I drove last week an Audi A1 equipped with Xenon. I found a good light, a large and homogeneous low beam. Only the hot spot of high beam was maybe slightly lower than expected. Sure I was driving with a Xenon 35w light. But it was not; it was in fact a 25w system! If I had been given a mean to compare the 2 lights, 35w and 25w, I would very likely have seen the difference. But as it was not the case, I was truly bluffed, and could not feel the difference. I am impatient to have the Xenon 25w marketing feedback of Audi after a real field test of one year.
Since October 2010, Audi have been equipping with Xenon 25w some of their cars. (A1 1.4 TFSI 119g/km CO2) . The light source is the “D7S” from Philips, the equivalent of 25W D3S, with the same LCL of 28mm. The homologation was done with DLS, Distributed Light Source: possibility offered to light engine around one decade ago. ZKW produce the headlamp and have defined a new shape of the reflector for adapting to the light source specific brightness profile. The car is equipped with automatic dynamic leveling system but not with cleaning system.
Xenon 25W is for sure an extraordinary technical achievement. I congratulate Audi , ZKW and Philips for this very good job, and I wish a brilliant commercial success for this new light source with the hope of an efficient GRE decision.
Sincerely yours