Metallics were once more scratch resistant because they had a clear coat on top of the colour.

Nowadays nearly all cars have a clear coat on top of the colour, so there is less reason to suppose there will be any difference in resistance to minor abrasion.

As an ex car valeter, the only issues I ever came across on cars with solid paint was if a panel had been repaired and repainted. In which case it was invariably not as good quality as the factory paint and would fade much quicker and more noticeably than the rest of the car.

Hi notagoodname. I am a Sharan owner, a long term VW owner and by coincidence have an interest in car paint and will bo my best not to go into a rant about VW.

The grey you are looking at is the only no cost option in the range, every other colour costs more, even white its only there to give a low starting price for the range. A few years ago VW started as part of a cost cutting excersise reducing paint thichness. Current models have a thinner coat of around 70 micron rather than 100 micron of the past. But and its an important but, because the Sharan has not had a model change for over 7 years it still has the thicker paint, the original Sharan was produced for 13 years. VW is not one of the companies that put clear coat over plain colours.

In practice this means if you get minor surface damage you have much more chance of being able ro rectify it by buffing out a scratch or graze, polish out swirel marks and the like without doing damage. As a rule plain colours are easyer to touch-up than metalics. If the paint on the car looks good at the moment then it can be kept that way for a very long time. I dont believe they are any less resistant to scratches than metalic.

On a general note about the Sharan, mine is my 12th VW and it is right at the top for build quality, the proverbial brick dunny, no creeks or rattles or body flexing even over big bumps, solid, after 32 months it still impresses me.

Edited by Stanb Sevento on 30/05/2017 at 19:03