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Post by ChrisM on Mar 8, 2022 20:10:36 GMT
Ford Focus estate titanium X 1.5 TDCI 120 Ecoblue, quite a mouthful and looking like the Fire Chief's in bright red (especially after I'd washed it.....)
Not so pleasant swapping from the warmth of a Kuga that's covered at night to a frosty ice-covered Focus; 70-plate (Dec 2020) so the current design but not the latest facelift model.
6-speed manual, pleasant enough clutch and gearshift but it's geared so long that 6th was only realistic on dual carriageways, and even 5th was geared for about 40mph/100revs.
Thick windscreen pillars and thick near pillars made for somewhat restricted vision. Ride and handling were up to Ford's usual high standards but the car was gutless unless held at least 1 gear lower than I'd usually use due to its over-tall gearing. Also on collection the engine had an old-fashioned loud rattle-type noise although this went after a few miles and didn't return, so maybe it was down to lack of use as it had done only about 8500 miles in nearly 15 months. Took numerous attempts before it would pair my phone by bluetooth.
I don't know if it is now the law that lights have to revert to "auto" on every start-up, or if it's just Ford who do this, but it drives me mad. Stopped to fill it with fuel and on start-up the headlights came on, blinding people leaving the kiosk because they'd gone from "off" to "auto" and decided that the forecourt canopy resembled night. Crazy.
Made an interesting alternative to the Fiestas and Pumas that seem to be the usual loan cars
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Post by Big Blue on Mar 8, 2022 21:03:40 GMT
8500 miles in 15 months. Sounds like intergalactic use to me.
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Post by cbeaks1 on Mar 8, 2022 22:00:12 GMT
I find auto lights are correct about 99% of the time. Only fog seems to case any issues.
We leave the lights on the MINI on all the time as I know I would forget otherwise.
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Post by johnc on Mar 9, 2022 8:23:54 GMT
I just leave mine on auto all the time and they do a really good job. Apart from anything else it prevents me from being the prick driving around with no tail lights on at night, thinking my lights are on because the DRL's reflect off the car in front.
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Post by Martin on Mar 9, 2022 8:28:09 GMT
Mine has the rear lights on with the DRLs, but I still leave it on Auto and it works 99% of the time (light fog is the issue as cbeaks points out). Same with the Golf and I don't know why anyone wouldn't as is you switch off auto and it thinks the lights should be on, you get a bit warning message in the central screen. Thinking about it, that's something all cars should have.
Unless they switched on automatically to high beam, I doubt they would have blinded anyone.
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Post by johnc on Mar 9, 2022 8:55:51 GMT
Mine has the rear lights on with the DRLs I have never checked mine but now I think about it, the rear lights are on when the engine is running. It's mad that some manufacturers missed doing this because I see probably one or two cars every week including one last night who was on a mission to overtake everyone with only dimmish front DRLs on. |
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Post by Big Blue on Mar 9, 2022 9:17:35 GMT
I don't know if it is now the law that lights have to revert to "auto" on every start-up, or if it's just Ford who do this, but it drives me mad. Stopped to fill it with fuel and on start-up the headlights came on, blinding people leaving the kiosk because they'd gone from "off" to "auto" and decided that the forecourt canopy resembled night. Crazy. I think auto lights is one of the the great safety features of the age. It is also the rule that the default position is auto if you have DRLs for the very reason John gives above - older DRL cars can often be seen driving around with no rear lights on because most drivers are, by and large, inattentive idiots that just use their car to get from here to there in comfort. Coming from someone that had parents with Volvos, Chris, I'm surprised you make any negative comments about all day lights on - I have often recalled here my step-dad's experiences with a rental car in the '70s and pedestrians wildly waving walking sticks, pointing, shouting about leaving his lights on in the daylight hours. |
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Mar 9, 2022 10:38:53 GMT
Auto lights are brilliant. I can count on one hand the number of times I've overridden them on foggy days.
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Post by ChrisM on Mar 9, 2022 18:16:13 GMT
I think auto lights is one of the the great safety features of the age. Yes but only because it seems that 90+% of drivers can't be bothered to turn their lights on (or off) - and maybe some of that is now down to them thinking that auto lights means that they do not need to bother about using their brains to decide when it's time to turn lights on. If only rear lights had to come on with DRL's..... I see so many cars at dusk with DRL's on at the front but no rear lights are on at all. Volvo's old DRL's (eg on my parent's old 850) used to turn the rear lights on as well, a shame that this doesn't happen with so many newer cars; our Captur is one offender although it appears that Renault altered things with the facelifted version as they do seem to run with rear lights on all the time |
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Post by rodge on Mar 9, 2022 18:37:36 GMT
I don’t have auto lights on the Mondeo and I miss having them.
It’s a feature on the higher spec models but mine will toggle between side and dipped lights when I’m driving- I leave them turned on all the time.
Maybe that makes them semi auto?
I’ve had them on all the cars I had in California and on rentals, it was one of the first things I did when I got into the car- switching them on.
I followed a grey suv home this evening on the motorway. 4 degrees outside and lashing rain, getting dark and the car had no lights on.
It was only when we got traffic that I saw that it’s a Volvo with drls on.
I hate drls.
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Post by Tim on Mar 10, 2022 12:02:25 GMT
Auto lights are great but auto full beam appears to be shite (based on the Micra and 4 Series)  |
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Post by Martin on Mar 10, 2022 12:31:21 GMT
Auto lights are great but auto full beam appears to be shite (based on the Micra and 4 Series)  You can switch off the voodoo tech in mine and let it do auto high beam instead and it’s not bad but nowhere near as good as when using the full functionality. I guess they won’t all be as good as each other, but the std voodoo and Laserlights on the BMWs were excellent and it’s the same with the Pixel lights on my current car. They’re actually better than the BMW ones as the beams are split horizontally and vertically. |
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Post by Tim on Mar 10, 2022 14:41:12 GMT
I didn't mean the quality of light, more their ability to switch off without blinding oncoming motorists.
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Post by Boxer6 on Mar 10, 2022 14:59:25 GMT
I didn't mean the quality of light, more their ability to switch off without blinding oncoming motorists. The mighty Skoda wasn't particularly good at dipping the lights quite quickly enough for some oncoming drivers, who would then make their displeasure known in like fashion. |
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Post by Martin on Mar 10, 2022 15:14:59 GMT
I didn't mean the quality of light, more their ability to switch off without blinding oncoming motorists. Yes, I get that, the more sophisticated cameras and control system you get with voodoo lights means they respond a lot better. Despite the height and brightness of the lights, they don’t blind people. The quality of light is so much better though, I think this every time I use the Golf in the dark. It’s headlights are bright, really bright on main beam (separate main beam LED rather than bi-LED), but you get so much less light on dip compared to headlights that fill in all the gaps around the cars all the time. It’s one of those options/features that you wont miss until you get used to having it and then drive a car with normal headlights. |
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Post by johnc on Mar 10, 2022 17:27:20 GMT
My LED voodoo lights are brilliant (pardon the pun). If you look very closely when there is a car ahead you can see a tiny shaded area around it almost immediately. Its only when it gets closer that you see a larger dark patch. I very seldom get any flashes for my lights being too bright.
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Post by Roadrunner on Mar 10, 2022 19:21:04 GMT
My LED voodoo lights are brilliant (pardon the pun). If you look very closely when there is a car ahead you can see a tiny shaded area around it almost immediately. Its only when it gets closer that you see a larger dark patch. I very seldom get any flashes for my lights being too bright. This is exactly what I get in the Benz. I like watching the shaded out black area follow the car ahead as it goes around a bend. Yet another item of FG I wouldn't want to be without, now I have tried it. |
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Post by Big Blue on Mar 10, 2022 20:47:41 GMT
Yep. Having had voodoo lights on a holiday rental a couple of years back they were a no brainer on Eva. Magical things.
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Post by Martin on Mar 10, 2022 20:52:25 GMT
I’ve been telling you all about how good voodoo headlights are since 2014!  Thinking back, they cost me £2,500. That was partly because halogens were standard, so add £1,000 for xenon’s and another. £1,500 on top for the LEDs. The other benefit was they looked much better (to me) than the xenon’s as the indicators were across the top of the headlight rather than at the edge, so the units looked wider and more modern. |
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Post by Tim on Mar 11, 2022 8:43:46 GMT
I didn't mean the quality of light, more their ability to switch off without blinding oncoming motorists. Yes, I get that, the more sophisticated cameras and control system you get with voodoo lights means they respond a lot better. Despite the height and brightness of the lights, they don’t blind people.
The quality of light is so much better though, I think this every time I use the Golf in the dark. It’s headlights are bright, really bright on main beam (separate main beam LED rather than bi-LED), but you get so much less light on dip compared to headlights that fill in all the gaps around the cars all the time. It’s one of those options/features that you wont miss until you get used to having it and then drive a car with normal headlights. I'm not sure I agree with that, certainly not in relation to SUVs. Far too many of them have unacceptably dazzling headlights. It seems to me that the extra light might be overkill - it'd be fine if you were travelling everywhere at 200mph but nobody is doing that. I accept a return to old halogen lights would be unwelcome but the extra light provided against the cost of the units doesn't seem like a good return. I should say though that I've not been in a car with them but certainly the LED lights on my BMW give plenty of light. EDIT: I should've probably put that reply in the Rants thread. Maybe it's time to just suck it up and go buy an SUV rather than something relatively low? |
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Post by Martin on Mar 11, 2022 8:47:11 GMT
You’re not blinding someone when they are in a ‘black box’!
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Post by johnc on Mar 11, 2022 9:30:12 GMT
Perhaps the fact that we are all getting older and our eyes are therefore less well equipped to deal with bright lights is a factor in us all believing that headlights are dazzling.
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Post by Martin on Mar 11, 2022 9:38:53 GMT
I don’t find it an issue, the worst thing is how bright brake lights are when you’re sitting in traffic. Being higher up helps, it was a lot worse in the Boxster.
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Post by johnc on Mar 11, 2022 9:45:28 GMT
Height is most definitely a factor. Headlights are much brighter to me when in my car than they are when I am that bit higher up in the i-Pace.
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Post by Tim on Mar 11, 2022 11:16:06 GMT
You’re not blinding someone when they are in a ‘black box’! How do you know - you're the one providing the light, not receiving it  I find that the majority of oncoming traffic with exceptionally bright lights are SUVs. I'm fairly sure most are Merc or BMW but then I can't tell 100% because they're too damn bright to look at. These are vehicles that stand out clearly though - you can see the brightest lights even if they're in a convoy. Clearly sitting higher up would make this less bad but as I said there must be a point at which further advances are adding nothing. I remember you saying the replacement cost of the headlights on your 7 Series were multiple £000s. |
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Post by LandieMark on Mar 17, 2022 16:35:01 GMT
I was approached by a Range Rover with the matrix lights while in the TVR once. I wasn't dazzled at all but the area around the car was lit up like daylight. It is black magic.
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Post by Andy C on Mar 18, 2022 10:20:53 GMT
I drove back from Norfolk last night and didn’t have any issues with oncoming headlights .there was definitely a few cars who had matrix lights and you could see them doing there thing. The only issue I had was the twat in a recovery truck behind me for a while who had his halogens on full beam.
My bro has matrix LEDs on his GLB and they are amazing.
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Post by racingteatray on Mar 22, 2022 21:41:02 GMT
My car has adaptive lights and therefore can do the black box thing, but perhaps because they are xenons rather than LEDs, I don’t find it always that quick to react. It’s probably only about 80% accurate so I don’t tend to use it much.
The best headlights I’ve encountered so far were on the Velar we had in Italy courtesy of Hertz back in 2019. They were astounding - felt like you could see into the next province. That was a 180 S R-Dynamic so I don’t know what flavour of headlights it had.
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