GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

[Cadwest]

Is anyone else finding the LED headlights poor? I find the beam pattern on dipped to only light the road up for a very short distance and on poorly light road it is hard to spot pot holes in the road thus giving very little warning. Last night on a 40mph poorly light road the headlights failed to to pick up a cyclist crossing the road in what I would call a safe distance. My previous car was a Volvo v40 with full LED headlights that adjusted to the speed the vehicle was traveling and I’m finding that the VW lights appear to give about 50% illumination of the Volvo.
After having lived with the car for a number of weeks and using it several times in the dark I would not be selecting these again as an optional extra at £850 and I feel they are more for ecstatics than functionality.

[Robint]

This is the first time with upgraded headlights I think they are great but I have nothing to compare to


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[Dan34]

I'm a big fan of the LED headlights, had them on my previous polo too. However I do think they could do with raising up a touch, I might do this soon. Can be done with an allen key I believe.

[Cadwest]

Think I’ve been spoilt by Volvo, they may have been brighter as the car had headlight washers fitted. Might contact my dealer and see if they can be adjusted so thanks for the info.

[silverhairs]

Not having a Polo yet, isn't there a knob somewhere on the dash where you can raise and lower your lights to suit the amount of people you have in the car, I would have thought all cars come with that as standard?

[Cadwest]

Not having a Polo yet, isn't there a knob somewhere on the dash where you can raise and lower your lights to suit the amount of people you have in the car, I would have thought all cars come with that as standard?

Nope all LED headlights are self levelling, when you turn the lights on you can see the headlights move up and down unfortunately.

[Robint]

I spent time looking for the very adjuster but was told I was getting old as new LED headlights are non adjustable


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[silverhairs]

If they are self levelling, and your having trouble even seeing cyclists, I think you should be taking it back for VW to check out. The cost of LED head lights is now just under £1000. They should be OK?

[barrywi]

Is anyone else finding the LED headlights poor? I find the beam pattern on dipped to only light the road up for a very short distance and on poorly light road it is hard to spot pot holes in the road thus giving very little warning. Last night on a 40mph poorly light road the headlights failed to to pick up a cyclist crossing the road in what I would call a safe distance. My previous car was a Volvo v40 with full LED headlights that adjusted to the speed the vehicle was traveling and I’m finding that the VW lights appear to give about 50% illumination of the Volvo.
After having lived with the car for a number of weeks and using it several times in the dark I would not be selecting these again as an optional extra at £850 and I feel they are more for ecstatics than functionality.

I agree with you as I posted earlier. My Jag has the discharge lights (2007 model) on the dipped beam and they are much brighter especially on full beam when the seperate main beam halogen lights come on . I think they have specified lower power leds than necessary. My dealer said the T Roc initially came with headlamp washers and led headlights, but the washers were dropped because legally they were not required due to the headlights not being above a certain power. They dropped the washers out of the Polo too.

[richl123]

These MOT safe replacements for the GOLF dont need washers because the bulb is 25w versus 35w for a traditional Xenon installation (requiring) washers.

https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/osram ... ition.html

I would like a dipped comparison between the Polo LED and halogen!

[barrywi]

I think the led headlamps were part of the gti PLUS package but having experienced them first hand if I was given a choice I would go for halogens and then fit the larger light output halogen bulbs available which are the same wattage so legal.
Strange fact about lights at the rear. The rear lights on mine are leds APART from the indicators which are normal bulbs( cheapskate VW) I cannot see an easy way in to the light cluster to replace with an led bulb and if I did fit them I bet the car's electronics would throw a wobbler . I would be interested to try if anyone knows how to open up the light cluster.

[monkeyhanger]

I've not driven the GTI+ in the dark yet, will be interested to see how they compare against the R's Xenons as the darker evenings close in.. Anyone here know if the LEDs are dynamic/bendy like the Golf's Xenons are?

The Golf's lights dont have a great range compared to previous halogen equipped VWs, but they are consistently bright throughout the depth of their range.

These LED lights are supposed to have a useable life of at least 25000 hours run-time. Should be enough to see the car to the scrapyard at the end of its life, although some of my household bulbs of reputable brands have similar claims on life and have lasted less than 2 years.

[monkeyhanger]

I think the led headlamps were part of the gti PLUS package but having experienced them first hand if I was given a choice I would go for halogens and then fit the larger light output halogen bulbs available which are the same wattage so legal.
Strange fact about lights at the rear. The rear lights on mine are leds APART from the indicators which are normal bulbs( cheapskate VW) I cannot see an easy way in to the light cluster to replace with an led bulb and if I did fit them I bet the car's electronics would throw a wobbler . I would be interested to try if anyone knows how to open up the light cluster.

I'll have a check Barry, but I suspect there's some boot lining carpet flaps that pull out behind the clusters for access. Get some canbus friendly bulbs so the low resistance of LED doesn't make the car think the bulb is blown - I did that on my old Scirocco for a number of halogen bulbs.

[barrywi]

I've not driven the GTI+ in the dark yet, will be interested to see how they compare against the R's Xenons as the darker evenings close in.. Anyone here know if the LEDs are dynamic/bendy like the Golf's Xenons are?

The Golf's lights dont have a great range compared to previous halogen equipped VWs, but they are consistently bright throughout the depth of their range.

These LED lights are supposed to have a useable life of at least 25000 hours run-time. Should be enough to see the car to the scrapyard at the end of its life, although some of my household bulbs of reputable brands have similar claims on life and have lasted less than 2 years.

Led headlights are not bendy on the polo as far as I know

[Dark_cze]

Czech configurator says that led headlights are static. I will take a look to ETKA but there should be some leveling possible with alankey or screewdriver