UrS Eurolight HID/100w Redux

[Fred Munro]

    I finally got to put some night-time hours on the frankenlamp set-up in
the UrS4 - Eurolights with retrofitted HID lows and 100w highs. Just got
back from a road trip to the in-laws. Had an interesting trip down - as she
slipped into the UrS4, the light of my life spake these words "We've got 3
hours to get to Toronto. Boot it ". Nice drive, freed from all restraint.
North of Estaire we slipped past a new pearl A6 driven by an older
gentleman - and he waved as we went by! Two minutes later we were in
Estaire, and a chap was unloading the trunk of his A4 in his driveway. Zip!
Zip! 2 pearl Audis in sequence flashed past, and when I looked in the
rear-view, he was standing on the shoulder waving. Can't see any problem
with the newer Audi owners up here in the frozen north recognizing the
marque!

Back to the lights. Had a good chance to evaluate them tonight, dark night,
no moon, not much habitation north of Parry Sound, little traffic, clear
road.

High Beams are relayed 100w Hella halogens. I give these the AAA+ "Moose
Spotter" rating, the highest accolade possible in the north country. These
lights are awesome. Tremendous range, excellent side dispersion, no problem
spotting a moose within 500 m of the car. Even at "spirited" speeds, I felt
completely comfortable with the visibility - it would be very hard to
overdrive these lights. I certainly won't be doing it on my snow tires. You
can pick up reflectors over 1 km away, and the line of the road is readily
visible at that distance.

Low Beam HID retrofits
The problem with powerful high beams is when you flip to lows, it's like
you've gone blind. Not so with the HIDs. I give these the A+ "Pebble
Identifier" rating. The light output is well matched to the high beams, and
flipping to lows does not make me feel like I've lost visibility close in to
the car. They put out a very bright, even light dispersion with good side
visibility and excellent road visibility out to 100 m where the cut-off hit
the road. The colour of the light  really picks up the reflective nature of
road lines and signs. I noticed tonight that my low beams were actually
better than the high beams on a lot of the cars I passed - not that it's is
saying much. They are a bit of a problem in traffic in the city - the
backglare off light coloured bumper covers is dazzling when you stop behind
someone. If there were still a lot of chrome bumpers out there, it could be
a real problem. Oncoming traffic doesn't object, although one car I passed
tonight braked as I overtook him, and my wife said she caught a bright flash
off his rear-view mirror as we went by - must have been the angled cut-off
on the passenger light. She thought he might have been dazzled and hit the
brakes. The HIDs are bright. I'd rate them higher than A+, but I think the
right bulb is not completely in focus. I modified it a bit and improved the
output, but it still doesn't match the output of the left bulb, so some
improvement in performance is still achievable.

Overall, a nicely balanced set of lights, the best I've had yet on any
vehicle.

Fred Munro
'94 S4