itzed Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 Hi, I'm a new 2006 Legacy owner, and this is my first Subaru (is it OK to call it a "Subie", or is that kind of wimpy?). Warning that this might be a silly question, but..... My previous cars (lot of cars!) have either had totally manual headlights where you turn everything on and off yourself, or totally automatic headlights where you just leave them off and when it gets dark enough they come on. Now this car has lights that turn off when the ignition is off, to save battery power in case you forget, but you still have to turn them on at night. It's kind of in the middle of being manual and fully automatic to me. For the first couple days I just left them on and didn't worry about it, then I thought, "why burn out the headlight bulbs during the day?". Then I got to thinking about how cool the gauges look at night with the auto dimmer deactivated and them being real bright. Then I started remembering how much of a chore it can be to replace burned out IP bulbs.... Anyway, no major delimna here, I'm sure I'll do what I decide I like best, but I was just curious what most people do. How often do the headlights burn out? Does having them on rob draw any real power away from anything else? Ho hard are those IP lights to change on the 2005/2006 Legacy? Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 Toyota's do eactly the same thing. Once the ignition is off and a door is open, the lights go off. I leave my headlights off unless it's night time and my interior light level is set as low as possible. Which means if I turn the headlights on, I can't see the dash without having to push the daylight button(2005). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKB_SATX Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 Well, the instrument panel is electroluminscent, not illuminated with bulbs so don't worry about that part. Your headlights are on slightly less than full power all day anyway, unless you deactivate the DRLs. So, they're always using the headlight bulbs, and if the halogen bulbs in headlights work like the ones in lamps, running them most of the time at partial brightness is a little worse for their longevity than running them at full power. (NOTE: I have *NO* idea if headlights work the same way, just speculating wildly.) Personally I find the dash to be slightly brighter than I like at night, even on the lowest setting, and the high-beam indicator is WAY too bright. My eyes are very light-sensitive though, so I'm not normal. The good thing about that is that I never forget to turn on the lights at night, because the dash is WAY too bright for me then. I find it annoying to have to override the dimmer setting if I turn on the headlights in full daylight, so I drive with the headlights off in the daytime and on at night, just like old-fashioned fully manual headlights. Yeah, I know I'm picky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itzed Posted July 17, 2006 Author Share Posted July 17, 2006 Well, the instrument panel is electroluminscent, not illuminated with bulbs so don't worry about that part. Hmm. The specs say that for the GT, but they don't day that for the NA version. I'm thinking it may take bulbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRXGuyInVegas Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Then I got to thinking about how cool the gauges look at night with the auto dimmer deactivated and them being real bright. Ed, You can adjust the dimmer so that even with the headlights on, you can have full brightness! When we go down to the strip (vegas) I always have the windows down, and turn the brightness all the way up, so they're bright as hell. It's very bright on the strip, and the gauges look too dark in contrast, if I don't jack the brightness up! "Insert Signature Here" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RochNY91TSI Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 To answer the question about changing the bulbs, it's very easy. I took them out yesterday for a HID swap and all it involved was taking a cap off (the dust cover) and unplugging the bulb. Only other thing was taking off the air intake snorkel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brady Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Even better solution to your problem - Disable the DRL's. The lights still turn off with your ignition to prevent accidental battery run down, but you'll never think your lights are on when it's just your DRL's. They'll otherwise act like traditional manual lights without the risk of accidentally wearing down your battery. IBFlamingAboutDRLsSaveManyLives Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagcars26 Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 /\ winnah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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