What's The Point of an Entry-Level Luxury Car

"Party-vi" (party-vi) 11/02/2015 at 15:12 • Filed to: None

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If you don’t get the fancy-ass headlights? It seems for every five 2012 or newer C350 sedans I find, only one of them has the xenon lights. C’mon entry-level executives! Buy new luxury cars with options I want!

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:14

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My dads Volvo V60 has the xenon lights. Wow. The difference they make is unbelievable. I cannot wait for them to basically become standard soon

macanamera > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:14

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HID/Xenon is like the best new car technology since...something significant idk

Ash78, voting early and often > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:15

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How can you tell during the day? Projector housings all sort of look the same.

/HIDs are overrated

//runs from thread

Justin Hughes > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:15

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My BRZ, the most basic stripped down version of it, came with HID headlights with fancy LED strips around them for parking lights. And people say the car feels cheap. Granted, I took it upon myself to add LED turn signals to finish off the upscale look, because that’s where Toyobaru did save a few bucks.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:20

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Is there some kind of legal brightness level? I personally think these Audi suvs blinding me in wet dark curves is not a very safe thing. I don’t know who has brights on or if it’s just so fucking bright it’s worse than old car brights.

Rico > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:20

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Because dealers practically only custom ordered ones with the lighting package. I should know because I had a hard ass time trying to get them for my C300. The only car that had the lighting package was black and I wasn’t with that.

Party-vi > Ash78, voting early and often 11/02/2015 at 15:21

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Mercedes decided not to even install projector lenses in their bottom-barrel lights.

jariten1781 > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:21

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Just buy some blue bulbs.

Or even better, just color your bulbs with magic marker then drive around with your brights on like my brother’s friend did in his Civic in the 90s.

Solved.

Ash78, voting early and often > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:22

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Around 2003 or 04, the Mazda 3 was positively GROUNDBREAKING by offering a car under $25k with both Navigation and HIDs available. I really figured the market would be 90% HID by now.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 11/02/2015 at 15:22

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I just think everyone blinding me is an asshole. At what point do we have a limit?

AMC/Renauledge > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:22

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The better question might be why don’t the luxury car makers offer them as standard instead of lumping them in packages that cost $3k or more and trigger other compulsory packages?

Also, the good lease deals that sell these cars are usually on the more basic models.

Wobbles the Mind > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:22

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I know exactly what you mean. Thank goodness GMC customers get this. I swear 50% of Yukons are Denalis, which makes used car buying so much better. The economy needs more fully loaded new vehicles on the roads! Save the used car market!! Depreciate damn it!!!

Party-vi > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 11/02/2015 at 15:22

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It seems like xenons are easier on my eyes at night than other halogen kits or stock lights.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 11/02/2015 at 15:22

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I said this back in 2002 when they first started becoming a thing. I figured by 2008 or so, Xenon lights would be standard on all cars.

Ha.

DrScientist > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:23

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i’ll venture a guess that this is because the overwhelming majority of the entry level lux sedans are specced by dealers and not buyers.

the dealers want to hit a certain price point with the cars they keep on their lots and the hid lights are invariably well into 4 digits. so they tend to be missing from the dealers’ cars.

1 point though. i AM surprised youre seeing these on the 350s as i think these already carry a significant premium over the 250s. which is odd. i’d imagine there are more 350s with the HIDs than 250s.

Future next gen S2000 owner > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:23

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#thereasonscarmakersdon’tlistentoenthusiasts

Rico > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 11/02/2015 at 15:24

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Some cars are still equipped with roll down windows like the Versa.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Future next gen S2000 owner 11/02/2015 at 15:24

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Thing is, HID headlights are like the most obvious “hey I have a luxury car” feature. You'd think that all luxury buyers would be clamoring for HIDs in their $32k C300...

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:25

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In my Z I might have to get yellow or whatever night driving glasses, it just goes straight into my face.

Party-vi > DrScientist 11/02/2015 at 15:26

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It seems like there are more C300 models with HID lights than C350 models :|

Party-vi > jariten1781 11/02/2015 at 15:27

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#getout

Future next gen S2000 owner > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 11/02/2015 at 15:27

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Pretty sure those dropping 32K on a new MB are just happy to be driving anything MB. But your point is well taken.

duurtlang > AMC/Renauledge 11/02/2015 at 15:30

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Because they make a lot of money on that $3k package?

EL_ULY > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:32

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Non Xenon/halo E90 sedans.... eww

like this but foggy and sunburned

E30 assemblies were better

Party-vi > EL_ULY 11/02/2015 at 15:34

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I’m sure by posting that image you violated some sort of decency act. Eew.

EL_ULY > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:36

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In several countries lol :]

DrScientist > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:36

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i bet this is because the c300 predated the c350. dealers assumed everyone wanted the HIDs, and then they were slow movers... so when the C350 came out they adjusted their specs.

of course i’m just speculating. but hey, its fun.

TractorPillow > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:37

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I guess in a word: posing.

Klaus Schmoll > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:37

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Dr. Scientist had a valid point about dealers simply not ordering them. I am still trying to fully understand the American dealer system.

Over here it’s also that a lot of these cars get bought by fleet buyers who don’t give a rat’s ass about the people who have to drive the things. In the early 90s a friend of my parents had an Audi 80 as a company car from Canon. It had the most basic radio without even a tape slot. To add insult to injury it had a plastic moulding which indicated where the tape slot would have been. We asked him if he couldn’t have paid for an upgraded radio out of his own pocket, but he said that it was company policy that everybody on the same level had to get the same.

haveacarortwoorthree2 > Rico 11/02/2015 at 15:42

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That’s raycess!

LongbowMkII > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:46

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I really wish the Cruze had Xenon HIDs like the Murano.

AMC/Renauledge > duurtlang 11/02/2015 at 15:53

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Exactly. And volume OEMs can charge less or make these features standard because of their economies of scale.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > Ash78, voting early and often 11/02/2015 at 15:57

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I actually don’t really care about my headlights - when I drive, I never see them, I only need to see what they illuminate in front of me.

These days I find myself using the “glare reduction” on my rearview mirror much more often than I used to since everyone is in a car that’s higher up than mine and they also have lights so bright they will incinerate small animals at close range. I think headlight brightness at today's level is simply unnecessary.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 11/02/2015 at 15:58

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Im pretty sure the new Corolla has them now... but yeah, its crazy how expensive they are still from the factory.

You would think that something so helpful for night driving would become standard

wiffleballtony > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 15:58

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The point of an entry level luxury car is to give the outward appearances of success while being a junior real estate agent. Or dental hygienist.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > Future next gen S2000 owner 11/02/2015 at 16:00

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I always imagined this situation to be like the Simpsons episode where the most intelligent people in Springfield start to govern the city. Enthusiasts designing cars and running car companies sounds good in theory but instead of an automotive utopia we’d end up with an automotive fruitopia.

To steal another line from that episode, "I guess everyone has a different vision of the perfect vehicle."

Van Man, rocks the Man Van > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 16:00

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I dunno why, but I think headlights are a key styling element in a lot of cars. I’d say about 99% of the time on a configurator I’ll select the optional, better looking headlights. For example, this:

Looks much better than this:

(Also, it's much harder to find a picture of a 3 series with halogens than it should be.)

unclevanos (Ovaltine Jenkins) > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 11/02/2015 at 16:01

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Badly aimed hids and xenons make me angry at night. I can see fine with halogens.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 16:09

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Entry-level ‘luxury’ is just badge-snobbery and dick-measuring.

Working for a dealer selling the luxury brand of a Japanese automaker, some of the rudest, most entitled and pretentious customers are those who are very obviously stretching to afford the badge on their car.

The obscenely wealthy, at least for our area, are generally quite pleasant to deal with.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 16:13

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This is correct. Same story with the fucking 328i lease-drive.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > macanamera 11/02/2015 at 16:20

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AC?

Party-vi > Van Man, rocks the Man Van 11/02/2015 at 16:20

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That’s because BMW doesn’t want you to think a 3-Series with halogens exists.

cazzyodo > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 16:21

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There is no point.

Entry level luxury vehicles are round.

Party-vi > DrScientist 11/02/2015 at 16:22

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The C350 was out at the same time as the C300 IIRC. The C300 was the bread-and-butter car though.

DrScientist > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 16:24

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double check that.

i think the c200 and c300 were first, c250 and c350 were post facelift or something.

Party-vi > DrScientist 11/02/2015 at 16:28

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Looks like it depends. There was a C200 with the W202 and W203 generations, but the W203 had a C350 model as well.

According to the boring people editing Wikipedia articles, the W204 had a C350 model from 2007 until now, and the C300 did not start until 2009, after they killed off the C280.

Rico > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 16:45

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Every 320i I’ve seen has halogens.

N51fanatic > Party-vi 11/02/2015 at 17:03

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I agree. There’s nothing worse than a bimmer or benz with halogens. It’s like, cmon man

Cars and Things > Party-vi 11/10/2015 at 12:53

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And why’z that? I have no problem on the 2015 I’m driving...did you order wrong???? JMHO

Party-vi > Cars and Things 11/10/2015 at 12:59

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That’s just it - I didn’t order one at all. I’m a cheapskate looking for one on the used car market.

Cars and Things > Party-vi 11/10/2015 at 14:12

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What can I say?????

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Party-vi 11/18/2015 at 15:56

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Like a Cadillac Cimarron?

I’d daily that one, if it had the Iron Duke four-cylinder...