[JCinSyd]

Just a quick question. I've noticed with most of the new cars, people aren't going with the LED ring lights. Did you guys and gals think it wasn't worth the money? I know Mini are trying to bring the costs of the cars down, but I really think it should have been a standard option IMO.

 

[TouchUpDirect]

Seems like most in the States do have the LEDs. You can find some without, but my dealer had way more with. I feel like they are totally worth it, the front of the car looks fantastic day or night and the lights are very bright. I only wish mine had the cornering lights too.

 

[miniJ]

Mine doesn't have any. Still looks great, would rather the fun features on the inside than outside.

 

[MaskedAnkle]

I would have liked them... but £650!!? Outrageous price. That went on leather seats instead.

And it also went through my mind... how much will they cost to replace if they fail?

The standard lights seem to have a "Daylight Running Feature". In fact, they are more noticeable than turning on the side lights.

And something funky goes on when you switch to high beam. Don't know what, exactly, as I haven't looked. But when you switch high beams on, after half a second, something else seems to turn off. Need a dark night to investigate further...

 

[Hat]

£650 is a lot of money but if you consider them a safety feature for dark rainy nights then they make more sense than leather seats. It is annoying though when leds actually will cost the companies less to install than standard bulbs and become a non maintenance item which means a less complicated headlamp to design. They will be standard in all cars in a few years, until thrn like all new features they will charge us for as long as they can

 

[taktahara]

In Japan, CooperS has LED as default while Cooper does not (option).

In AT model, the price difference between Cooper and S is about yen500K or USD5K (Cooper at yen 2.80mil and CooperS at yen3.32mil).

However, Cooper S has almost everything you need such as Navigation, LED main light and fog light, sport sheets, performance control, LED ring and Blootooth hands-free phone system as default in addtion to 2.0L engine. I believe these this difference will well deserve for additional USD5K.

In fact, at the moment, BMW Tokyo salesperson told me most of thie initial buyers are looking to CooperS.

Probably cost concious consumers are waiting for cheaper One sometimes in the future.

 

[MintMark]

Ticking the LED light box was an easy decision for me...

The headlights are a weak point of my current Ford Puma and LEDs are solid state and energy efficient. The headlights look like they have quite chunky lenses in front of the LEDs.

 

[donnaj1dlh]

I was so desperate for my halos that I amended my order to include them. I was gutted to find out that I wouldn't have them as standard (that's a whole different topic of discussion on another thread). I think the halos are what makes the F56 stand out. I would have spent 4+ years being disappointed at the car if it'd turned up without them.
However I'm expecting great things from these LEDS at this price!!!

 

[Washy]

The LED lights are brilliant, they look cool, are really bright and don't even need adjusting for going to Europe....I appreciate they are not cheap, but well worth it.

 

[Matt]

I could kick myself for not double checking to ensure i had this led headlamp option ticked.

led are the same colour balance as the HID lamps on my 2012 mcs... in fact ive had HID lights on all my recent cars for the past 6 years.. and boy can you tell how poor halogens are, now ive gone back to them!!!

ive asked to have my car retro fitted with LED's but my local garage tell me it cant be done.. (probably a loom issue), so my only other option is to maybe wait for some after market HID replacement H4's or if a company comes out with a LED H4 replacement with a halo ring...

Further to MaskedAnkle's point... when you switch the H4s from dipped to main beam, after a second or so, the normal dipped lamp is switched off, leaving an empty patch of light in front of the car... ive got front fog lamps on my mcs, and these seem to fill that dark patch when i switch them on too...

i guess the current draw and heat is an issue here so they turn off the dipped beam when you switch main beam on??

if anyone knows of a company doing aftermarket custom headlamps for the mini.. i for one will be up for it! I cant live with these halogen units.. they are pants!

 

[donnaj1dlh]

Matt ...how about adding spotlights and wiring them into your main beam? That's what I considered doing (I live in the country). Heck, might still add them but need to change the bulbs to white ones to match the LEDs

 

[JCinSyd]

In Japan, CooperS has LED as default while Cooper does not (option).

In AT model, the price difference between Cooper and S is about yen500K or USD5K (Cooper at yen 2.80mil and CooperS at yen3.32mil).

However, Cooper S has almost everything you need such as Navigation, LED main light and fog light, sport sheets, performance control, LED ring and Blootooth hands-free phone system as default in addtion to 2.0L engine. I believe these this difference will well deserve for additional USD5K.

In fact, at the moment, BMW Tokyo salesperson told me most of thie initial buyers are looking to CooperS.

Probably cost concious consumers are waiting for cheaper One sometimes in the future.

This sounds similar to Australia. The Cooper S the LED ring is standard, as is the Chili pack. It's when you add the other options it gets pricey ...

 

[Matt]

Matt ...how about adding spotlights and wiring them into your main beam? That's what I considered doing (I live in the country). Heck, might still add them but need to change the bulbs to white ones to match the LEDs

the spotlights are still halogen based, they would offer better illumination but with that warm yellowish tinge... i guess its not really a big issue, but im not enjoying the yellow beam, the ~550k of HID is soooooo much better in rain / wet raods... the halogens cant even compete... but its not something id class as dangerous or anything... just what ive got used to.

im going to investigate various HID aftermarkets... but that wont give me the halo unit... the other thing im going to do is look at the wiring behind one of the minis in the showroom with led, see what actually is going on back there.

im wondering how much a unit is to buy... what if i got one broken with a stone chip.. and it needed to be replaced.. im sure people wont want to pay ~300£ for a unit... so a call to the service center will also be carried out soon!

 

[lawrothegreat]

I think that LED DRLs not coming as standard when they feature in all promotional literature is incredibly misleading. However I'm not convinced that the LED headlights are that expensive in isolation, they're still highly unusual on our roads.


The LED headlights are also fantastic - I've only driven with them a couple of times in the dark but they're so much brighter than anything else on the road.

 

[MiloMini]

I live on a mountain and drive through dark lanes or roads without lights some of the time. I ordered the LED's in the hope they would be brighter than regular lights.

I'm still to see a video showing what they can do in the dark! Can't wait.

 

[donnaj1dlh]

Go on to MINI UK website, under accessories there is an option for retrofitting Xenons ..... no price offered though. Might be worth enquiring?

http://www.mini.co.uk/accessories/car-accessories/

 

[Matt]

Go on to MINI UK website, under accessories there is an option for retrofitting Xenons ..... no price offered though. Might be worth enquiring?

http://www.mini.co.uk/accessories/car-accessories/

F56 doesnt feature on there yet...

 

[olires]

I opted not to have the LEDs, mainly because of the cost to purchase but also because of the cost to replace them if they go wrong. The thing that swung it for me was finding out that the LED headlights have a cooling fan behind them.

Having said that, I am entirely convinced that LED lighting is the way forward in the home and in the car.

Oli

 

[texy]

Do we actually know how much they are to replace? With LED's (as used for headlights) being so new, they are bound to be expensive to start with, but as time goes on, they may well come down in price, especially as other car manufacturers covert to them.
Texy

 

[Hat]

There should be no need to ever replace them. Leds do not burn out like filament bulbs