Just taken delivery of an MY99. The beam is focused a bit better. Lights up the edges of the road nicely... Fitted Xeon bulbs straight away though, so can't comment on the standard bulbs. These give a slightly whiter light. So all in all, they are an improvement but lets face it, that was not difficult. My Dads 5 year old Skoda had better light than my MY97 (not joking).

Owners Of 99 My Are The Headlights Any Good
Do Spot Lights Come on When Main Beam Is Switched On.Are the Spot Lights Spots Or Fogs.

The lights mounted int he front bumper are fog lamps and not auxiliary driving lamps. You need to go for a conversion kit to put driving lamps in - and these will work when only main beam is selected.

In my opinion the lights on the 99MY cars are still not up to much. Fortunately I don't do much night-time driving, but for anybody who does, I expect they would become a real pain.

Hmm, maybe the UK spec is different but my (NZ spec) MY99's headlights are terrific - can't compare with any previous MY but certainly better than the car it replaced - an MB 300E-24. Full beam's throw is more than adequate on dark country roads at "normal" cruising speeds. Maybe the air's thicker in UK, or summit like that? ;-)

I just got an 99 MY STI V.
I could never see anything in the dark when driving other cars. With this one, I can see even less. I have NEVER been so amazed at how appaling lights can be. Presumably fitting xenons will just make what is appaling a bit whiter. silly behaviour for me in this car is strictly daytime pro tem unless anyone out there knows better!

The 99my lights are not good - I think that it's that the light distribution is bad as I have tried standard, 100watt blue & Xenon bulbs. I have stuck with the Xenon bulbs, although I also use the fog lights to "see around corners" on country lanes.
As everyone says - the round spoiler lights are fog lights.

As Robbie mentioned above, the driving light conversion is the way to go. Replace the (relatively) useless fog lights with a couple of Cibies from Scoobysport or PIAAs from Prodrive. I found it to be one of the best performance improvements to the car...you can drive almost as fast at night as day!

Steve

According to the 99MY Brochure, "The headlamps are now the most advanced multi-reflector design" surley this is a load of B******s as you are all reporting.

I have not yet received my 99MY, dealer says it's on a boat somewhere?!?! http://bbs.sidc.co.uk/frown.gif

Or alternatively, adjust the headlight beam like I have, on dipped, the lights are like others on full (and they are not high enough to blind others either)

I've had my MY99 for just over a week now and after reading all the criticism about the headlights I was surprised because I actually find them better than those on my previous cars - a Pug 306XSi and a Corrado 16V.

[This message has been edited by stan (edited 09-03-99).]