Like the name of this thread states, is the colour of your car that important?
Ok so buying 'kiss of death' dark blue will (apparently) lose you loads at trade in time but as for other colours is it really that important what shade your car is?
I'm really not that bothered but after reading a car magazine article today even the psychologists are getting in a lather about it.
If you buy..
RED you are impulsive, outgoing and ambitious.
BLUE you like hard work and are group minded though you lack imagination.
WHITE you are unemotional but dutiful.
GREEN you love your home and have a tranquil life.
SILVER you crave attention but are stern and self-righteous. (Mercedes owners take note)
BLACK you are success oreientaited and ambitious.
GREY you are dutiful and cautious.
My opinion is what a load of cobblers. My car is blue btw.
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Mine is dark blue...I dare say I'll get over this fashion faux pas.
I'm fairly allergic to hard work, I work in the creative industries and would be perfectly happy working alone! Notch one up to the rebels.
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My car is blue, and I also think it's a load of cobblers! ;o)
I think there are a few awful colours, I prefer conservative and classy colours, but I'm not that bothered, and have had many colours of car, so what am I, the man of a thousand faces?
Small cars take bold and bright colours better.
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Of course it makes a difference.
Try selling, for instance, particular marques in unwanted colours and you'll discover the difference it makes from the point of view of £ signs.
Is this because you have been trying to sell your beige Ford Focus saloon for quite a while now?
Only joking....:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Adam, of course..:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I should add that bright colours, as already mentioned, are particularly appropriate to smaller cars.
I've always had the opinion that bigger cars in dark colours give an impression of being strong and solidly built conveyances.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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A few year's ago my Brother was foutunate enough to own a ferrarri 308 GT4, a minter as it happened. He was disscussing it with a Italian friend, also a car nut who was full of enthusiasm about the car, then he asked what coluor is it when my bro replied white, his reply "oh this is a dissaster"
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308 GT4, oh so very nearly bought one of those, it was the early 80,s, I was early 20's, the car was less than 5 grand. Should have bought it, I would have been worth £35k by 1990. I did a lot of research into running and service costs, could I change the belts myself etc, still have the books somewhere. I was looking at an approx '75 model, remember I saw one in particular in a metallic blue with cream leather!
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Stay at home blue ,believe me you cut your chances of selling a car by half if the car is mid blue thats why it has the name in the trade.Oh!along with pink and pea green.
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Bright colours are more visible to other drivers so are less likely to get damaged, especially when parked in carparks. My first two new cars were dark green and dark blue and they both got bumped several times. The AA did a survey and they concluded that the safest colour was yellow. At one time Coventry's fire engines were painted a unique striking yellow formulated by Warwick University and registered with British Standards as (I believe) Coventry Fire Engine Yellow. Subsequently the Home Office decreed that they should revert to red purely in the interests of standardisation.
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L\'escargot.
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I'd share the cobblers argument. Apart from showing absurd tastes, what would said pseudo-psychologists say about people who own a Polo Harlequin?
"Ah, you're outgoing looking at the bonnet, but cautious looking at your boot. There is no doubt at all given the state of your roof that you don't have an emotional bone in your body but your wings clearly show that you are a passionate and emotional free spirit......."
;-)
TT
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Top Turkey - the fastest hands in Brum
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It makes me wonder why some car manufacturers paint cars in such horrible colours. I thought mustard/ custard yellow; some of the IMO questionable bronze colours; were bad enough.
A few weeks ago I drove past an Audi dealership, in the window was a TT (possibly a 3.2) painted in a colour which I could only describe as "processed cheese slice". An awful non-metallic yellowy-orange.
But it wasnt there this weekend, so someone might have bought it!
Having said that, my colour of choice would be metallic black or gunmetal grey, I would never buy a red/ white/ yellow car, so its probably me thats a miserable sod!..
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I know someone who has a TT in the colour you describe (and it's a 3.2), but he's owned it for ages.
I have a theory that these wierd coloured cars are produced so the factory can test the painting system! Audi offer any car in any colour from a vast range so they must be able to produce the goods when asked - even crazier is non standard colours for your particular model cost an extra £1500!
I have seen an A2 in what can only be described as 'Allegro Brown'! This was never a standard colour - so someone must have ordred it!!
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If the car is sold cheaper because it is an unfashionable colour then that is an opportunity for the secondhand buyer. My car is a metallic gold and I got a very good deal on it at the auctions. It sold well under what other similar vehicles had gone for. I have had it six months now and haven't had any problems so far.
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My car is a metallic gold ...... I have had it six months now and haven't had any problems so far.
Let's hope it doesn't get damaged. I was told by a bodyshop technician that metallic gold is the hardest colour of any to match.
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L\'escargot.
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The polo harlequin comment made me laugh. The thing is though, i could never see who that car was meant to appeal to, firstly it looked like the worst of all parts bin specials (all colours that could never sell used on it), and secondly it looked like the cars you occasionaly see made up of parts from scrappies because the originals had rusted/been bashed up too much. The only difference being these are run on a tight budget, whereas someone paid lots of money for the polo and got the "teetering on MOT failure" from new.
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I owned a dark flat blue Mercedes C-class. The only way I could sell it for a sensible price was privately. The trade just laughed at me when I drove up. The colour was just wrong and I was offered £1,000 less on a trade in than if the car had been silver.
Mind you, I paid a low price for it so I wasn't worried to much.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Talking about the audi tt i think its a nice looking car but it does make me wonder about the owner when i see the primer grey coloured ones.
To me it looks like audi forgot the top coat!!
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I would rather have a dark flat blue c class than a silver one anyday Espada.
I am getting very bored of silver cars now.
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I would rather have a dark flat blue c class than a silver one anyday Espada. I am getting very bored of silver cars now.
Not for you then?
www.snopes.com/photos/automobiles/silveraudi.asp
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I can remember (and smile at) Quintin Wilson's advice on TV which was to avoid buying a car in:
"Hearing Aid" Beige
"Police Van" Blue
and
"Plod" White
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The TT colour is called Papaya Orange and it's vile but people notice it so it's quite popular, usually on 3.2 DSG models fitted with lots of toys and big wheels.
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Saw one in this colour on the road yesterday in Bognor Regis of all places; a few years old so probabbly not a 3.2, Even worse, it had 2 wide black stripes running up the bonnet, over the roof and down the back... Was being driven by a lady of a certain age, who certainly looked as if she should have known better!
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I'd share the cobblers argument. Apart from showing absurd tastes, what would said pseudo-psychologists say about people who own a Polo Harlequin?
That they fancied a reliable scrapyard special?
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I agree from a sales point of view get the wrong colour and its worth less
But i've always thought that some models of cars look beter in some colours than others
For instance MK1 golfs always looked good in black or red but black did not look as good on the MK2 golf, but the MK2 looked great in Oak green metalic
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Blimey, you mean there are some folk out there that acutally choose a car's colour? Not just buy what ever is available? That must be novel! Most of mine are road grime coloured anyway after a few weeks, and they never get washed.
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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Ha! Richard W, that's more or less what I said in the last thread on car colours: 'Where on earth do these people get their money...?'
I do put mine through the carwash from time to time, but it never gets clean.
It is white. I am far from dutiful and suffer if anything from an excess of imagination.
If I had the money for a decent motor I would get a good artist to paint rusty scrapes on it, and a few nasty dinges - bent door edges, that sort of thing. Bit of trompe-l'oeil to make car thieves think twice. Either that, or semi-matt dark grey all over including the chrome bits. Invisibility is a priority for a discreet person, never mind all the Mr Magoos running into it. I'd be happy to take my chances.
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I should have said: an excess of emotion.
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Mine's vomit yellow. What does that say about me (besides my total lack of taste)
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My car is stay away blue, but only because i had car fever at buying time, and it was the first car that came along that ticked all the boxes. wish i'd held out for a nice bright red one now.
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I think we've been here before - Glass's guide report last year:
Prestige upper-medium colour choices - the residual value winners and losers
Black metallic +£200
Silver/Grey metallic Glass?s Guide benchmark value
Blue metallic -£250
Black (flat) -£500
Green/red metallic -£1,000
Red (flat) -£1,500
Undesirable metallic - gold/purple, etc -£1,750
Blue (flat) -£1,750
White (flat) -£2,500
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Where do I buy this mythical prestige car at 2k less than the silver one? Sounds like it's a bargain - if anyone spots one, let me know!
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I thought I had the only black C5 in North East Scotland until one day I happened to catch sight of another (estate mind you)..............parked outside an undertakers.....
That proves there is a 'body' of opinion in favour of black C5s.
:-)
Graeme
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I bought a one owner 2001 BMW 530d 76k with sports suspension in December for £6k. Black cloth interior which looks fine to me. Ex Plod so its in alpine white with one hole in the roof.
In white its loud, but I find with a Garmin stuck to the windscreen and my hi-vis jacket on other car users tend to move over and comply with speed limits around me. So its not all bad.
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Ex Plod so its in alpine whitewith one hole in the roof.
Accidental discharge?
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>In white its loud, but I find with a Garmin stuck to the windscreen and my hi-vis jacket
>on other car users tend to move over and comply with speed limits around me.
>So its not all bad.
Driving around wearing a hi-vis jacket hoping to look like a cop?
How sad.
Kevin...
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Prestige upper-medium colour choices - the residual value winners and losers White (flat) -£2,500
Except for my present silver and one other( by default) I have always chosen white cars. They have never been sold on. I keep them for some years and scrap them or virtually give them away. I consider I am a winner. Cheaper to by and NO residual value.
I think light coloured cars are more visible but was forced to buy a silver version this time as I very much doubt there are any of the same model in white.
So this time I think I payed a top price but am fairly happy with my purchase.
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A friend of mine always used to go for red cars, on the grounds that he would be more visible, and therefore safer. I don't know that any statistics bear that out, but on the basis of my experience, I think he might have a good point.
From that point of view, the most dangerous car is "road coloured". And I reckon the closest you'll get to that is a nice iron / gunmetal grey.
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My main criteria for car colour choice is how long it will stay clean-looking.
We have a silver Audi and a Dark Blue Focus, my Audi stays looking quite clean despite hundreds of miles driven, whereas the Focus looks dirty after one outing.
It always amazes me that people choose black or very dark colured cars, as they look dirty with the tiniest bit of road grime.
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I agree about black cars being difficult to keep clean - 5 mins down the road and that's it! Having said that, there's something very satisfying about polishing up black (not that I do it very often!) Must be a masochistc streak that does it!
Graeme
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got the wife a silver car as it only gets valeted/cleaned when i give it to her and when i take it back,many years ago in my youtht i always loved/owned black cars and would paint them that colour if need be but they were the devil to keep clean.
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\"a little man in a big world/\"
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In the USA, they say you only ever have one black car ....
Jack
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