# City lights vs. Parking lights. What's the difference?



## jaime.denizard (Nov 13, 2008)

I was reading the the archived topic on how to disable DRLs (http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2990096), although what I wanted to do was ENABLE DRLs. I always saw VWs being driven around that were the same year as mine that had DRLs and I always wondered why mine didn't have any DRLs. Then after reading that topic I realized whoever owned the car before me had bent the pin on the NA switch and obviously the used Euroswitch I bought had the bent pin as well so I never knew my car had DRLs in the first place. XD
Anyways, long story short, I un-bent the pin and now I have DRLs.







I don't know why people hate them so much, I think they are cool. I just don't want my DRLs to be my low-beams. That's too much light for no reason.
There's these really low-intensity lights that come on when I turn my Euroswitch to the right only once. They kinda look like they are the hi-beams, just with A LOT less intensity. Does anyone know what these are called? Those are the ones I want to use as my DRLs.
Are those city lights? Or are they parking lights? Are they the same? The topic I was referring to at the beginning of this post has two different pics of Jettas in the second page which make me think the parking lights and the city lights are two different things.
Sorry for the long post, but I really want to know.








-Jaime D.
P.S. I have an '04 GTI 1.8T, if that helps at all.


_Modified by jaime.denizard at 10:12 AM 9-8-2009_


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## GT17V (Aug 7, 2001)

City lights = at one time, in well lit streets (cities), you need need the full blast headlights on, so you have the middle position.
Parking lights: on many European cars & Japanese cars, when you park the car, you can have the exterior lights (minus headlights & interior lights) illuminated for other cars to see your car.
in the end, they are the same light, in the MKIV Golf/GTI, they are the tiny W5W bulb on the bottom of the high beam reflector


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## jaime.denizard (Nov 13, 2008)

*Re: (GT17V)*

So the middle position in the switch are the city/parking lights? Damn, those are dim as hell. How is anyone supposed to see you with those? Even at night? XD
Or are my bulbs dying? O_O Maybe I should take a pic... :-\


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## fixmy59bug (Apr 9, 2002)

*Re: (jaime.denizard)*

Because you are not supposed to use them to see. You are supposed to allow you to be seen.
City lights were designed to be used in a well lit city where pedestrians (or horses if you consider the origins of the city light) might be blinded by the headlights. Of course it is illegal now a days to drive at night with just the city lights.
And the parking lights are used for ......... wait for it ......... Parking. You aren't parked when you are driving, so they don't need to be very bright.


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## dennisgli (May 17, 2003)

*Re: City lights vs. Parking lights. What's the difference? (fixmy59bug)*

Parking lights, city lights, and DRLs are all so you can be seen - not to allow you to see where you are going. The difference is that DRLs are so you can be seen in daylight - while parking lights and city lights are so you can be seen at night. That's why DRLs are brighter. And why parking lights and city lights aren't effective as DRLs.


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## jaime.denizard (Nov 13, 2008)

*Re: City lights vs. Parking lights. What's the difference? (dennisgli)*

My friend let me borrow his HIDs for a couple of months once and went he put back my regular halogen headlights, I could swear my city/parking lights were dimmer than before.
If I show you guys a picture of my city lights now, would you be able to tell if they are dimmer than they're supposed to be?


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## EternalMind (Jun 8, 2005)

*Re: City lights vs. Parking lights. What's the difference? (jaime.denizard)*

city lights are not going to be bright enough to see in the daylight from any real distance as true DRL would be (as dennis already stated above). there is absolutely zero functional value in turning your city lamps into DRLs.


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## jaime.denizard (Nov 13, 2008)

*Re: City lights vs. Parking lights. What's the difference? (EternalMind)*

Great stuff guys, thanks for all the info. So now I know that the city lights and parking lights are the same light in the MK4 GTI. What about in the MK4 Jetta? Is it two different lights like I was led to believe?


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## dennisgli (May 17, 2003)

*Re: City lights vs. Parking lights. What's the difference? (jaime.denizard)*

No.


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## jaime.denizard (Nov 13, 2008)

*Re: City lights vs. Parking lights. What's the difference? (dennisgli)*

So what are these two lights?
















I'm thinking maybe the top one is city/parking and bottom is low-beams. Am I correct?


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## Lurkertom (Apr 1, 2003)

I'm thinking the bottom one's are the city lights. My 91 Corrado had them active in the euro headlight buckets. they were a small red lamp that reflected off the main head lamps


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## jaime.denizard (Nov 13, 2008)

*Re: (Lurkertom)*

So what are the top ones? Are those the turning signal/blinkers?
The guy that posted that first picture said:
_didnt disable mine, but rather switched the wires for my drls to my parking lights. it looks sinister at night" so he's implying those small ones are parking lights._
Then the guy who replied to him with the second picture said this:
_parking lights are for chumps.
City lights are "sinister"_
So this guy is implying that the lights on that second picture are city lights. Didn't we just establish parking lights and city lights are the same? I'm so confused.









_Modified by jaime.denizard at 12:56 AM 9-18-2009_


_Modified by jaime.denizard at 12:57 AM 9-18-2009_


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## dennisgli (May 17, 2003)

*Re: City lights vs. Parking lights. What's the difference? (jaime.denizard)*

Yes, they are functionally the same.
The lights in the first photo look pretty bright - so they may be the turn signals/hazard lights.
The second picture does look like city lights - but the photo is so dark it's hard to even tell what kind of car it is.
But I'm not sure what the point of all this is? Are you trying to figure out where the parking lights are on your car???


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## jaime.denizard (Nov 13, 2008)

*Re: City lights vs. Parking lights. What's the difference? (dennisgli)*

Nah, I have an MK4 GTI, I know that my parking and city lights are the same. I was just curious as to which light was which in the MK4 Jetta. For no particular reason, I just wanted to know.


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## GT17V (Aug 7, 2001)

*Re: City lights vs. Parking lights. What's the difference? (jaime.denizard)*


_Quote, originally posted by *jaime.denizard* »_So what are these two lights?
















I'm thinking maybe the top one is city/parking and bottom is low-beams. Am I correct?

top is stock North American lights.
Bottom is European Bora lights.
Difference is....
the NA lights do not have a separate city light bulb. It relies on a dual filament bulb, & the low power filament is the city/parking light (the stock NA Golf/GTI uses a dual filament bulb also, except the the low power filament is not used)


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## jaime.denizard (Nov 13, 2008)

*Re: City lights vs. Parking lights. What's the difference? (GT17V)*

Oh OK, I get it. Thanks for the info. Now it all makes sense XD


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## throw69down (Feb 19, 2008)

i have a euro switch so i can run my fogs but i want the north american lights to run as well and they do not anymore for some reason.. any way to fix it?


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