no Touareg chat here?!

Only 6 years? I'm still running the original halogen headlamps that came with my GTI when it was new in 1987...honest...and I do a fair amount of night driving.

$800 every six years is as bad as doing the timing belt on the TDI's every

I think i'd enjoy Xenon lighting, but it'd have to be done RIGHT - I had an G35 Infinity behind me yesterday and the flashing blue and white light was incredibly annoying, even with the rear view mirror angle changed. The new

That is irratating sometimes I agree...Honda S2000s also are like that. What's happening is the cutoff of their beam is ending up right near your line of sight when when the car hits a bump and the car goes up, they "flash" (or so it appears to other drivers) briefly because you're now momentarily right in their beam. But that also goes to show how well the lamps are designed because when you're not in their beam they're not bright (the cutoff is doing it's job well).

It's a flaming pile of s*it. There, I said something.

Jim B.

One of the few really annoying things about my Jetta is that headlight cut-off. Driving in the country at night, going down a hill which leads into an uphill stretch, the cut-off prevents the uphill part of the road ahead of you from being illuminated, and you can't see it at all until your car has passed the low point and begins climbing the hill. At highway speeds, that's an uncomfortable little gap in otherwise-clear vision.

I currently have Cibie H4s in my DD Porsche 944 and honestly, I can say that I don't mind not having HIDs at all. I did install a custom relay wiring harness taking its feed directly off the alternator and

The only drawback to this setup is that it's not technically street legal, because the reflectors are E-codes. (90/100W bulbs are probably also illegal, FWIW.) However, I have passed many a cop at night without a second glance.

In any case, I have less than $400 invested in this setup including everything, and maybe 4 hours of (my own) install time. Doesn't make a HID retrofit look all that appealing, really. I'm so enamored of these headlights that I'm considering doing something similar for my '62 Stude, although that would be a little more involved as I would have to build the harness myself (not too many people seem to be interested in making headlight upgrade kits for vintage Studebakers for some reason.)

nate

Let me ask the group another question: do any among you actually DRIVE a Touareg? Any of you care to offer some additional insight?

Mike

No one is admitting it if they do or the typical T-reg driver doesn't frequent ramvw.

Observation: I saw two T-reg's the road today being driven by middle-aged women and wondered why they chose T-reg's over Avants.

I agree 100%. I live on a very hilly rural road, and one of the things that always bugged me about my A4 Jettas was the cutoff, not only the low beams, but also on the high beams.

There is one hill in particular where I saw somebody in front of me hit a deer years ago. Every time I went through there I wished I could see a little farther ahead. As I came down the hill I couldn't see the spot just past the bottom where that deer jumped out until way too late to do anything.

I traded the Jetta on Monday for an 05 Passat TDI, and the first thing I noticed was how much better the high beams were on those hills.

I think the fair number of negative posts in response to your original question reflects less on the group's view of the Touareg as a vehicle, and more on an uneasy feeling that you simply wanted to remind us that YOU drive a Touareg. To me, your follow-up post only reinforces a perception that you, like many other "luxury SUV" owners, are more interested in status than substance. I may have you completely wrong, but that's my perception.

Since you apparently thought enough of the Touareg as a vehicle to buy one for your bank, who better to sing its praises than you? You have the floor...

interesting point, Kent. actually it has nothing to do with any implied status or standing, the fact that i own (not the bank!!) and enjoy driving mine. i am a lifelong VW owner, starting with Beetles, Squarebacks, Rabbits, Quantum wagon, Passat, 16V GTI, right up to the present. i have also found and used a second generation independent VW repair shop in suburban Philadelphia that has kept me inexpensively on the road in these cars forever. The Touareg represents the finest appointed VW i have ever driven and while the luxury is wonderful, more important to me is the passenger space, ride characteristics, potential towing capacity and the ability to get it out onto the beach, utilizing 4wd as needed there. The Audi V8 is sweet, i love the tiptronic, definitely the headlights (great comments, group, on that matter) and it is somewhat gratifying (i admit) to catch admiring stares and comments, as these are not seen repeatedly on the road every mile like other SUVs. I do not feel badly about its fuel consumption, as it is a 2nd vehicle in the fleet, with the 50 mpg Jetta TDI bringing up my household average fuel economy. so far the ownership experience has been that of my other VWs- totally satisfying. group, don't be so harsh on an owner, just for soliciting some opinions!!

Mike

I know what he's getting at though.

Lamps with a defined cutoff are often designed to be visually aimed using the cutoff (because it is defined so noticeably). Such lamps are marked with 'VOL' or 'VOR' on the lens.

He's talking about older US lamps that were aimed with extra equipment or bubble levels inside the lamp where the beam itself instead of having a cutoff just sort of gradually fades out. So it's throwing some light up, although not the full intensity of the beam. Nevertheless, this is what makes lamps appear more glaring. driving behind lamps designed with a cutoff for visual aiming and controlled glare does take getting used to if you're not accustomed to it.

noticed was how much better the high beams were on those hills.

Probably because the Passat has separate low and high beam lamps whereas the Jetta's lamps are combined, so you both high and low beams are compromised somewhat by comparison.

I'd be real interested in spurring some conversation about the 3.2 VR6 powered Toureag sporting VF Engineering's supercharger kit. But I'd seriously doubt if anyone has driven a unit so equipped. Steve Grauman