Headlight lenses on left hand drive cars cut off the headlight beam at an angle so that the light is higher on the right, so as to illuminate the shoulder of the road. I wonder if the Jalopnik guy had put the LED on the right side of his car if the LED would have appeared to throw the light farther than the halogen light on the left.
Thanks for the input, everyone. Going to stick with the Osram H7's for now. They seem to have helped a lot to improve night vision, at not too much cost. If I decide that I need more light, I'm thinking of these: https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2006-Cooper-R50-Base-Coupe-L4_1.6L_W10B16A/ES3090505/ or these: https://www.theretrofitsource.com/hid-systems/morimoto-elite-hid-system-h7.html?preselect=49455%2C51369%2C47697#.V88v7_krLIU
Regarding the Osram 65W H7 high output bulbs I get them from Daniel Stern Lighting, about 2/3 of the way down on this page: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html Also available at candlpower, a little cheaper: http://store.candlepower.com/osraulhiouh7.html I've been using them on high and low beams on both of our cars for over a decade.