Another post already about my new S40 T5. The lack of heated seats has gotten me paranoid about the car. The dealer listed the car as having Xenon headlights....how can I tell for sure? I took the car out at night and looked for the "natural/white light" that is characteristic of HID headlights, but it doesn't exactly seem to be there. The headlights definitely don't look the same as my father's BMW M3.

Is there any way to know for sure that the car has these as an option? I guess my best bet would be to park it next to another S40 and compare, right?

Have you got a headlamp level adjustment switch, if you do then you have not got xenon headlamps.

Where is that switch located if I have one?

on the right hand side by the foglights headlight switch

Do you mean left side? Left hand drive car...

I have a headlight knob, fog light button, gas door button, rear fog light button, and interior light adjust wheel

sounds like you dont have a adjuster for them then :)

Beside the bluer color, a characteristic of xenons is they turn on and off differently from standard incandescent headlights. By that I mean they sort of flash on when powered up and when turned off, they instantly go dark.

Did you buy the car new? If so, read the window sticker. If you look at the headlight itself you should be able to tell. Just as your father's M3, the xenon should not look like any other light. I have an M3, so I understand what you're saying. They should appear like a round sillouette lens or something to that effect. Sorry, not trying to confuse you, but they are different than halogen bulbs. Halogen bulbs are nice but not as bright. Like you said, your best bet may be to put them next to each to see how they compare. Auto-adjusting headlights is a different option that I believe is reserved for the T5 versions, so I don't have that in the 2.4i. In any case, let us know what you find out.