^
Agreed if true. Not sure what it is about the crease that makes it difficult for mass production.

Other cars have pronounced creases. What am i missing here?

I guess as long as the character line still exists and not a slab or rounded panel.

 

Hell no! This is only true in low output situations. For high output scenarios like a high performance flashlight or lowbeam headlights, the bulbs are running extremely hot. Their performance becomes limited to the size of the heatsink (passive cooling) and or implementation of active cooling. This is why it has taken so long for manufacturer's to adopt LED technology into lowbeam applications. Do you want to increase complexity, cost and reliability with a noisy fan cooling the headlamps for better performance per watt vs HID and Halogen? You save weight vs HID but lose to the simplicity and weight savings from Halogen. What manufacturer's have been doing is going with passive cooling and that itself is the biggest hurdle with LED technology at this level. What to do with all that HEAT. As LEDs become more and more efficient and we come up with better drivers to run them, things will be better for everyone. Last thing that 's not helping anyone is DOT and their ancient laws. They really need to get with the times . . .

 

The character line will still be there; it'll just be a little more rounded. Several other models (one of the recent Mazda concepts springs to mind) have had their creases changed slightly from pre-production form to the one released to the public.

Going by the pictures, the crease on the RC is extremely sharp, especially if you compare it with say the character line on a 4 series. The sharper the crease, the harder the metal is to press. Exotics can get away with it by using more expensive techniques, but on a mass produced car, there are limits, unless they set up brand new metal presses which would undoubted increase the manufacturing cost significantly and therefore translate to a higher sticker price on the showroom.

 

You've said it yourself, a lot of the benefit is aesthetic. And it really does allow designers a lot of creativity as to what they can do not just with the headlight cluster but to change the entire front fascia of the car by integrating the lights in different ways. I think as LED takeup increases, we'll continue to see more and more interesting designs. We've pretty much been stuck with the "round circle" motif for the last 50+ years.

And sooner or later, LEDs output will match HIDs, and even in the current generation, the difference between an HID and a LED equipped car is relatively minor in terms of actual brightness. I recently had 2 3IS models back to back, one with HIDs and one with LEDs, and to be honest, there was little difference between them that I could notice in city driving.

 

Have you seen the power of proper HID retrofits? Check out my sig for the RX350 HID conversion and tell me what you think. Current LED projectors don't stand a chance...

 

you guys duking it out over hids vs leds

 

I'm sorry, I looked at your retrofit thread and failed to see the difference. My LED headlights output the same amount of light, if not more. My cutoff is not is sharp as yours though, but that is because I have the OEM lenses. I wish I could switch to the TSX lenses, but I can't.

 

Its a slugfest LOL

 

Where did u hear/read this???

 

Dude, we should meet up sometime! I wanna check out your LEDs.

But back to the topic of the RC, I want one in either F-Sport trim or F. It all depends on where I'm at financially 5 years from now lol

 

I wonder how many have driven a car with LED lights, current/new generation ones?? The output is excellent and far better than the initial LED low beams Lexus debuted years ago. I have to say I'm very impressed with the Q50 LED lighting system, its very bright and clear and superior to HIDs. So are the new IS. When you get to the Audi/Mercedes system they are even more advanced.

Years ago I stated LED was the future not just for lighting output but b/c of their size, they allow designers to design more stylish headlights. Lexus clearly took this to another level with the separate LED housing.

The new 4 series also offers base HIDs or an LED light and the difference is noticeable. The headlight goes from a projector to single LED lamps. I do like that Lexus is using the "L" feature to stand out.

 

^^ yup, many going by old info/impressions here. led is the future.

 

Just seems like when we are talking about a luxury car, depending on what the brand is going for, they shouldn't be pushing to make money with added options that has a big aesthetic difference. Of if they do, rather see the majority of vehicles on the lot with this nicer design, so you can subtract if you want to save money, versus adding. At least with Audi, despite being able to get a standard projector setup, I see their LED setup much more often. I assume that's just the package they stock typically.

 

I'm going by the Honda Accord LED headlamp experience ^^.

The lighting was not as bright and did not have the range of a average XENON HID projector headlamp. Also the cutoff line wasn't as sharp.

The only thing LED have in their advantage is the design.

Also if manufactures are running a high current the LEDs need to be cooled somehow or they will melt.

 

Less talk on HID vs LED, moar pics.