For the model I got (2005 B6) the easiest way to tell is look at the housing of the headlights. If its chrome they are halogens, if its a flat-grey they are xenon's (HID).

But like everyone else said if they are xenon's they should also do the whole range of motion thing when you start up.

 

I am not an expert in xenon's but don't they also change color as they warm up. Mine go from a very dark blue when the car first starts to an almost white color with a hint of blue after a few minutes.

 

I have never seen yellow Xenons especially on an Audi?

Watch for the self-leveling feature when you turn on the car at night, they usually start down low and rise to the correct level within a split second. Do it against a wall and you should see it easily. PLUS, the xenons are bright blue-white.

 

Ok people on the B7 there is one way to tell for absolutely sure.

Does the car have projector headlights (xenon) or reflector headlights (halogen)?

Does it look like this? Does it have the "robot eye" look. Also if you have xenon when you first turn the headlights on do the light beams move, up, down, outside and then finally inside?

 

You beat me to it. I was gonna check this thread one last time before I went out to just take a damn picture of my car.

 

alright this is the second time i noticed this
i got a B6 and am from Europe so i am not sure how the US headlights look like
but over there difference between a xenon and non xenon headlight unit is practicly 0
besides the lamp inside of it
since both got lenses



like that
exactly like the ones i got but they are no xenon
makes me wonder also how hard it bassicly can be to put a xenon in it
besides adding the weight for auto leveling

 

Correct. With the B5 and B6 there is no good way to tell if the car has Xenon or not without turning them on. With the B7 they did away with projecters for the halogen guys. With the B5 and B6 it's pretty easy to retrofit xenon ballasts and bulbs to them. People have been doing that for years. The B7 is so new that I have yet to see anyone retrofit xenon to them. I have yet to see anyone retrofit the autoleveling system though as it requires suspension alterations and linkeages.

 

in stock form do the lights appear blue? sometimes while driving i would swear the reflection off the cars in front of me is blue, and theres a bluish tint on the outside of the light path, if anyone understands what i mean by that

 

HID lamps are required to have automatic adjustment.

If you have the manual headlight adjustment on the dash, you don't have HID.

 

nevermind, theyre not......