the highway.

[a4anurag]

My vote goes for the SX4.

The worst of the lot of what I have driven. No power and focusing ability. My Karizma's headlights are much better.

Low beam is like for show, high beams don't focus good.

[SrikantDora]

Honda City has the worst OEM Headlights, my i20 used to light better. It's unsafe & risky driving in rain or on a highway as you cant see a thing . I am just waiting to upgrade to Philips Extreme Vision 55/60 without a relay, don't want to take any risk what so ever when it comes to warranty.

[singleton]

Holy cow. Just came across this thread and I thought my Palio had the worst lights. Never knew that half the cars out on the road have bad lights. Anyway I found my Accent and Polo lights to be much better (decent in absolute terms) than the Palio's.