So I am fairly new to the x-type, and now that the clocks have changed I am driving more at night. I noticed the (at least to me) odd pattern for the headlights (normal beam, not high-beam). I believe that I do not have the HID lights. Is this normal?

 

sawduster, not quite sure what you are finding "odd"? The lights are meant to have the very distinct line at the top. This is mandated for most new cars to minimize the amount of light blindness that can occur. I am not seeing anything abnormal with this light pattern.

If you are not sure whether you have HIDs or not, this is easy to determine (assuming no one has modified the car, then even these checks will catch that). This is how you determine:

1) open your driver's door jam and look at the door frame between the door hinges. Do you see a silver/white sticker there that says something to the effect of "This vehicle is equipped with High Intensity Discharge (HID) ......" If you don't even see a sticker, then this points to halogen headlights.

2), when you turn on your headlights, do they tend to "snap" on to full brightness and stay there or do you see them flash bright, but then immediately dim down, then over the course of a second or two, come up to full brightness? if they snap on, then you have halogen lights. If they flash, dim, then get bright again, then this is a characteristic of HIDs.

3) do you see your headlights when you turn them on dip down and then come back up to a normal position? If so, then you likely have the HIDs. This is the headlights "self-leveling" themselves based on how the car is sitting. I am not 100% sure, but I believe that was only available with the HID system and not with the halogen lights.

 

Thermo, thanks for the info. I guess I own too many "antiques" - my 2004 is the newest car in my "fleet". That line across the top is something new to me, but what you said now makes sense.