Adaptive LED headlights

General Discussion Forums MX-5 Chat
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I picked up my GT Sport Nav+ yesterday and have been adding a few relatively gentle early miles - as you do.  Already I’m loving the improvements the new engine has over my previous ND, the Mk4 Z-Sport.  But nowhere, in any of the reviews, has there been any mention of Adaptive LED headlights.

Last night, with nothing on the box and a desire to go somewhere, anywhere, just for the enjoyment of driving this lovely little car, I popped out for a few minutes and didn’t come back for over an hour.  My wife phoned me after about 45 minutes to ask where I was and was I alright? 

What kept me out was the sheer, unadulterated fun of driving on unlit roads and watching the adaptive LED headlights at work.  They’re astonishing to an older driver like me who started off on motorbikes with a single 6 volt 24/30W headlamp.  Put them on Auto and main beam and watch them at work.  In lit, built up areas they maintain a regular dip beam but, as soon as the roads become unlit, they switch to main beam over about 20 mph unless you’re behind anyone or there’s anyone coming the other way.  On country roads there’s this astonishingly powerful beam of light that doesn’t just light the road ahead but also has more height so you can see half way up into the trees as well which makes, unexpectedly, not just for a better view but also a far more enjoyable one too.  As well, when the road bends left or right the lights don’t turn, as in my previous two cars, which although mildly entertaining made no meaningful contribution to vision; instead a whole new beam is generated by, presumably, another light within the unit which shines to the left for left hand bends and to the right for right-handers.  This truly does provide much better vision - it’s like having a passenger with a hugely powerful torch who turns it on and aims it into the darkness to left or right as necessary then turns it off again once past the bends. 

As well, and here’s the surprise, when another vehicle appears the lights don’t simply dip, as I rather expected.  The multi-beam lamps switch off any lights that will dazzle the other road user(s) and leave all others on.  This means that, when you’re following another vehicle, the rear of that vehicle is not illuminated at all by your headlights but to left and right of it your main beam remains, still penetrating into the darkness ahead.  Have you ever been on an unlit road behind a slower driver who doesn’t use main beam?  It’s essentially impossible to see ahead to see if it’s safe to overtake them without using main beam yourself and thus dazzling them.  Well, that’s now a thing of the past - finally there is the opportunity to get a good view past without dazzling the driver ahead. 

And the lights work exactly the same way with oncoming drivers - the main beam is clearly visible to left and right of them but they are not being dazzled at all, as evidenced by the fact that not one of the many oncoming drivers I passed flashed there lights at me which, in the Z-Sport, was an annoying and regular occurrence even when I knew my lights were on dip.  (It happened so often I had had them checked just before Christmas but the dealer said they were adjusted to spec).

Welcome to the modern world of automotive night lighting, a genuine improvement, for me, over anything I’ve ever driven with before.

If you are planning to buy a new ND4 which doesn’t have these lights as standard, and you do a fair amount of night driving, see if you can have them fitted as an optional extra - they are a revelation.

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Congrats on the new car and interesting to hear your description of the leds.

What made you jump ship from the z-sport by the way?

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I couldn’t agree more paulcroft, the technology that is ALH is absolutely fantastic and a joy to watch.

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Sorry to put a dampener on your enjoyment of the lighting on your car but I was followed by a newish Mk4 a few nights ago and found the lights pretty annoying. After your explanation of how they work I now understand why they were dazzling me via the door mirrors. No idea how Mazda think you can shine a main beam type light down the side of the car in front and not dazzle the driver in their exterior mirrors.

Ian

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The Z-sport was preceded by a 1.5 Sport Nav which I loved - it didn’t have much torque but, above 4000 rpm it really started to ‘sing’ and was great fun.  I had hoped the Z-Sport with its 2.0 litre engine would be similar but with more power but it wasn’t: in practice it was just the cooking engine from the CX3 in a light car and the exhaust was dull and uninspiring too, unlike the 1.5’s which had a lovely sound at the upper reaches of the rev band.  I tried a Cobalt exhaust for a couple of weeks but it wasn’t the same and was, too, a bit too noisy for my liking throughout the rev range.

When the new 2.0 engine was announced about 3 months after I had bought the Z-Sport I cursed my luck for buying when I did but that’s life.  I knew I could never justify part-Xing the car after just 3 months but I promised myself that, if the 2.0 litre engine was as good as it appeared to be, I’d keep the Z-sport for a year and just take the hit in March this year.  Two months ago I got the chance to spend half a day with a GT Sport Nav+ and adored it.  This new engine is just like the smaller one in character - wind it up and keep it above 4000 in 2nd a 3rd and it is gloriously responsive, and although not quite as good as the 1.5’s this exhaust has a delightful but inoffensive wail as the engine goes over 6000 rpm.

It cost me 8K to change but I’m very lucky, I’m a pensioner and I can afford it without too many problems.  As well, I can see the day in the not too distant future when all cars will be electric and the opportunity to drive this sort of vehicle will be outlawed so I think there’s a real need to do this while (a) I still can, and (b) we’re still allowed to. 

I’m now in the process of planning three trips across to Europe between May and October to get lost in the mountains once again where this car can really be given its head.

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Only the Sport-Navs have the adaptive lights as standard so the one behind you may have had ‘ordinary’ headlights unless you know for certain that it didn’t…  My Z-Sport’s lights definitely annoyed other motorists, they weren’t adaptive and it happened enough that I had their alignment checked but was told it was within spec.  Besides. this problem’s not new, with ‘ordinary’ headlights if you’re on a multi-lane road and there’s a vehicle in a lane to your right the uptilt to the left of normal headlights which are dipped always tends to dazzle through the offside door mirror. 

I got the impression that, when following another car, the part of my main beam that was ‘turned off’ was wide enough for that not to happen.  However, I will watch for this when I go out tonight.

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Agree entirely. They really are magic. The auto wipers are great too.

Great to be able to just concentrate on and get maximum enjoyment from the driving.

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Thanks for the detailed info, I looked at a z-sport last summer and was a little underwhelmed by the engine when test driving the dealer’s demo 2-litre. I put it down to the low mileage of the demo car and wondered if it would open up in time. The only thing that prevented the purchase was the cherry roof, or rather my wife, who wasn’t a fan.

I’m pleased to hear you’re loving the new engine, sounds like it was what the 2 litre should have been.

I bought a mk2.5 in August to tide me over and love its characterful engine. Considering a cobalt exhaust if I don’t upgrade to the new ND anytime soon.

Anyway, back on topic, my wife’s CRV has the adaptive Leds, but seems the Honda version not as advanced as Mazda’s as the high beam auto switching is a little slow to dip when it detects oncoming traffic. The occasional flashing from other motorists is frustrating so my wife tends to keep it switched off. 

Enjoy the road trips! 

 

 

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@ pmba

my wife’s CRV has the adaptive Leds, but seems the Honda version not as advanced as Mazda’s as the high beam auto switching is a little slow to dip when it detects oncoming traffic. The occasional flashing from other motorists is frustrating so my wife tends to keep it switched off. <<

I’ve heard of exactly this problem with other cars but Mazda have cleared worked to avoid this obvious error - the lights are very responsive and change virtually instantly.

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Thanks Paul, I pick up my new mx5 in 2 days. I’ll have a word and see if I can get the adaptive lights fitted to my sel-nav+. I think the answer is going to be ‘no’, though. They sound great.

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The only problem I have with the lights on my sport nav is when I drive my NA in the dark. I keep expecting the lights  to light up the corners.

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that’s great to hear, i’m picking up my GT in a couple of days and i’m really looking forward to this feature.

Does the car have adaptive cruise control (ie maintains a set distance behind cars in front)? that seems to be the only bit of modern tech that could easily be integrated, but isn’t

 I was followed by a high spec bmw a couple of years ago, and i was bewitched by the lights doing exactly as you describe, i could see it’s lights dipping as traffic came the other way and returning once they had passed, the light down the side of my car was better than my own high beams… genuinely impressive. To have this function is a real easter egg for me, i wasn’t expecting it…

Here is a quick mazda video explaining the lights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhH1FcUTlXM

 

what are your comments on differing aspects of the spec of that model, anything good/bad/indifferent

(i just want to talk about mx5s while i wait for mine, can you tell!!!) 

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I wonder how much of this is perception by drivers. I get dazzled by most LED headlights even on dipped beam. Even with the supposed side beam on the ND adaptive lights there must be a point at which someone gets dazzled via their side mirrors, probably depending on how close you are to the them. Also, what happens to cars coming the other way when the side beams are on? I find the old fashioned ‘manual’ main beam to be adequate and just switch off when behind another car or have one coming the opposite way.

I had adaptive LEDs on my last Merc and to be honest, I’d had the car about 6 months before I even noticed that they moved when you went around corners. In other words, they made negligible difference. Don’t have them on my latest car and don’t miss them. They seem a bit unnecessary but I guess that’s just me…

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I agree the best headlights I’ve owned on the car. Even better than my Lexus RX 3 beam LED and they’re pretty good.

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@ PeteG

I had adaptive LEDs on my last Merc and to be honest, I’d had the car about 6 months before I even noticed that they moved when you went around corners. In other words, they made negligible difference. Don’t have them on my latest car and don’t miss them. They seem a bit unnecessary but I guess that’s just me… <<

My previous Sport Nav and Z-Sport had a form of adaptive LED which sounds similar to your Merc where the lights turned with the steering wheel but made negligible real world difference.  The ALHs on the GT Sport Nav are entirely new and streets ahead of the earlier lights.

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I too switched from a 2.0L ND1 to a ND2 GT, and I found the headlights a revelation. 

The engine is so different in character that I do not regret having spent some cash - the GT is awesome.

 

I have a question that may warrant another post, though.
The manual states (or I understood)  that for the ALH to work properly, as well as any other safety system which uses the FSC (Forward Sensing Camera) input , the suspension must not be changed.

I’d hope that I could one day lower the suspension ! Has anyone any experience with how suspension changes may affect the FSC for real?

 

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I’d be surprised if that were the case, i have the main dealer lowering my GT for me using the mazda lowering springs before i even pick it up. as long as it’s level f/r it’ll be fine, surely???

surely mazda wouldn’t sanction and market their own lowering springs if it affected the safety systems, would they???

 

If the ND is anything like the NC, the ‘standard’ suspension height is a legislative bodge anyway to get around pedestrian safety regs Re: bumper impact heights.

Lowering it made the car act as designed and fixed the weird handling foibles entirely, this time round i’m shortcutting the disappointment and getting it decked first as last, lol…

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Hi guys hope you can help. I have just collected a 2.0l RF Sport Nav+ with safety pack and can’t figure out whether the Adaptive Front Lighting System (AFS) is working. Its got the Adaptive LED Headlights (ALH) which activates the high beam, but the lights don’t appear to corner. Due to a paint defect, last week I had my dealers demonstrator Sport Nav+ and the cornering lights worked fine so I would hope that I’m not being daft and just not realizing its on.

I have searched through the settings and can turn the ALH on and off, the owners manual indicates I should be able to do that with AFS? Could anyone confirm if there is a setting somewhere in the depths of the infotainment system and if so the path to it?

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I love the headlights on mine. The way they turn with the direction is just awesome to watch.