Driving MG4 in Europe - headlamps and kph

Well, if they're prepared to tell people it's impossible for a UK spec to be switched to show the speed in km/hr, which to the best of my knowledge would mean that the car was illegal to drive on the continent, what else are they missing?
I strongly suspect the EU rules are the same as the UK's; a car's type approval depends on displaying km/h to be sold in the EU and if you import a car it must be converted, but simply going abroad on holiday is fine, i.e. you can drive your UK spec car in France no problem - you don't require a French numberplate, for example.
 
Well, I could be wrong. But I recall a conversation on the VW forum when I got the Golf where people who had some sort of ideological objection to seeing km/hr on their dashboard were told it was mandatory for a car to be able to display km/hr to drive on the continent.

Anyway, he was wrong, which is the main point. If MG's own representatives are making mistakes that are that elementary, what else are they wrong about?
 
I looked at my headlamps again this morning on an airport "shuttle" drive, and although there is a step up to the nearside, the higher part is flat rather than angled, so maybe that is where the confusion is arising.

As the step up is flat, you can just use the headlamp level control on the dash, take it down two notches and the higher part of the dip goes to the level of the lower part normally takes. That would make it OK to use in Europe. Though you would have a slightly lower dip on the continental "nearside" than you would have here,
 
I looked at my headlamps again this morning on an airport "shuttle" drive, and although there is a step up to the nearside, the higher part is flat rather than angled, so maybe that is where the confusion is arising.

As the step up is flat, you can just use the headlamp level control on the dash, take it down two notches and the higher part of the dip goes to the level of the lower part normally takes. That would make it OK to use in Europe. Though you would have a slightly lower dip on the continental "nearside" than you would have here,
This is exactly what I've done over the last 10 years (with 3 different cars) of holiday trips to France/Italy/Germany/Slovenia.

Nobody flashed me or been pulled by police yet.
 
I looked at my headlamps again this morning on an airport "shuttle" drive, and although there is a step up to the nearside, the higher part is flat rather than angled, so maybe that is where the confusion is arising.

As the step up is flat, you can just use the headlamp level control on the dash, take it down two notches and the higher part of the dip goes to the level of the lower part normally takes. That would make it OK to use in Europe. Though you would have a slightly lower dip on the continental "nearside" than you would have here,
This describes what I experienced on my Trophy - see my post #9 earlier. The 'flat step-up' is caused by the left dipped beam being set higher than the right dipped beam. Look at the link in post #9 for how to lower the left beam to the same height as the right beam (or vice versa). You will need a 6mm allen key.
 
This describes what I experienced on my Trophy - see my post #9 earlier. The 'flat step-up' is caused by the left dipped beam being set higher than the right dipped beam. Look at the link in post #9 for how to lower the left beam to the same height as the right beam (or vice versa). You will need a 6mm allen key.No
No both beams have the step. It would not be legal if one beam was providing the step-up higher than the limits (the lamps are tested independently):
  • below the upper limit of 0.5%
  • above the lower limit of 2.75%
The step up must be 2 degrees to the side of the centre line of the lamp
 
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More data on the 'flat beam' issue: My son has a Tesla Model 3, which is claimed to have a flat beam like the MG4. Before he drove to the south of France in April, he checked the dipped beam, and confirmed that it was flat. He even got me to look at it, and he was right.

He drove well over 2000 miles in France in the Tesla, and no issues arose. Nobody flashed him, and there was no trouble with the gendarmerie. It would appear that France is happy with flat beam cars (as is the UK, of course). . .
 
I can confirm that my Trophy (Nov 2022 import) has dipped beams which are flat - there is no kick-up on the left. This appears to accord with the statement from MG that the lights will be legal in Europe.
Thank you, Tigger and mg4mc. So it seems to vary between different MG4s. I have been wondering if there might be more than on beam pattern on MG4s (depending presumably on the exact model, which country or region they were intended for and when they were manufactured). Fortunately, it's fairly easy to check the beam pattern on on a vertical surface and not too difficult to check the labels on the lights.
 
The Trophy has different headlights to the SE - I don't know if that impacts things in this respect:

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I wonder if some dealers when they do their own PDI checks also adjust the headlights for UK roads which is why some kick up on the left and others don't.
 
I wonder if some dealers when they do their own PDI checks also adjust the headlights for UK roads which is why some kick up on the left and others don't.
The kick-up (or lack of it for a symmetrical flat dipped beam) is fundamental to the headlamps when they are made and labelled before being fitted in the factory. Headlamp adjustment doesn't change it; changing the whole headlamp does.
 

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