Split headlights

[hoffmeister_fan]

Split headlights, seen on Hyundai cars, Audis, Citroens, BMWs, etc..... opinions tend to be split, and yes, pun very much intended. Either you're in the camp hating it or being ambivalent. So the questions are 1) why?, 2) does it confer any advantages for both the driver and oncoming vehicle, and 3) have there been any recent or applicable governmental regulations that I am not aware of that dictate that headlights have to be a certain height and need to project a certain way that neccesitates these types of light set-up up front? Especially with cars that high frontal height.

My opinion and experience: outside of the most recent Genesis (Geneses? Genesises? Still not sure how one pluralizes them.) I they look rather ham-fisted. That said, I've a had a pre-FL current gen Jeep Cherokee with the lower headlights coming my way, and I did not find them as blinding as those that tend to sit higher up.

 

[Matski]

It comes down to execution. Split headlamps and single unit items aren't really any different in this regard, you can get good looking examples and bad examples of each. You get the same manufacturer doing something one generation, and something different the next, sometimes they look good, sometimes they look bad.

Does an E21 look better with quad lamps, or did the 2002 Turbo before it look better with single lamps? Did the E21 look better with 'four eyes' or 'two eyes'?

Did the units in the E7x X models look better than what came later? Given the same basic style?

Does the E24's four equally sized lamps look better than the E23's unequally sized units?

Which looked better? Pre LCI, LCI, or Compact?

First gen luxury saloon... 3-ish generations later, or 3-ish generations after that?

First M only product, first Z only product, first i (BEV only) product

New versus old?

Good, Utter Shite?

911 or Beetle?

.. my point being, people cling to dogma's when it suits them.

 

[Deleted member 57437]

As previously mentioned, this particular lighting unit configuration will not only be a G70 feature, but also that of the upcoming PPE Audi eTron vehicles. Viewed as an isolated element (removing grill shields from the visual), this works for me. The heavily smoke-glassed lower projector units are actually a nice "stylistic" element that aid in reducing the visual mass that could be annoying were the upper DRL strip the sole front illumination unit.

 

[SKY]

I dislike the lack of ideas that transpires fron everyone using the same solutions.

Having said that, I think on the BMW looks great.

 

[Deleted member 57437]

Lotus appears to have pursued a similar path with the Eletre's front lighting units.

Love this car, by the way.

 

[SKY]

I'd say I prefer the vertical approach for the main headlight piece. They can be hidden as part of the side air intakes in the front bumper.

There are a few Chinese cars doing it right I believe.

 

[fortuner]

I don’t think split headlights is a issue the issue is the way BMW have done them is not really impressive. Their are others who have done it better for sure.

 

[kiki voinea]

I have a dream...

That one day , we will all agree , that Dacia is the true trend-setter. Lambo style , split style , you have it all

 

[J.E]

I'm so used of seeing the Fiat Toro everywhere that split headlights don't bother me.

 

[Giannis]

I've got nothing against split headlights. I like them in most applications, even Citroen's!

 

[SKY]

I've got nothing against split headlights. I like them in most applications, even Citroen's!

But we all know here about your secret passion for Citroens!

 

[martinbo]

Split headlights - they’re nothing new. We’ve seen them on Cherokees and Citroëns and Hyundais and they’ve been inconsequential. With Genesis, they piqued our curiosity but, put them on a BMW and now everyone’s talking.

 

[Giannis]

But we all know here about your secret passion for Citroens!

Renaults, my friend, and on a lesser extent, Peugeots. Citroens were never my cup of tea.

 

[A.P.]

Split headlights worked on some of the older cars as shown in this thread due to actually designers putting effort and putting them side by side or combining them with pop-up headlights in most cases.

These new split headlights... I don't see any benefits or beauty in them. It's just there to make a car look retarded. It's a sign of lazyness due to some manufacturers not wanting to design new headlights each generation. Or it's a sign of wanting to be "futuristic".

Notice how it's almost exactly the same unit on 2022-2023 cars (7 series, X7, A6 E-tron etc.). It's almost as if some Chinese lighting brand is supplying these to them. They are grabbing and using it (only having to design DRLs), because it's cheaper and people eat them up.

I hope it's another trend that will die out pretty quickly. Like the fake exhaust did, that I guess German brands started in modern age. (The effects of that are still felt today on other brands.)

 

[hoffmeister_fan]

So is there any regulations that I am not aware where an automaker is required to set the main lighting units lower on a car's fascia?

 

[Matski]

So is there any regulations that I am not aware where an automaker is required to set the main lighting units lower on a car's fascia?

Yes and no.

There are limits on most characteristics of all vehicle lighting. For EU homologation requirements give Regulation 48 a read, it's only 115 pages. They don't dictate a specific solution, but in combination with other regulations*, design themes, manufacturing constraints, they will no doubt limit the available solutions. They stipulate rangess of dimensions and locations, angles, brightnesses, colour compositions, geo-metric visibility etc. etc. etc.

As an example, there is no height specification for a main-beam light, but your dipped-beam has to be 500mm-1200mm from the ground. Front Fog-lamps are 250mm-800mm - but they cannot be higher than the dipped beam units. Reversing lamps are 250mm-1200mm etc. etc. etc.

*As an example, EU regulation 78 (type-approval of motor vehicles with regard to the protection of pedestrians and other vulnerable road users), the edge of the headlight surround is one of the things that defines the bonnet leading edge in some cases, and that's a critical reference point for other specifications in the regulations.

As I say, I doubt this specifically mandates a specific arrangement, but there's a great many factors that are interdependent and may well result in limited real world solutions given vehicle packaging constraints.

 

[dalab]

It comes down to execution. Split headlamps and single unit items aren't really any different in this regard, you can get good looking examples and bad examples of each. You get the same manufacturer doing something one generation, and something different the next, sometimes they look good, sometimes they look bad.

Does an E21 look better with quad lamps, or did the 2002 Turbo before it look better with single lamps? Did the E21 look better with 'four eyes' or 'two eyes'?

View attachment 590613 View attachment 590614 View attachment 590615

Did the units in the E7x X models look better than what came later? Given the same basic style?

View attachment 590621 View attachment 590622

Does the E24's four equally sized lamps look better than the E23's unequally sized units?

View attachment 590616 View attachment 590617

Which looked better? Pre LCI, LCI, or Compact?

View attachment 590618 View attachment 590619 View attachment 590620

First gen luxury saloon... 3-ish generations later, or 3-ish generations after that?

View attachment 590623 View attachment 590624 View attachment 590625

First M only product, first Z only product, first i (BEV only) product

View attachment 590626 View attachment 590627 View attachment 590628

New versus old?

View attachment 590629 View attachment 590630

Good, Utter Shite?

View attachment 590631 View attachment 590632

911 or Beetle?

View attachment 590634 View attachment 590635



.. my point being, people cling to dogma's when it suits them.

A very illustrative summary, which also serves to better understand the importance of these details that many times, although imperceptible to the common eye, command the rest of the design and the generational change necessary to renew and not bore, a change of era better said because is maintained for decades, an example:

The shape of the light turn, finished down (pre LCI), had been the norm up until that exact point in time (since the 1600 or maybe before).
In the LCI the turn ligth finished upwards is the norm since then, allowing things like the lights of the E60, CS concept until today in all the current models of the brand including the G70 and many other "followers"

The anecdotal thing that I discover with your photo is that something so key has occurred in an LCI, or perhaps a another totally new BMW model adopted it and took advantage of it for the 3 series LCI.

The implementation of these resources and their disposition regarding their environment and the rest of the car is clearly perceived as created for the G70, and/or for the style of the brand, (we know that this was seen for the first time in a BMW concept thinking in the future),

For which the point after all the honorable mentions to Citroen, Hyundai, etc with their "splits" tell me if in any Hyundai or Citroen looks like this.....