The Low beam headlights on my car seemed fairly dim and are very pink/purple.

Having done some research it seems that this is not uncommon on the Xenon HID bulbs.
While car manufacturers say they last for "the lifetime of the car" I suppose it depends what they think the "lifetime" is. As my car has done 104k (and perhaps the previous owners did a lot of night driving??) maybe it's not unreasonable that they should be failing.

So looking to replace them at reasonable cost I am staggered at the variation in price.
It seems to exceed the old adage "you pay for what you get" by quite a long way as there seems to be little to differentiate them.

For D2S bulbs I found -

£9.95 each - http://www.passionauto.co.uk/products/2831...?gshopping

£30.00 a pair - http://autolights.co.uk/d2r-hid-bulb-p-14.html

£56.21 a pair - http://www.hids4u.co.uk/d2s-bulbs-6000k-upgrade-pair.html

£65.00 each - http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/D2S-OSRAM...rch=c11126

What am I missing here? Current: MY15 RRS2 3.0 SDV6 Autobiography Dynamic, Aruba Gold, HUD, Meridian 1700w
Gone: RRS TDV6 2007 Stornaway
Gone: P38 2.5 DHSE

The first two are probably "Chinese" (as in cheap import, possibly not even E-marked)

The second two appear to be upgrade bulbs so are to a higher spec than the normal oem HID bulbs. THey are by well known "name brands". They are also D2R as opposed to the first two which are labelled D2S. NO idea if that's an important difference though.

The first two are notable by having no identifying marks on them (compare to the OSRAM version).

I'd go with a named brand personally. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

I am quite sure you are correct on this and I agree, I would prefer to use good UK/EU branded items.
But I still have this nagging feeling about the huge difference in prices.
They are easy enough to change so why not use the "Chinese" imports?

The difference in types D2R, S, C is shown in the picture which I have attached (courtesy of Audi forum).

In terms of spec. they should all be 35w, 85v maintaining voltage but will obviously differ in lumens output
In terms of colour if available it does not seem to make much difference to the price but I was working on 5000 or 6000k when looking for comparable bulbs.

I'm not sure why "upgrade" bulbs would be a different spec though?

Incidentally I have now seen some bulbs advertised at well over £100!
 Current: MY15 RRS2 3.0 SDV6 Autobiography Dynamic, Aruba Gold, HUD, Meridian 1700w
Gone: RRS TDV6 2007 Stornaway
Gone: P38 2.5 DHSE

My handbook suggests D2S 55W for xenon 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Interesting, now I look, my HB (page 271, 2007 MY) also says that.
But almost all Xenon bulbs are 35 or 38w. I wonder if it's a misprint?

There are a few upgrade kits at 55w but it depends on the ballast.
I need to take a headlamp out this weekend so I will have a look at what the ballast is marked.

Peanut,

Did replacing the bulbs cure your lighting problem, and if so which bulbs did you buy?

I have the same symptoms but thought it worth a check before shelling out £130 for the replacements.

Thanks in advance.

Joka

It is SWMBO car so I have not been driving it much. She really only drives during day.
So I had just put it on my list of jobs and not got round to doing it....

But with the long nights I drove it last week and compared to my Merc (which has Adaptive HL) it was awful!

So I have ordered a pair 5000K from HIDs4u. Very good price now and forum sponsor.

Why 5000K rather than 6000K at same price? Because my guess is that 5000K is a bit brighter than 6000K and not quite so blue. Whereas 5000K is whiter than the 4300K original fitment. Current: MY15 RRS2 3.0 SDV6 Autobiography Dynamic, Aruba Gold, HUD, Meridian 1700w
Gone: RRS TDV6 2007 Stornaway
Gone: P38 2.5 DHSE

My handbook also says D2S 55W however I checked the bulb this morning and

it is a GE XENSATION D2S 35W 53500 HUNGARY

 2008 Range Rover Sport Supercharged
Black Java, Luxury Pack, 20' Stomers, Armored