I sold my 2010 Prius and I removed the aftermarket HID lights from the car. This kit is a true plug and play style. The wires plug into your factory wiring harness and gives you much better lighting. Bulb color is 5000k, true white color. No bluish tones. Bought new for $150. Selling for $55 shipped to your door. H11 bulbs
They are not slim ballasts. They were in the car for about 2 years. I drove the car about 20,000 miles in that period before I sold the car. I can't give you a honest answer how many hours are on the bulbs. I can tell you I have the same system (different bulbs) in my Ford Excursion with 178,000 miles on it and I still have the original bulbs. I think HID bulbs last 4000 hours but don't take my word on that.
Do these have any auto-leveling mechanism? IIRC it is illegal to use HID lights on the public roads without a cutoff for a certain height of projection.
There is no auto leveling mechanism with these HID or any that I know of. I will tell you that the Prius factory headlights are perfect for HID's. They cutoff very sharply and not once did anyone ever flash their high beams at me. The great thing about these HID's is that they improved nighttime visibility dramatically. They are so much better than the halogens.
It's technically illegal to run HID bulbs on any car that did not ship from the factory with them. That being said, as long as you consider the cutoff height (which is adjustable on the headlight bucket) and don't have a color that is too blue/non-white, you shouldn't have a problem. Again, it is technically illegal, but it's rarely enforced.
The leveling mechanism is part of the car. It would be hard to sell in a kit. A car with incandescent headlights will not have a leveler. I believe you are right.