Hector Fratty

 I was invited last week by Wolfgang Huhn to drive the Audi A7 at night.

 Like 2 months ago with the Mercedes CLS, I was impressed by the lighting performances of this pioneering LED headlamp.

The headlamp has 3 parts, one at the exterior side, “BiLED” for low beam and high beam and 2 other LED modules. BiLED has 8 LEDs for low beam and 4 LEDs for high beam. It only works for city lighting. The 2 other modules have 2 × 2 chips each and are a complement to drive on highways.

Find below my main comments and personal feelings about this single night test, which would deserve more driving to be confirmed:
• A very good, quite perfect homogeneity. Maybe a little better than CLS but with such nice homogeneities, it is difficult to compare perfect with more than perfect.
• It seems to me the A7 emits slightly less light on the road. I do not know the real value of the flux on the road but it is merely a feeling: in spite of a good light in the width, it seems a little lower light than CLS.
• I was also impressed by the high beam with a high hot spot and homogeneous volume. It is the best high beam I ever saw.
To summarize the lighting performance, Audi A7 has a first in class homogeneity, a perfect high beam with a slightly lower flux on the road and in the width compared to CLS. Both lights are the best in the world and confirm the award they won from DVN.

I regret the absence of adaptive cutoff on the A7. Personally, since my drive with Audi Xenon A8 over hundreds of km few months ago, I have been totally convinced of the worth of this function. With such a system, the position of the cutoff is not depending any more on the load, not varying with acceleration and braking, not depending any more on the roads and the opposite cars. It is the best compromise between good visibility distance and glare to the opposite car.