I thought the same about the HIDs on my 172.
They're absolutely hopeless.
I moved a week after I bought the 172. It was terrible trying to find my way around at night in a city I was unfamiliar with because the sharp cutoff of the HIDs meant there was no illumination of street signs. Or of speed signs or even the reflectors on bicycles, etc, etc.
We have the fantastic road called the Great Ocean Road that winds it way below the cliffs and above the beaches. In the 172 at night it was like trying to drive it blind. I could see more from the lights of the vehicles behind me than I could from the 172's HID lights.
Its got absolutely hopeless lights. I've never owned a car with HIDs before, and didn't know whether it was that Renault had tried too hard to cut glare, and hadn't allowed to any illumination above the cutoff, or whether it was that the cutoff didn't kick up on the left so you could see roadside signs.