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LED Headlamps


cruiser647
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Not watched the full video yet. With BMW, I'm guessing the cleverer tech is with the 'Icon' fully adaptive LED lights. My 3 series has the standard LED lights and highbeam assist that come with the M Sport plus pack. The lights are superb. The highbeam assist seems to to be light reactive - i.e. cars being followed/coming the other way etc., it can be fooled by reflective road signs.

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All three of the above are way more tech.  They all dim out the oncoming traffic so those drivers are not dazzled.  They also reduce the light to the vehicles directly infront, so as to not dazzle those drivers. 

Every other part of the road is bathed in bright light.

 

Could have done with those on the old rallies......

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7 minutes ago, Scotty said:

How do they react to cyclists or pedestrians? I guess they don't and just blind them.

I think the camera sees everything and adjusts if ithat something is moving.

They just need to use the HDD in all the cars and can then record everything.  No need for additional dashcams.  And so on and so on......

 

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The devil's in the detail I guess. If you're driving at 60 and a pedestrian is only moving at 3-5mph or a cyclist at perhaps 10mph, would it detect that as movement.

On the other hand and this isn't a flippant question : should they ignore the small minority and work on a solution that just benefits the vast majority?

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Not sure if they'd be allowed to do that, with all the pedestrian safety notices from the EU.

The cameras on these things with the infrared can pick out a lot of things and are programmed to show them on the display if it thinks it is a person. 

Animals, not so sure, unless it's the size of a dear or something.  (Would have been great for me, dashing through Ashridge on a snowy morning a few years back.  Deer near the road and just running across the road - all you see are shadows and slow down a bit.  Then once you have gone, they all run across.  Some people aren't so lucky....)

 

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Our A3 has 'normal' LED headlights, and they are very good when dipped.  Better than the xenons on the BMW. But mainbeam on the BMW is better.  The Merc had what they called ILS (adaptive xenons with auto mainbeam) and that did modify the beam pattern on motorways, as well as transitioning gradually from full to dipped beam when you came up behind someone.  It was never fooled by road signs (it had speed limit assist which read the signs, which might be why?) but motorway junction signs on unlit motorways could sometimes make them dip.  I'd really like to try some of these new LED matrix type lights, but they still very expensive.  They also weren't available on the 2 series :(

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I have driven a new 7 series with Laserlights.

They make standard Xenons and LED's look like something from the dark ages (yes, I really did say that and it was intentional).

If I drove a car with Laserlights fitted I am convinced I would crash the next car I drove without them.  In broad daylight.

I cannot even begin to tell you just how incredible they are.  Forget road lighting.  If you live in the Southeast, you could light up Normandy.

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New.

I want to do this through the business on a lease because it makes much more sense than buying it personally with such a large outlay on a car that depreciates heavily.  

The problem comes when you spec the car up beyond standard.  I have never bought a car that is based on a deal rather than the spec I want because I'm going to have to live with it and drive it, so I want a spec that has a lot of options added.  I am convinced that money will get thrown at the 7 series in the summer by BMW and I am in no rush. 

p.s. I could get close to 20% on a standard car with the typical stuff that fleet companies add.  However, it is more like 17% and I don't think that is good enough.  I got 19% off an X6 and the same off a 5 series with no real pressure, so 20%+ should be do-able on a 7 series in the summer.  Put it this way, after 18 months of the last model they were at more like 28% after 18 months.  At one point you could get a new 730d M Sport for £399 plus VAT a month.  BMW are a million miles off that right now, as are all the online brokers and fleet companies.  It will move though and I don't want to be in a position where I do a deal for the sake of it, accept a lower spec, and then regret it 6 months or a year later when a much better deal can be had.  The 5 series is still superb for what I do and it'll run for another 3 years if I really wanted it to.  I guess you could say I'm in a position of not really being too bothered.  I'd like a 7 series, but I'm not bothered it if doesn't happen soon.

Edited by NewNiceMrMe
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Not looking at an X6.

730d is £110 p.a. VFD and BIK of 25%.  520d is BIK of 21% but you'd probably be a little surprised if I told you that the price I specced of the new (2017) 520d was £56k?

Yes, the new 5 series prices are astronomical.

My existing 520d with options was circa. £44k (although admittedly I am basing all this on speccing xDrive on whatever replacement I get, even though I'm undecided as of yet and the extra cost is relatively minor).

p.s. they don't do a 540d, just a 530d in the new model at present.  They do a 540i (petrol).  

A 520d M Sport xDrive has a basic price of £41,025.  The 530d M Sport xDrive starts at £49,265.

p.p.s. and these are just options I'm exploring.  Nothing is decided. +++

Edited by NewNiceMrMe
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You have probably already figured this out:

When getting a lease on a 7 Series, you will get a far better price on a business deal than a personal one.

The downside is that you get hammered on Company Car tax (which is only going up and up as well) so leave it in the company name but tell your accountant to put all the payments down to your personal drawings (either salary or dividend) and there is therefore no benefit and no company car tax. You can then also claim the higher pence per mile allowance as it is your car.

Bear in mind the huge road tax changes that kick in on 1st April. These will impact lease prices significantly (and not in a good way) as the increased first registration fees and increased road tax will be passed on to the user - as will the potential drop in residuals.

 

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I'll be honest, I wasn't wanting to write what you did about how to deal with it from a business perspective.  But, umm, yes, you've read through the plan.  :roflmao:

The April 2017 rises are why I was trying to get it done beforehand.  I'm just not prepared to shell out on a car that isn't the spec I want but is close (but not bang on) the deal I want. 

You and I both know what prices BMW throw the 7 series out at eventually and usually much faster than anything else in the range.

The only thing that might work against that happening is that it is proving very popular because of how damned good it is (much more popular than the last model anyway).

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5 hours ago, NewNiceMrMe said:

....you'd probably be a little surprised if I told you that the price I specced of the new (2017) 520d was £56k....

WTF?  Is the 'd' in 520d for depreciation?  What the hell did you spec it with?  Full Koala fur interior?  Kardashian diamond encrusted dubs?  The Olsen twins on the back seat?

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Ambient air is the ability to select one of a number of 'aromas' in the cabin.

Forest Dew, Alpine Air, there are about 6 and you can have 2 in the car at any time.

Like a flash air freshener, but very different too.

The claim that BMW make has been backed up too.  It is that the air inside cars running their new air systems have air so clean that it can only be matched by the cleanest of alpine air - and even the alpine air will contain pollution that the BMW system filters out.

You'll laugh.  I would too.  Then you'll sit in a car with ambient air and come back here and say "I must have that". :roflmao:

p.s. Ambient air and the filtration system are not one and the same thing.  You get the latter advanced system on the 7 series as standard but you can also spec ambient air as an option on both it and the 5 series.  It sounds complicated, it isn't.

Edited by NewNiceMrMe
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