Speed 3 GT Headlights
 

Considering purchasing a 2008 Speed 3 GT. I was curious as to what is the purpose of the Xenon headlight height adjuster. Thanks for your help.

RE: Speed 3 GT Headlights
 

Factory HID headlamps that are manually adjustable.

RE: Speed 3 GT Headlights
 

Ummmmm...Why would they set it up so that you could manually adjust the height of the headlights? Just trying to figure out why Mazda has included this feature.

RE: Speed 3 GT Headlights
 

Ihave the standard halogen bulbs in mine, but my best guess would be to compensate for extra weight in the rear, or driving @ nighton back roads where you may want the light adjusted up a bit.
From what I've read, the compensation is rather limited, and that the manual adjustment is actually illegal in Europe. There the HIDs are automatically compensated.

RE: Speed 3 GT Headlights
 

The reason for the adjuster is so that you don't blind oncoming traffic if you have extra weight in the car. HIDs are ~3x brighter than conventional incandecent headlights and the way the light is controlled so that people aren't blinded all the time is by placing the lights in a projector housing vs. a reflector housing. The projector has a sharp cutoff to control where the light goes.

If you have more weight in the car then the lights will aim up more and will be shining into the eyes of oncoming drivers. The switch (as stock) does not adjust the lights up, only down from stock. It is possible to flip from "0" to "1" and then reaim the lights manually so that you can use the control to aim the lights up (for when you're on dark country roads or something). You lose one setting of "down" on the knob though.

In Europe vehicles with HIDs are required to have automatic leveling systems which aim the lights depending on how the car moves around or on how much weight is in it. Mazda just put the manual system in for the US because the laws are less stringent here and it's cheaper than the auto system..

Let me know if that didn't explain it enough. :D

RE: Speed 3 GT Headlights
 

Thanks for the input!