Australian Deliveries

(17-02-2012 03:22am)ghostborne Wrote:  Everything was going fine with my order, and then in a flash it all goes to $hit. Received my VIN from the dealer a few days ago and so checked details on TOPIx. All details looked fine except a couple of lines came as a big shock - "Halogen Headlamps" and "Less Headlamp Cleaning". WTF?!? I had ordered the Clearview Pack which is recorded in my order contract.

TOPIx also provides that my build has "Rain Sensor Front W/Wiper" and "Automatic Headlamp On/Off". So it looks like the factory has included the "Automatic headlamps and Rain Sensing Wipers" option (a $505 option) rather than the complete Clearview Pack (a $1,700 option).

So I called the dealer and they say that on their records, it does not state whether the build has halogens or xenons - however, strangely their records show that I have the DRLs (which only come with the xenons) so they need to confirm with UK (expected response next Monday). They say it is "likely" that I have the halogens. To say that I am massively disappointed/annoyed is an understatement.

So the question I have is - are the xenons/DRLs really worth it over the halogens or should I just accept delivery with the halogens (with a discount on purchase price of course)? I must say that I do love the aesthetics of the xenons/DRLs. I have already waited 3 months for the car and it is expected to be delivered late March/early April and I really do not have the patience to wait another 4-6 months to put in another order and wait for build/delivery (although I will certainly be putting serious heat on the dealer to ensure I am bumped up on the dealer's build allocation list if I do choose to put another order in).

I have gone to carpoint/carsales to see if there is a car which fits my build/price which I can buy without the wait but unfortunately I can't find anything that has the same build. So I don't think this option is currently viable.

Sigh....

I also ran out of money speccing my Evoque and ended up with halogens. However, I am sure I have the DLRs. Are those the very white lights that sit next to the main headlights. During the day they are always on and I must say they look pretty cool. At night when I switch on the main headlights, the yellow halogens don't look good compared to the outer lights. Other forum members have discussed on various threads about changing the OEM halogens to a pure white halogen that is very close to a Xenon.

IMHO - take the car they sending you but milk them for all you can get.

(17-02-2012 03:22am)ghostborne Wrote:  Everything was going fine with my order, and then in a flash it all goes to $hit. Received my VIN from the dealer a few days ago and so checked details on TOPIx. All details looked fine except a couple of lines came as a big shock - "Halogen Headlamps" and "Less Headlamp Cleaning". WTF?!? I had ordered the Clearview Pack which is recorded in my order contract.

TOPIx also provides that my build has "Rain Sensor Front W/Wiper" and "Automatic Headlamp On/Off". So it looks like the factory has included the "Automatic headlamps and Rain Sensing Wipers" option (a $505 option) rather than the complete Clearview Pack (a $1,700 option).

So I called the dealer and they say that on their records, it does not state whether the build has halogens or xenons - however, strangely their records show that I have the DRLs (which only come with the xenons) so they need to confirm with UK (expected response next Monday). They say it is "likely" that I have the halogens. To say that I am massively disappointed/annoyed is an understatement.

So the question I have is - are the xenons/DRLs really worth it over the halogens or should I just accept delivery with the halogens (with a discount on purchase price of course)? I must say that I do love the aesthetics of the xenons/DRLs. I have already waited 3 months for the car and it is expected to be delivered late March/early April and I really do not have the patience to wait another 4-6 months to put in another order and wait for build/delivery (although I will certainly be putting serious heat on the dealer to ensure I am bumped up on the dealer's build allocation list if I do choose to put another order in).

I have gone to carpoint/carsales to see if there is a car which fits my build/price which I can buy without the wait but unfortunately I can't find anything that has the same build. So I don't think this option is currently viable.

Sigh....

Ghostborne,

Sorry to hear but I know and understand how you feel, upon looking at topix I realised the dealer had ordered the wrong colour!! We did come to an agreement as far as a price reduction but having picked up our car last Saturday all that bad feelings I had have since disappeared.. ( untill today reading your post and getting a LR survey, which I have just vented on). See what the dealer comes back with and go from there I guess, as long as your happy with the outcome.

Dealer was MLR. Apart from this episode, I have found them to be fine. Pretty responsive to queries, etc...

Guess I just have to wait and see once they confirm with UK. I do, however, have a bad feeling. And if so, I will be reading them the riot act. Unfortunately I agree with others that TOPIx is probably more reliable than the dealer.

If I did accept the halogens, I would only be content with the car, not happy.

Spiff, I believe the DRLs (without the xenons being turned on) look like the attached photo.

   

(17-02-2012 08:15am)ghostborne Wrote:  Dealer was MLR. Apart from this episode, I have found them to be fine. Pretty responsive to queries, etc...

Guess I just have to wait and see once they confirm with UK. I do, however, have a bad feeling. And if so, I will be reading them the riot act. Unfortunately I agree with others that TOPIx is probably more reliable than the dealer.

If I did accept the halogens, I would only be content with the car, not happy.

Spiff, I believe the DRLs (without the xenons being turned on) look like the attached photo.

Ahh - no those are the Xenon DRL's.

The DRL's without the xenon's is a little bulb right next to the main halogen light that is on whenever you drive...

attached is without the Xenons.

   
   

and you can always change the colour of the main headlight bulb to make it a bit more xenon-looking and most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

question is... do the Signature DRL's warrant waiting another 3-4 months.. maybe not so much the Xenon's themselves...

Hey ghostborne, just to clarify, both xenons and halogen have DRLs. The xenons, as part of the clear view package have the rings or signature which you refer. The halogen lights still have and led DRL but it is a solid light and not the signature. I have the halogen light set up.

My views of the halogen are;

1: the DRLs, whilst I do not have the signature rings I am not fussed. I see another evoque almost every second day with them and it does not really make much more of an impression during the day. Maybe at dusk before you put on the lights it will look better, but really the amount of time you can show it off will be very short.
2. The general light colour of the headlights is very yellow, I am used to xenons. Having said that I have just recieved a new set of bulbs, which are Osram night breakers which should be a whiter light. I will install over the weekend and let you know how it is.

Overall, whilst the signature ring drl's would be nice, I am not sure I would make it a deal breaker. The overall car package compensates anyway. I will post the difference in headlight brightness and colour after the install on the weekend.

I installed the headlight globes this morning.

1. The install- was pretty straight forward. The drivers side light has better access than the passenger. The manual explains the process well and easy to follow. The only thing is the manual only refers to the xenon set up. With the halogen bulb, to remove you just twist the glob in the housing to remove. Getting the electrical clips off were a little hard on passenger side due to space limitations. I was say do the drivers side first, as you have better access and can learn on that one first. It took about 30 mins to do the install, and I am no expert

2. Results- whilst the garage is dark, I have not had a chance to see at night time. But in the garage the light is still a yellowish colour albeit less yellow than before. The Osram night breakers have two blue rings on the globe to make it a whiter light. I think if you want the bright white, you need a full blue colour glass bulb (stand to be corrected), but I think these actually reduce the performance of the light. So they are not a colour match to the led fog lights and DRLs, but I am sure you can do further research and maybe get some different bulbs. Once you have change the bulbs once it would be easier the second time. The cost of the bulbs was about $30 from eBay, so a cheap mod.

Well I spoke with the dealer yesterday who confirmed that I do indeed have the halogens (as per Topix) rather than the xenons and they admitted that it was their error for not properly checking build specs from factory prior to build. Massively disappointed...it may be a good lesson for who are about to order to ensure/remind their dealer to take appropriate measures to check the details.

Following various discussions with them to try to rectify the problem, they (1) checked if xenons can be retrofitted locally following factory build; (2) checked current and incoming stock Australia wide to see if anything fit my specs; (3) looked into priority build allocation and discount in the event I wanted to re-order with the same original specs with xenons; and (4) looked into what discount they could offer if I accepted the current build with halogens.

For (1), I was told that it is not possible for their service team to retrofit xenons due to inbuilt software and electrical issues. For (2), they could not find anything on market which met my requirements. This was no surprise as I have been looking on carsales/carpoint myself. While I can be flexible on colour and interior, the upshot is that there currently aren't any TD4 Pures on the market with tech pack, clearview pack, panoramic, power tailgate and reverse camera. If you find one, let me know.

(3) and (4) are the interesting parts which most discussions/negotiations took place as they really are the only viable options. For (3), I was offered an April build for June delivery but with an additional discount on price ($69k driveaway), plus a courtesy car (most likely Freelander) from late April/early May until June delivery. For (4), I was offered a good discount on price, being $67k driveaway.

So now I need to make a choice!?! The boss (aka wife) doesn't care about xenons so prefers keeping the Evoque with halogens just to save some cash so she can buy more shoes. There is no doubt in my mind that $67k driveaway (plus 3 years free servicing for corporate client) is a great price for the specs I would be receiving if I accepted the halogen build (I've updated my signature with the halogen build specs). Plus, I don't know if I can wait another 4 months, even if I do get a courtesy car.

Head says take the halogens, heart says be patient and re-order with xenons.

I'd be torn between options 3 & 4, would you happy if you took option 4 & just fit a HID kit yourself? heaps of good kits on eBay for around $150 (maybe $300~ for a canbus one if required) then only thing you would be without is the signature LED DRL's.

I would think option 3 would be best - some discount + loan car + the exact car you wanted.

that's just me though - i know the wait is absolutely killing though so its a really touch choice.

Option 4 would be very tempting. That's a ripper price for the options you have! Surprised that they can't retrofit the xenon's, I saw them for sale somewhere (ebay perhaps??) and assumed they could be retrofitted. Not having the xenon's myself I don't see them as a must have.