difference between Adaptive LED & Adaptive Xenon Headlights

[SFO]

Apart from cost (£1240 more) on M3/M4, does the Adaptive LED Headlights perform better than the Xenon Adaptive Headlights?

[gizlaroc]

Yeah.

The adaptive xenons turn left and right a bit as you turn the wheel. The adaptive LEDs.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dvPZ3H1Vm4

[JNW1]

gizlaroc said:

Yeah.

The adaptive xenons turn left and right a bit as you turn the wheel. The adaptive LEDs.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dvPZ3H1Vm4

As someone who has rubbish night vision I think the adaptive LED's would be money well spent! However, annoying that BMW want to stab you an extra £215 for headlight washers to go with them on the 3-series (albeit I think you get them as standard on the M3/M4).

[Mattt]

gizlaroc said:

Yeah.

The adaptive xenons turn left and right a bit as you turn the wheel. The adaptive LEDs.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dvPZ3H1Vm4

Are you sure?

My pre-LCI has adaptive xenons and do the full dancing routine.

As I understand it there's a huge difference from halogen to xenon but then a smaller step from xenon to LED.

[hornetrider]

gizlaroc said:

Yeah.

The adaptive xenons turn left and right a bit as you turn the wheel. The adaptive LEDs.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dvPZ3H1Vm4

Credit where it's due, that is awesome. Not seen it before.

[HoHoHo]

hornetrider said:

gizlaroc said:

Yeah.

The adaptive xenons turn left and right a bit as you turn the wheel. The adaptive LEDs.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dvPZ3H1Vm4

Credit where it's due, that is awesome. Not seen it before.

My M5 adaptive zenons do that

Very impressive

[T5SOR]

I have those on my F31 and they are brilliant. They do get a bit confused by bikes sometimes though.

[gizlaroc]

I didn't think you could get the all singing all dancing headlights without having the LEDs fitted, but obviously you can now. In that case I'm not sure if the LEDs are worth the extra.

[northandy]

I have the LED on my x3, in my opinion they are amazing. Make night driving much easier.

We also have a 3 series with adaptive xenon and they operate it a very similar way, not as fast to react to switching the lights on and off (I assume that's the benefit of LED) there's not much else in it to be honest

I got LED on the x3 as it was a £500 difference as the standard car doesn't have xenons as standard.

[SFO]

thanks for input folks

good to hear that Xenons adaptive lights are similar in functionality to LED adaptive lights.

on M3/M4, the difference is £1240 which is a lot

[Cheib]

SFO said:

thanks for input folks

good to hear that Xenons adaptive lights are similar in functionality to LED adaptive lights.

on M3/M4, the difference is £1240 which is a lot

Totally dependent on how much driving you do on unlit roads I think. I lived in London until six months ago...wouldn't have bothered. Living as I do know in an area with a lot of unlit country lanes...money very,very well spent compared to a speaker upgrades etc.

[Till135]

I have the top LED lights on my latest car. It was bought new from the showroom and as such I didn't spec it. They are amazingly clever and way beyond my last pre LCI xenon 330d.
The beam adjusts constantly and the best thing is how you can be on full beam so much more of the time. I have had adaptive before with xenons on my C63 Coupe and although the LED's are cleverer, the C63 Xenon I still think were brighter.
The really annoying thing is that although I'm not totally convinced by the LED's, I would find it difficult not to spec them next time as the LOOK good on the car......how shallow is that!
One person mentioned re having to spec washers.......I'm not convinced that you can. They do not have washers with the LED's. This would appear to be as a result of what the EU (?) regulations state as being necessary requirements depending in how many lumens the lights can produce and possibly the colour/temperature of the light, along with the positioning on the vehicle etc.......in other words the eu dictate that they are necessary as standard on the xenons but not on LED's. I was a bit bothered by this to start off with but in all honesty seems to make no difference. One less thing to go wrong?