VW Golf, Now with LED Rear Lights

German carmaker Volkswagen announced a premiere for the compact class, as its Golf model will benefit from LED rear lights from now on. The new Bi-Xeon headlights will come as a standard equipment on the Golf R, and as a 350 euros optional feature for the Golf GTI and GTD.

According to Volkswagen, each smoked rear light consists of two curved right angles, each angle containing eleven LEDs, and each of these angles forming the outer border for a distinctive LED centre dot.

In daylight, the low, white stripe defining the lower border of the rear light creates a very uniform visual surface, offering an overall impression of a harmonious design.

LED rear lights are practically maintenance-free and impressively fast. Their response time to brake activation is 0.2 second faster than that of conventional incandescent lights. This difference, Volkswagen says, can save lives: at a speed of 100 km/h it is equivalent to 5.6 meters braking distance.

Another safety and convenience feature are the Bi-Xenon headlights with dynamic cornering light that vary the lighting direction as a function of the steering angle, and dynamic headlight range adjustment. They also adapt the light distribution to their surroundings in city, highway and freeway driving depending on the car’s speed.

For example, in city traffic, up to 35 km/h , the lane boundary on the driver’s side is illuminated much brighter. These headlights are standard on the Golf R and are available on all other Golf models starting at 1,295 euros, for those of you who want to replace their old (and boring) ones.