Why are they so boring these days? Black, white, silver (especially silver) and dark metallics seem to make up 90% of the recent models on the road. Check out the colour cards in any dealership - dull, dull, dull.
Perhaps our choice of car colour is a barometer of our overall outlook on life. If so we are a serious lot indeed. I don't exclude myself - my car is a dark(ish) metallic blue.
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I agree. Get sick of seeing silver cars - esp. silver with black trim. Very monochrome.
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With you 100%.
Where are the nice reds? The darker ones, not the Essex Tart variety. Peugot's Regency Red of the late 1980s was perfect.
Where are the interesting lighter colours? Anyone remember BMW Morea Green and the light silvery blue? Both very attractive.
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Brown is already back, sadly. It's the colour of the spray-on mud applied to 4x4s.
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From my bedroom window there are 12 neighbours' cars visible parked each morning. 8 of them are either silver or black.
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Fro my Daughters bedroom window 1 family has 1:Golf in Silver,2:Polo in silver, 3:Peugeot 206 Silver,
I was offered a Presige Silver Zafira, when local VX dealer said they couldn't get Energy Blue.Glad i held out and didn't buy a Silver car.
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again the colours are a thing which are influenced by our company car dominated market, many companies wont buy anything too individual as they want to project a "professional" image, and they choose colours which they think will sell well second hand (which means they all go for similar colours such a silver currently), company drivers sometimes have a free choice buyers often not, and often choice is done in subtle ways (itll take an extra 2 months to get in that colour, etc)
colours in the private buyer market are different, but are not a extreme in range as in some countries, notably the US, where I think they tend to be more individual. i know my last car they didnt import any black ones (which i wanted and would have paid their stupid 300 quid extra for), so i ended up choosing another colour.
the whole issue of metallic and black paint being charged as extras also tends to distort the market. i actually like doom blue or flat dark non met blue on some cars it looks good, and am happy to deal with any selling issues when the car has to go.
lots of people just will not pay for the met paint, so we have many more red, white and flat blue cars than would be peoples true choice. the move away from good choices in other flat colours is also a pain, not all colours look good in metallic.
i like black, but have had red and blue cars recently, cos the black ones either were not imported, or were not available in time
just like the cars themselves, way too much attention is paid in the office car parks up and down the land to what you are driving, in the US middle ranking people have no probs driving boy racer cars, or uncool cars or whatever, here its still frowned on, and people take the easy option and have a 3 series/C class/mondeo or whatever
anyway what was i rambling on about ? car colour
the other thing is often a dark interior (best to avoid stains) is only available with certain exterior colours, so again your choice of exterior colour can be limited to the 2 or 3 if you wan the dark interior
etc etc
sorry for the ramble ill shut up for a bit now
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I always liked the Yellow that VW did for the Corrado.
Not that long ago all cars were either red, white, blue or black. How many white cars do you see now? Even the police have switched to Silver which I heard was due to greater resalve values.
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>How many white cars do you see now? < I noticed (I mean noticed) a clean white Punto in a car park the other day - think it was an 03-plate, so fairly new. No, there aren't many about now. Personally I like a dark green, solid or metallic.
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I once owned an early XJ12, the one with the four strombergs, arghh. Its colour was called pillar box red and it was beautiful, a really rich crimson. No modern red that I have seen is comparable,don't know why but could be pigment problems. In 1964 I ordered my first NEW car, a Rover 2000 in Autumn leaf red. When I got the car it was Wedgwood blue,the dealer said the red paint was peeling off and the colour had been discontinued. At the time I could'nt have cared less as I had my 100mph 'sports saloon'.
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Our Sonata is in a very pleasant colour called Celadon (after the pottery glaze) Green, almost a light blue to me. Different without being loud and goes with the black upholstery.
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Why are they so boring these days? Black, white, silver (especially silver) and dark metallics seem to make up 90% of the recent models on the road. Check out the colour cards in any dealership - dull, dull, dull. Perhaps our choice of car colour is a barometer of our overall outlook on life. If so we are a serious lot indeed. I don't exclude myself - my car is a dark(ish) metallic blue.
i heard a theory about this only the other day, it goes that in affluent times, we tend to be quite settled and therefore will pick understated colours for cars. In recession, people will react by picking loud colours. The examples given were the 70's (Harvest Gold anyone?) and the early 90's. Maybe that explains those ouch-my-eyes-hurt bright yellow Mondeos.
Or maybe it's all nonsense and it's just fashion.
Mare (SILVER Octavia)
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since they banned lead in red paint there have been ongoing problems that none of the makers seem to have fixed, all solid reds seem to fade in sun or peel eventually
only solution seems to be make it metallic and give it a clear over base coat
would never buy a solid red car that i was planning to keep more than 3 years for this reason
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john d - I know the VW red used to fade easily, but I never saw this problem with Peugeot Cherry Red.
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This jsut gets better and better! My Focus is harvest gold. What's wrong with that???
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Adam
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This jsut gets better and better! My Focus is harvest gold. What's wrong with that???
Nothing, man. It's wicked like, and it's Kewl.
;-)
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EXACTLY! I keep getting told this by some nice gentlemen in chequered caps with large chains. If they think it's nice then obviously I've made the right choice!
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Adam
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Harvest Gold? AND a boot?
Oh dear oh dear.
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Nothing, man. It's wicked like, and it's Kewl.
NoWheels, that post is, like, so predictable.
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Harvest Gold is a proper colour, but what about those metallics which appear to be essentially silver with a drop of colour added - just a hint. A bit like those insipid Dulux vinyl matts of a few years ago. I seem to recall one called apple white which looked a little bit greenish but only in a dull light.
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I know they look different but what are the mechanical or chemical differences between metallic and 'pearlite' paint finishes?
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I like the bright mid-blue VW did on Mk 4 Golfs and Boras, about the colour of the G;ass's advert on the left of this page!
Cheers, SS
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What about a return to two-tone paintwork? The new Mini has, if nothing else, brought us some nice colour schemes. Not all cars have natural dividing lines for two colours, of course.
Cheers, SS
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Two tone? No need, bring back black vinyl roofs, now they were reeealy Keeeewl. Yo!
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Two tone? No need, bring back black vinyl roofs, now they were reeealy Keeeewl. Yo!
>>
My first car, was an almost new white Cortina 1600E with a really expensive black vinyl roof. I chose and loved the colour. The roof gave it extra Kudos as did the stainless steel fog lights with black covers.
The roof had two lines of stitching along its length to add class like a RR.
The hidden extra was that it made my car very much quieter, due to some sound deadening layer under the vinyl across most of the roof.
Many passengers noted the lower noise level so it was not just me.
In that era most thought a cheap vinyl roof was worth the glue.
IIRC it was a dodge to hide the holes in the roof of ex panda cars.
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VW tornado red was terrible for fading but i can also show you a lot of cherry red pug 205's that have faded almost as badly.
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VW tornado red was terrible for fading but i can also show you a lot of cherry red pug 205's that have faded almost as badly.
Yes I saw a badly faded red 205 the other day - mind you, it was a D-reg ('87)....nearly 18 years old!
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since they banned lead in red paint there have been ongoing problems that none of the makers seem to have fixed, all solid reds seem to fade in sun or peel eventually only solution seems to be make it metallic and give it a clear over base coat would never buy a solid red car that i was planning to keep more than 3 years for this reason
Wife's Primera is a '98 model in solid red (the colour we wanted when we bought it). Stands outside all the time and seldom cleaned. The paint is as good as new. Only place there is any fading is on the top of the door mirror covers (which are plastic). I gave it a rub with T-cut last year and that bought the shine back.
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Isn't "Faded Red" an official Pug/Cit colour?
Adski - Harvest Gold? Can't bring it to mind - do you mean beige?
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My 'Bright Red' Chevy Z28 is now eight years old and spent it's first four years exposed to the Texas sun outside our apartment in Austin. With the exception of a few stone chips, the paint is as good as new.
Kevin...
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Whatever happened to duo-tone paint? A red and cream '57 Chevy --- something to die for.
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Boooooooooring.
Oh sorry RF - didn't see you there
;-)
--
Adam
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If there is a boring colour to choose, with cars as with socks, I'll choose it. My socks are black, dark grey, and navy blue, and I drive a silver car. (What's worse, a silver Berlingo - though I do notice that the French seem to favour their Berlingos in silver, so maybe I'm just sophisticated.)
I do feel, however, that manufacturers give remarkably little choice of colour to buyers. I was quite surprised when buying the above mentioned Berlingo that Citroen only offered 2 solid colours, and only about 10 metallic. Would it be so uneconomical for them to offer 20 or 30?
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>>Would it be so uneconomical for them to offer 20 or 30?
Perhaps not in the making, but maybe the repairing would become a pain. Not to mention colour-coded spares.
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with streaks of "claret" over the bonnet.
OOOpppps I didnt see you Adam.
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how about this colour?
nice
www.channel4.com/4car/gallery/R/renault/clio/182-c...l
for the wife.
and mine
www.tiredeyes.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/megane%2...g
the wifes car at this moment in time is unfortuantly black, BUT, it has gold flake mica paintwork. not solid black
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My first car was beige, with the odd rust coloured spot :)
Got to admit my car is now black, but I do own a black mini with lots of chrome and a union jack roof.
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