Those bright blue headlights, and bargaining

The people who have those blazing blue (HID) headlights on their cars really irk me. They are so bright that they blind on coming cars or at least force them to look away, it just seems unsafe. However…
With my car in the shop for some extensive suspension work I managed to talk my way into a high end loaner (a TSX) instead of the normal loaner (a RSX). You guessed it, the TSX has HID headlights, and now I know why people love them. From the other side of the windshield they are great! Unlike my car’s xenon headlights that cast two dots ahead of the car, these headlights bath everything in a 160 degree arc in a clear blue light. It is as I expected the regular lights are like having your “brights” on all the time, (which is why it blinds the oncoming cars.) I haven’t turned on the brights yet but if the regular lights are any indication the brights might start a grass fire. I have become what I hate, ah the dark side is very seductive.

I tell you what; the gas mileage differences between the TSX’s V6 and my car’s inline 4 are really obvious, and painful. My drive home from the dealership, and a trip to the store was almost a quarter tank. That is like $8 in gas, sure the car has great (but evil) headlights but clear night driving and a smoother acceleration curve aren’t worth the extra 3 dollars a day!

Last I would like to say that in today’s America most people consider bargaining to be dead, unless you are buying a car or a house. I can tell you it isn’t, car repairs have very high margins, and if you politely “discuss” with them that you are aware of this show them where they can make the adjustments and then give them a carrot like I will only get one thing fixed for $800 but two things for $1300 (which cost $1700 separately) they might go for it. Oh and with cars like most expensive precision machines, replacing something before it breaks is always cheaper than after, since the dying part will generally take some other stuff with it.