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HID & LED Headlights

201K views 273 replies 85 participants last post by  crichgas 
#1 ·
Is it possible to get the OEM LED's from GM and have them installed on a lower trim level such as the Luxury? I really like the look of the LED strips in the lower fascia, however I do not need the Performance or Premium trim that they come standard on?

Also, is there and issues with the connectors for the Luxury headlights to switch to HID?
 
#87 ·
had my car not been a lease, i would actually strongly consider it.....but that is extremely disapointing news. is it because of the wiring only? the stock led headlight wont fit? cuz if it fits, i guess you could do some wire splicing and get the DRL to run the LEDs and fogs.
 
#101 ·
People might want to wait and see how Cadillac did the LED/HID option for the 2014 Luxury model. The 2013 lights contain motors to aim them in to turns and adjust where they point when not turning. So retrofitting them will definitely involve buying expensive parts that can't be used and figuring out how to deactivate them and also figuring some way to manually aim them. Since the Luxury buyers who want the LEDs and HIDs don't seem to care about the adaptive feature, it would make sense for Cadillac to delete that from the 2014 Luxury LED/HID option. If Cadillac did that, retrofitting the 2014 option to 2013 cars may be much easier and cheaper.
 
#106 · (Edited)
FWIW, the MSRP difference between 2013 RWD Luxury and Performance was $2,400. That got you an upgraded stereo, driver awareness, HIDs, adaptive lights, LEDs, lit door handles, sport seats with more power adjustments, aluminum pedals, paddle shifters for auto trans. If you added Nav and Driver Awareness to your luxury, the MSRP difference between the Luxury and Performance dropped to $1,055. Since most people don't pay MSRP, the real world difference between Luxury and Performance was smaller.
 
#108 ·
True, but I have been driving a Performance model, with the 3.6L, now for a week - a loaner - and to my surprise, I am liking the Luxury model more. Maybe it is because of seat settings - In my car the settings are 'right' :)

I turned off the Driver Awareness - it gets in the way: I turned off the lane-departure warning completely, and put the collision alert on minimum.

I ended up liking (having gotten used to) the converted HID over the (adaptive) factory HID.


I hardly found use for the paddle shifters - that is probably because I use the PAL (heavy foot) - and actually missed the seat heaters for my passenger.

All the other options (upgraded Bose, more seat adjustments, and the cosmetics: LED trim, door handles, aluminum pedals) were not noticeable to me.

And of course, the Performance lacks the folding rear seat.


I do think that the Premium model options, MRC, adaptive cruise control, e-brake, HUD and LSD may be of more interest, but then the price gap grows.


If I had to purchase again, I would still pick the Luxury 3.6L - basically because of the folding rear seats - over the Performance 3.6L, and probably would not justify the Premium in either 2.0T or 3.6L trim. Forget the driver awareness package, but add the heater package (seats + steering wheel). But ymmv. (And hopefully, Cadillac does add (non-adaptive) HID lighting in the Luxury trim, at least as an option).


The Performance model also had fewer miles (2k versus my 7k) and it felt a bit 'sluggish'. Also, the mpg never came above 25.6mpg - whereas I get up to 28.3mpg the Luxury model already. But I am sure that these cars are alike eventually.


BTW - this is the third ATS that I have been in that has 17" tires with equal pressure front & rear, even though the guide states higher pressure in rear.
 
#121 ·
It's interesting to see how different people experience things differently, and also value things differently. The first ATS that I encountered was a Premium at a preview at a local mall. Sitting in it, I was amazed that the seats were so comfortable, both front and rear. I didn't think the "sport" seats were particularly sporty, but they were very comfortable to me. My next encounter was with a loaner ATS 2.5 Luxury, which I had for about a week. Though the seats looked the same, or at least very similar, to me they felt flat and unsupportive, and just not that comfortable, no matter how much I fiddled with the controls. I noticed also that the headlights pretty much sucked, especially on the high-beams, and I didn't realize it had no LEDs until I saw a reflection, and felt kind of ripped off! I was pleasantly surprised by the excellent handling and grip of the base suspension, but also surprised by the occasional harshness of the ride, which was worse than the ride of my CTS-V when in sport mode. This was on 17s, too. I also got to play with the sunroof, and found it too small and too noisy to be useful, and played with the CUE and Nav, which I overall liked.

When shopping for my own car, I checked out the Performance and the Premium, specifically with regard to the seats, lights, and ride and handling. I checked out the HIDs at night, and they were definitely better (though still not as good as the ones in the CTS, IMO). I found the seats again to be superior in comfort, just as I remembered. And the ride in the Premium when set in Tour mode was indeed less harsh and more supple, while having even more grip. I didn't really have to have the HUD or the driver awareness package, but I thought the suspension, seats, and lighting more than justified the extra cost. The other equipment was basically an added bonus. Now that I have lived with the car, I think the driver awareness package is really useful, and it has saved my ass a few times. One does have to get used to it though. One nice thing about the seat alert is that your passengers are unaware of the alerts. In any event, as I would have bought the Nav and Bose upgrade, the 18s, and the cold weather package at a minimum, the difference was only about $3k, or about 6.5% of the total. I don't think that's a lot for all of the upgrades that the Premium offers, especially for a luxury sport sedan, but to each his own.

To honest, I could have lived just fine without the leather and wood. If I could have ordered the suspension, seats, and lighting separately as on the BMW, I could have saved a few thousand bucks. That's not an option on the ATS, though, and so equipped, a 328 Sport would have been the same price as my loaded ATS Premium anyway, so it's still a great deal, as well as a great car.
 
#126 ·
Yes, having been able to compare the two now, the converted HID light pattern is more pleasing at night: the road just lights up brighter. Note that this is not light-color related, but light-pattern related.

Also, I expected more from the adaptive HID system - the factory HID rotate with the steering wheel, but only slightly, and the difference is marginal in comparison to the normal pattern (not like the STS which had side-light illuminating the left or right side of the road).

I have a friend who has a very dark driveway entrance, and with either HID system, the entrance remains unlit. With the STS the entrance was fully illuminated.

As to normal street driving - the 'forward' pattern of both the HID and Halogen appear closer to each other than I would have expected: as you can see from the light pattern, the Halogen light beam is concentrated in front of the car, whereas the factory HID is more dispersed. Converting the Halogen to HID gives you a concentrated HID pattern, which brightens up the road surface more. The factory HID brightens up more 'besides' the road.

I should put up a picture of my other car's (factory) HID pattern - it fits somewhere in between these two patterns, meaning it is brighter than the factory HID and less bright than the converted HID (for illuminating the road surface in front of you).
 
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