GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

So let's have it, here are the scenarios...For me its Dusk to Dawn. I did the mod so I don't have DRL and I can put my fogs on with just my parking lamps. Nothing better than the "cat eyes" look when your cruisin the beaches at sunset in my town and the ones around me. Lot's of people do it here and also every night, regardless if it's clear, cloudy, rainy, foggy. They are always on when my headlights come on, regardless.

All the time! More light the better! I have had them on my cars for years and am spoiled!

Dusk till dawn.

That little switch is perminatly on basically, lol. I like my fog lamps, makes the edges or the road easier to see.,

I only use them in bad weather, like foggy (imagine that). When the weather is clear, they are irritating to look at from oncoming traffic and besides, they place a little extra load on the engine for less power and mpg.

I answered in http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=574 I drive a lot of two lane country roads, and there are a lot of cars out there with overbright or poorly adjusted foglights, often the glare from an oncoming car's fogs is brighter than that coming from their headlights. A dangerously blinding effect. I can't remember ever approaching another Vibe at night with it's fogs on, so I can't say if the Vibe fogs are excessive to oncoming drivers, but enough other cars have overbright fogs that I usually never turn mine on except to make sure that they still work. (that was not a poll option ) I also don't really see any worthwhile improvement in visibility when they are on, and since every electrical load draws power that hurts mpgs, I leave them off.

I have mine set to on all the time, but with the DRL's, the fogs only come on when it becomes dark enough outside. But I chose on all the time because that is what I have mine set at.

I sometimes forget about them, so they're off. I use them only on poorly lit/mountain roads or in poor weather.

anytime my headlights are on, so are my fogs. now day time running lights... no I don't have the fogs on them.

Again nothing looks slicker than cruising at sunset with parks and fogs rolling by. And at night I feel better than people who only have headlights. I guess it gives me that little ego boost and my pants get tight, lol! My gf has some floods on her Jeep. Her foglamps are as big as her headlights, and she is like me dusk till dawn! I think she got tired of me nagging her to keep turnin them on, now she loves them and wont turn them off. And when somenoe flashes us, we give them the big salute...no not the finger...the 4 floodlights on her roof. Man those things come in handy!

Joatmon, I leave my fogs on alot, maybe thats why I get bad mpg's. It's not my driving style after all!

i dont have fog lights but when i did..before they blew up..i used them from dusk til dawn

joat, I think we're out-numbered.

I only turn mine on when the weather's bad, rain or fog. Probably the longest lasting pair of silverstar bulbs anyone's every had.

mine are on from dusk to dawn. aside from the functionality, its also a nice look. now if they were DRIVING LIGHTS, it would be a different story. driving lights are usually used in conjunction with the high beams, to really light up the open road.at least thats how i was taught

Yep, Fog Lamp beams are projected from side to side, to see corners and shine under the fog. A Driving Lamps beam is projected straight outward. And are much brighter because there is no shield stopping the beam from going forward like a high beam lamp.

mine are only on in bad weather or really dark roads, but since they are so much brighter after the 9005 conversion I turn them off when cars are on-coming... it's just nicer that way

mine were set always on but i just turned them off to save gas

Quote, originally posted by djb383 »I only use them in bad weather, like foggy (imagine that). When the weather is clear, they are irritating to look at from oncoming traffic and besides, they place a little extra load on the engine for less power and mpg.EXTRA LOAD? Probably much less from the fog lights being on than from the added weight of excess junk most of us have in our cars. My PT Cruiser had a fog light switch but on the Vibe I don't think you can turn them off anyway without some modification.

the switch is on the turn signal lever

I was using them dusk to dawn. But have recently gone to only during rain or fog and on darker roads.

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »EXTRA LOAD? Probably much less from the fog lights being on than from the added weight of excess junk most of us have in our cars. But it all adds up, doesn't it.

Quote, originally posted by MiVibe-ToolGuy »Yep, Fog Lamp beams are projected from side to side, to see corners and shine under the fog. A Driving Lamps beam is projected straight outward. And are much brighter because there is no shield stopping the beam from going forward like a high beam lamp. not true..my old fog lights that i had on my car were also projected outward aswell..and they were just as bright as my headlights..they didnt go out asfar as my headlights..maybe 10 meters or something along those lines

In most cases I wouldn't use fog/driving lights all the time at night, however the Vibe has lousy headlight performance (and more then a few reviews back that up)So I find by leaving them default to on, I can actually see the road ;-)Diane

my headlights are fine..but i leave the fogs whenever the headlights are on..which is at night

Quote, originally posted by djb383 »...besides, they place a little extra load on the engine for less power and mpg.Uh, wouldn't the "extra load" be negligible compared to other factors that would reduce mpg and/or performance?

dont think lights would have anything to do with mpg or power..they dont use that much power in the first place

Kinda what I was thinking... I mean, I don't know much about electricity, but there would have to be a really large load on the generator (the alternator in this case) to cause parasitic loss to the engine and I just don't think anything on the car is capable of doing that.

only thing i would think of is a sound system..would take more load off the battery which initially would put more of a load on the alternator

I'll use them at night only when the lights automatically come on. I'll switch them on to avoid over use due to he poor location of the dusk sensor so that they only work at night. I think the car looks cool with them on.

mine are on with parking lights, drl's, low beams, and high beams. all the freaking time. I do alot of back country driving at night and need to be able to see close and far. fogs and highbeams are perfect.

Fog lights are supposed to be used during low visibility situations. That's why they aren't called - clear lights. If you use them all the time at night, you are actually reducing your ability to see distance, with low or high beams on. Your Iris closes down, as more light is reflected into he eye. Any increment of light increase causes the eye to automatically compensate by making the pupil smaller. Nothing you can do about that, except to lower the light levels when possible. That's why your dash lights have day and night settings.Mileage (MPG) will be impacted by the use of any electric device. Hook up two 55 watt lights bulbs to a hand crank generator, switch them on, and you will instantly understand what the engine is having to do. Electrical power is not free. Your engine has to supply power to your alternator, so it can generate enough electricity to run what ever you have switched on, fan, lights, a/c, sound system, wipers, rear window defroster, what ever. Beyond that , the battery needs to be kept topped off, so tomorrow morning when you get in your Vibe and it's 20 freaking degrees below zero, you have a shot at getting it started.A long time ago, back around 1970, I was reading an article in Road & Track, about fog lights and why they were not standard issue on American cars, while they were on most European cars. One person suggested that if American drivers had them, they would just leave them on all the time, irritating oncoming drivers. I was pretty steamed by that observation. I was wrong, and the writer must have known something I didn't. Since fog lamps have become common on most or our cars and trucks, about every third driver on average now leaves them turned on even on perfectly clear nights while following a line of cars less than one car length behind. Subaru drivers must be forced to sign a contract to leave them on all the time. One of the guys at work heard me talking about how many people run their fogs all the time. He went out to his new Subaru Outback Wagon and found that his fogs were on and that he really didn't even know how to turn them off! I would re-think leaving fog lights on all the time, on two counts. I do use my fog lights, but only when I need them, in foggy nighttime situations. Most of my driving is done on narrow, twisty, wooded, critter infested, back roads.

ill still leave mine on all the time. I KNOW I can see better at night with them on. You wanna know how I know? because they shine farther to the sides closer to the front of the car. This means I can see a grazing deer that I wouldn't have been able to see without the fogs. and I LEAVE them on because I am way tooooooo lazy to bother with turning them on at night. and they DO NOT BLIND oncoming traffic. that's just dumb. Ive tested this in several different scenarios. (with my wife driving the oncoming car) as for the loss of mpg? negligible at best. you lose more from running the ac than from the fogs. BOTH of which are negligible. the AC being turned on increases the rpm by MAYBE 100rpm. not 1000, 100. if you look at your tach when you turn on your ac you can see this. now look at the tach when you turn on your fogs.......... hmmmmm no discernible change. fancy that. lol. ok so there's a lot of sarcasm in here(i apologize, its late) and i probably sound like a douche(again.... sorry its late and im tired) but i really see no problem with using fogs whenever.

If you can see deer grazing on the side of the road at fog light range, that's fine, but if they were already running out toward your lane, at that distance, and you are driving anything over 45 mph, there might be a collision anyway. I encounter deer year round here, and I look for their little eye reflectors or any movement thereof, on the sides of the roads, without my fogs on. I want to see these little beasties well before they get close enough for my 'fogs' to pick them up. And Moose are worse. These behemoths provide no reflection, sort or a living black hole of the animal kingdom. The 'fogs' will do nothing but diminish your ability to see one of these ahead of you in the darkness of night. MPG is not really the issue. But after 100,000 miles with the fogs constantly on, I'm pretty sure you would be impressed with the extra cost incurred. Well aimed fogs don't blind the oncoming drivers, but it is extra light that in traffic is not needed... unless you are really interested in the condition of the car/truck muffler and tire tread directly ahead of you. I'm sure that you can see much better with your fog lights tuned on, only thing is, the stuff that the fogs light up best is only about 12 to 20 feet around your front bumper. At 45 mph, that's a nano second or two of detail that is not going to do much for you or your safety. In low visibility fog conditions, you would be (hopefully) driving at a slower speed, and really using your fog lights for their intended purpose... to keep the car between the mustard and the mayonnaise.

i do notice that when i use my fog lights at night i don't seem to see as far...or just things seem darker a bit. up front is nice and bright but after 30 feet or so it's starting to get very dark lol. i use to drive with my fog lights on all the time but now i only drive with my lows on only as it seems to be easier on the eye or seems to be able to see farther down the road. but i like having fogs on cuz it makes the car look more agressive lol

All the time. IMO it looks much better

There ya have it!

I actually have been thinking of getting some driving lights and mounting them behind the grille.Hmm...

any time it starts to get dark out side or in bad weather

I rarely use them. Even during bad weather, I often don't remember 2 turn them on. My wife must uses hers all the time, b/c whenever I borrow her vibe, they r on.

The one thing I do not miss on my 2009 vs the 2003 - the fog lights. I could never see that they had any practical purpose. I did use the fold down seat on my 2003 a few times, and the ability to open the rear window was of help when taking my lawnmower to be serviced. I think I used the roof rack once. I also liked the way the former gear shift was mounted/located better than the new one.On balance - I think the positives at least equal the negatives but I would have been just as satisfied with no changes beyond the added standard safety features. I wonder what the "redesign" cost on a per car basis. Probably could have continued to sell the "old" design for a couple thousand less. In retrospect, that might have been a good move. [How long did the basic "Beetle" stay the same?]

Don't you find the 09 more enjoyable to drive? I've heard there are some suspension refinements on the 09s and that overall it's quieter. To me it seems they made the new one a little smaller inside. Maybe it just looks that way.