mr inkredibul

I do believe it. It doesn't make sense to introduce an option to a market for only a year I was just offering theories of why it might be be available. We have already seen discrepancy on the website.

Iggier

Because of this business with the lighting I've been unable to make a decision on which C to purchase. I waited until the 2011s were available just for the LED DRLs, but as was already suspected and now confirmed, there are no fogs. Does anyone think the loss of the fogs is significant? I have doubts about the LED DRLs serving the same purpose as fogs. And, based on the description of the light switch, are there no parking lights either? I am so confused .

Matt230K

The significance of no fogs depends on how much you use them. I highly doubt the LED's will put out enough light to be at all comparable to fogs.

I think the new switch has the individual left and right parking lights still, but I'm pretty sure it did not have the normal parking lights, just Auto and On.

joshg1001

fog lights are useless anyways if you have the bi xenons since they only come on when you turn the wheel.

omgitsjoe

I think this is all a matter of preference and which is more important to the individual ?? Some do use the fogs but with the might prefer the Audi like LED's more ?? Some may not find the rear LED's that important and prefer a better price on the 2010's ??

Like I said it's all a matter what's more important to each individual ... to each their own ?? Good luck with your decision and whichever way you go I do not think there can be a "bad" decision on your part !!

balticgreen

"Special Order" and "Factory Order" are not the same thing. The vast majority of people who order a car do a factory order, usually because they simply can't find the specific color combo and options they want in a car already in dealership inventory. However, the car follows the standard ordering guide and could potentially have been found in inventory had the dealer just happened to have ordered it for inventory. Factory orders don't impose any sort of additional ordering fee.

A special order is one that includes certain options that are available but aren't regular options and are thus only available as a special order on a customer sold car, meaning dealers can't order it for inventory. There often is a special order charge in addition to the cost of whatever options you ordered.

Since the dynamic handling is marked as a special order, that's probably why it's not on the website. Not all of the Designo options for higher classes are on the website either.

mr inkredibul

Good info...didn't realize there was a very important difference....

BlackjackM

My 135i does not have foglights due to the air ducts to the brakes, oil cooler, and intercooler below the bumper. I've always missed having them, mostly for asthetic purposes rather than actually being able to see better in fog.

wow, so with bi xenons you can't have them on whenever you want with a switch?

Matt230K

Well, if you like them just for looks more than function, then the LED's should work out great for you.

joshg1001

well you can, but on the auto, they turn on when you turn the wheel. If you move the switch to ON instead, then you can pull out the knob to turn it on. To me, this is counter intuitive because I like to have my lights on AUTO

Iggier

A bit of clarification...on 2010, and maybe prior models with the bi-xenon lighting package, set to auto, the fogs act as cornering lamps and only activate when turning hard right or left, and then, only at a certain speed. In my test drives, I found the fog light cornering function to be poorly implemented. However, with both fogs turned on (manually), I found that they did a decent job of illuminating the road immediately in front of the vehicle (while moving) and significantly out to the sides.

The 2010 C class equipped with the bi-xenon lighting package includes the standard round fogs. The 2011 model with the lighting package eliminates the fogs entirely in favor of the LED DRLs, and adds active curve illumination and LED tail/brake lamps. As others have pointed out, the LED DRLs won't substitute for fogs. I personally am at a loss to understand why MB would eliminate a feature that actually had some use and helped light the road .

My 2005 C has the standard halogen headlamps (and round fogs). Overall, I've found the lighting lacking despite reaiming the headlamps.

I'm tempted to go for a 2010 C with the bi-xenon headlamps and the traditional fogs, if I can find a new one so equipped, but I do like the appearance of the 2011 model's LED DRLs. Decisions, decisions...

kremou

Lighting package will change again in W204 main facelift at end 2010 (in Europe)

Benz_Guy

I find the addition of Active Curve Illumination quite exciting, as all the loaner C-Classes I have gotten have bi-xenons but they don't curve. I found that a bit disappointing because I wanted to see what they were like, as it's a feature I do not have on my ML.

I'm also at a loss as to why fog lights were removed entirely, if I remember correctly the S and E classes fog lights are the LEDs? And they don't have a cornering function implemented into them? Why can't MB have done the same with the '11 C?