2012 Volvo S60 T5: How Much for Xenon Headlights?

This is the problem with "headlight-posts". Shutter and aperture settings will have more to do with how good the lighting looks than the lighting itself. The verbal description will have far more value than the photo, but everyone will see an overexposed photo as great headlight coverage. I can make my bicycle headlight look like a HID if I adjust the exposure a little.

It's $500 on a Mini Cooper. Funny that parent BMW charges $800.

I'm wondering whether LED's will replace HID in the longer term, though. Light aircraft seem to be going that way.

Car and Driver is having interesting times with its own long-term S60. After the car suffered a total seizure (engine stopped, shifter locked and all electrics disabled), the electric power steering module was replaced. After that, another seizure occured.

Volvo kept the car for SEVEN weeks, before returning it with a bunch of new control modules.

No wonder resale tanks once the warranty is over on these cars...

My 2010 Mazda3 Grand Touring hatchback came with adaptive self-leveling low/high beam xenon headlamps standard at $22,170 MSRP. There is no good reason why these much more expensive premium cars should charge extra for them. Signifcant shame goes to Lincoln for requiring almost $6k to get them, and they're low beam only.

"It's $500 on a Mini Cooper. Funny that parent BMW charges $800."

That's not an apples to apples comparison. The $900 option on the BMW also adds adaptive light control, secondary cornering lamps, LED markers and turn signals and high-intensity angel-eye DRLs. On the Mini adaptive light control is an added $100 option and the other features are not available.

Personally, I think that any car sold under a luxury brand should have HID headlights as standard equipment.

My $25,000 out-the-door 2011 Miata GT has them standard.

Would never go back to old-school lights on a new car.

If Edmunds is going to keep evaluating headlights (and I think it's a good idea) they should create some sort of objective testing procedure that measures brightness, area covered, distance covered, etc. These posts are misleading because the pictures and observations are made by different editors reacting to different roads and lighting conditions.

This is very shallow of me but when I see a premium brand car like BMW, Mercedes, Audi, etc without HID or LED, I think geez why not pony up the extra for the nice features? Or, someone just wanted to say, "Oh I drive a fancy BMW (but couldn't afford all the good stuff)." I like options and want them all.

Did you know the Lexus LX570 made HIDs optional until the new model year 2012. SILLY!

@lime679, unfortunately, from a financial perspective, options are what retain the least value when you sell the car. This is why Acuras used to have such great resale, because almost everything was standard.

don't care what they cost.

wouldn't buy a car without them (or LED once cost comes down).

2012 328i (F30) you must have the worthless premium package to get xenons. Wrote a letter to BMW complaining about this. No way I'm spending 2k extra to get junk like a moonroof just so I can have decent night lighting.

LEDs do make more sense as they're cheaper to replace, tougher and longer lasting.

Do not ever want to go back to halogens.

Hence the Acura in my parking spot now, esoterica ;-).

I sold cars for years and I just don't like base models or knowing I bought a car that comes with a feature that I would want and did not get.

+168976398763 to what legacygt said.

Since I have projectors, I went with the user option. $60 55 watt.

No blinding with even cut off line, but no leveling system or bi-xenon option (yet). I do miss my e46 330ci ZHP.

But they put out as much light as my old e46 if not more.

2009.5 G8 GT

My current car is the first I've had with bi-xenons...there's no way I can go back now...I love them

"LEDs do make more sense as they're cheaper to replace, tougher and longer lasting."

Right now for automotive applications they're none of those things, plus they're not more efficient than HID and they require a bulky cooling system just for the headlights (they're far more susceptible to heat damage than any other headlamp).

coxwill I'm with you. My last car was just traditional HID. The ones now are bi-xenon and there is no way in hell I'll go back.

I also highly dislike the aftermarket HID kits.

coxwill I'm with you. My last car was just traditional HID. The ones now are bi-xenon and there is no way in hell I'll go back.

I also highly dislike the aftermarket HID kits.

If done correctly, you wouldnt even be able to tell the other driver has an aftermarket HID setup. You'd say "Hey, I dodnt know HIDs were available on that car." Promise. The key is, it has to be done correctly. Look up "TheRetrofitSource.com" to see what I mean when I say DONE CORRECTLY.

whats really crazy is that even on mid level luxury cars like the E-class and 5-series the base models do not include xenon headlights you need to get an upgrade package to include them.

dayz I know. Pains me to see a 5 series without them.

foxtrot685, because I'm a freak of nature and know my cars inside and out... I would know the car in question does not have HIDs as an option. Different strokes for different folks but then again, I probably wouldn't buy a car that didn't have anything higher than halogen available.

Back in 2000 I purchased an A4 Avant and they were charging $500 for something called Xenon. I was a bit skeptical about paying it for "better lighting". I'm glad I did, I haven't looked back since.
I added xenon lights to my current Outback for only $114. Nice kit with ballasts, and since the OB already had a projector lens it was easy plug and play.

12rings +1

Same story, I bought a new 2000 A4 2.8, pretty much every option except for Navi, and I paid the 500 clams for Xenon low beams. The wife looked at the price and thought I was crazy. But wow, did she change her mind the first time she drove that A4 home at night.

I like to compare it to something like a radio or cruise control. Do you need it to drive the car? No. Does it improve your driving experience? Yes. Bottom line is that you won't miss it if you've never had it, but get it once and you sure don't want to go without it ever again.

I am in the process of retrofitting the 2011 Jetta with projectors and xenon bulbs. Waiting on shrouds and all will be complete :) Did a test run without the shrouds and never got flashed and the cut off was nice and clean.

"whats really crazy is that even on mid level luxury cars like the E-class and 5-series the base models do not include xenon headlights you need to get an upgrade package to include them."

I actually like it this way. You couldn't pry the xenon headlights out of my old, dead cars but only because I drive on unlit Interstates and rural highways quite often. For urban dwellers, regular halogens are just fine... heck so many here in NYC forget to turn on their headlights when it gets dark. You don't even need headlights here.

Picking your options a-la-carte seems to be the German way. Some call it fleecing but it works for me.

Very odd to see a luxury car without bi-xenons as standard. My 2012 JCW MINI had them standard and they really are great. Unfortunately the MINI halogens are quite terrible and it is unfortunate that MINI in the US leave them as optional - perhaps on this Volvo model it is not such a big deal based on Edmunds opinion.

@e90_m3 - look at the F30. BMW is doing away with a la carte ordering. You can't get 2012s your way. To get specific features you get it with packages like some low rent brand like Lexus or Ford. Xenons? Get the premium. Want comfort access? Get the premium. Back up camera - must get the back up sensors. The list goes on and on.

Want saddle leather? No sport package then.

^Nice troll.

Lexus is low rent? They have a supercar that will beat the crap out of any BMW in production and sounds better than any BMW ever produced. If Lexus is low rent, then BMW is complete trash.

The IS250 info above is incorrect. Looking at the window sticker of my IS250 it lists Bi-Xenon Adaptive headlights as a stand alone $875 option.

lsiii - try to order a Lexus a la carte with say just xenons and heated seats. Can't be done. Lexus dealers can request a car that's being made but they cannot order a car a la carte. So the whole discussion is moot. So while the option may now be available (it wasn't in 2006 on the IS and judging by their site it again isn't) as stand alone, you can't walk in and order an IS250 with just xenons.

Use a lexus configurator at lexus.com and it makes you put in a zip code because they don't let you option a car as you want. For my zip the only IS250s I can select with xenons require I order the $3300 navi package or the higher level navi package for $5100. That's not a la carte. So to get a $34765 Lexus IS250 with AT and xenons the actual cost would be $38980.

And no option to outfit an IS250 MT. None at all.

dude these lightbulbs are a cheap DIY upgrade i dont see any reason to pony up for all of these crazy packages if all you want is HID lights 800 seems steep especially when your financing and you end up paying like 1800+ by the time your done paying off the car

Jeez... Want to get some high comment numbers? Just post an entry about headlights! Seriously, why is this such a popular topic?

foxtrot685: "If done correctly, you wouldnt even be able to tell the other driver has an aftermarket HID setup."

Yup, most people think it comes stock on mine. They always love the light output and the even cut off. Then I have to go its after market. The look of shock is great. They are used to people throwing them in a 90's honda with glare all over the place.

lime679: because I'm a freak of nature and know my cars inside and out... I would know the car in question does not have HIDs as an option. Well I will say you should put an * on this one. Some states version do not have the option. No one says you could not buy a euro headlamp and put it in. Its OE just not states OE. So its not aftermarket. Lots of people with older volvos swaped out for the euro version even with standard bulbs because the light output was better. And I have seen bottom of the line CC's but with HID VW units. They just went to the wrecking yard and pulled a stock unit. So you may know the car didnt come with them, but sometimes that doesnt mean aftermarket.

Anyone seens a G8's light output. Its kinda bad. They already had projectors so it just made a lot of since to move that direction.

I remember the first night I brought home my 2006 Infiniti M35 with the sport package (which includes the Adaptive [left/right-swivel] zenons). I felt like I had two of those spot lights on the front of my car that they use to grab your attention at holloywood events.

My S2000 with a slightly higher adjustment has the best lighting I've ever experienced. Instead of 2.1" of drop at 7.5' as the service manual says, i have a 0.5" drop. No, I've never gotten flashed, they're still not high enough to get in anyone's eyes since the car is so low and the cutoff is so sharp - but now the beam travel is literally infinite (further than my glasses-corrected vision can clearly see) instead of a sharp cutoff 100-150' infront of the car. The projectors on that car are seriously good, amazing for a 10 year old car.

Here's how I look at it: if a car is a premium or luxury brand and doesn't come with Xenons as standard, it's unacceptable. Plain and simple, this car should not even be shipped out of the factory without them. It makes me think it's not even premium.

Lime679 I think like you: when I see someone driving a fairly recent luxury car, including say a 2007+ E90, and see no xenons, I judge them very poorly, essentially as people wanting the status symbol and not caring about the luxury aspect. Ya can't fool me though; I think you cheapened out just for the name.

My 06 Mazda6 GT has xenons and while they're nowhere near as good as most modern luxury cars' ones, coming from a Cavalier to them felt like night and day and I know I would NEVER go back.

I also that reflector halogens on cars that don't normally would use them well (trucks, compacts, big SUVs) are a sign that the manufacturer or the customer cheapened out. The new Passat won't even offer xenons (in Canada at least) in the highest trim. How shameful is that? All you get stuck with is cheap looking reflectors!

Our Mazda6 has them. Wife has said repeatedly: she'll never go back to anything less. They're THAT good at night.