[Blackmyre]

Basic question from a new owner: what are the inner headlamps for? I thought one lamp might be dipped beam and the other main, but the outer lamps seem to be motorised to serve both functions. Halos and the "eyebrow" apparently act as side/running lights, andfFoglamps are separate units mounted lower. So what are those inner lamps for?

[Qsilver7]

It depends on which headlight set-up you have. You didn't say if you have halogen, bi-xenon, LED, or laser.

Bi-xenon: https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...d-lim/Aj05ieCq

LED: https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...d-lim/KWF9wmiE

[Blackmyre]

Sorry - said I was a newbie! The car is UK-spec 2016, which makes it a "facelift" model. As far as I can tell that means it has xenon headlights as standard and the VIN decode shows nothing differing from standard. I'm not sure what bi-xenon means.

[wcr3d]

Do the outer look different than that inner like his first picture?
Those as bi xenon. Xenon outside, halogen inside.
If this is the case then the inside are used for flash to pass and turning assist.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by Blackmyre

Basic question from a new owner: what are the inner headlamps for? I thought one lamp might be dipped beam and the other main, but the outer lamps seem to be motorised to serve both functions. Halos and the "eyebrow" apparently act as side/running lights, andfFoglamps are separate units mounted lower. So what are those inner lamps for?

From the manual, pages 98-99...

Adaptive Light Control is a variable headlamp control system that enables dynamic illumination of the road surface. Depending on the steering angle and other parameters, the light from the headlamp follows the course of the road. In tight curves, e.g., on mountainous roads or when turning, an additional, corner-illuminating lamp is switched on that lights up the inside of
the curve when the vehicle is moving below a certain speed.
Activating Switch position with the ignition switched
on. Lamps Controls

The cornering lamps are automatically switched on depending on the steering angle or the use of turn signals. To avoid blinding oncoming traffic, the Adaptive Light Control does not swivel to the driver's side when the vehicle is at a standstill. When driving in reverse, only the cornering lamp is active.

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by Blackmyre

Sorry - said I was a newbie! The car is UK-spec 2016, which makes it a "facelift" model. As far as I can tell that means it has xenon headlights as standard and the VIN decode shows nothing differing from standard. I'm not sure what bi-xenon means.

Bi-xenon means that one bulb is used for both low & high beam (the bulbs on the outer position...or #2 in the illustration below). If you go back up to my first reply...click on the link above the first pic of the bi-xenon set-up...there is an index for each of the numbers that are listed in the illustration...as well as a lengthy explanation of the headlights and how they operate.

Even though the pic is (I believe from the f01 7 series...the placement of the bulbs is the same even though the design may be slightly different.

As mentioned in the post above this one...the inner bulb location (#1 in the illustration) is the cornering bulb (which is optional). So depending on how your car is optioned, it could be a cornering light...or it may be nothing there.

The info below is exerts from the link that was posted in my previous reply.

BTW, welcome and congrats on the purchase.

[Blackmyre]

Adaptive Xenons seem to have been standard on the LCI in the US but not here in the UK, so I don't have those. My flash/pass switch just activates high beam on the outer lamp and not the inner one. Nothing changes when I apply steering lock either, so no "cornering light" (which I expect would be part of the Adaptive Headlight function). So, it seems that the inner bulbs are effectively dummies on my car (apart from the halos). Fair enough.

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

BTW, welcome and congrats on the purchase.

Thanks. Yesterday was my first full day with it so I put in a couple hundred recreational miles on various road types and I certainly wasn't disappointed. Although it's only a 520D the performance felt really good for a large car, a big improvement over my previous one. The auto box feels really smooth, both the ride quality and the [sports] seats are very comfortable, and if the trip computer is honest then it returned better than 50mpg. Really can't grumble at that.