[Closed] Black and White cars - a bit boring - why?

I've wondered the same myself. Pick up a brochure and 50% of the colour options will be variations on "silver."

I think maybe it's just a "safe" colour, thinking of resale value. A flamingo pink Mondeo might be the dream car for someone, but could well be quite difficult to sell five years later.

I can remember a time not so long ago when having a white car was an absolute disaster for resale value where now it doesn't seem to affect values.

it takes a very refined shape to look good in white, VW mk7 Golfs look OK in white, whilst LR Evokes look gopping.

I would not have a black car again as they always look stunning....for about 5 minutes after washing and waxing.

All IMHO of course

Don't get me started on white cars, work carpark looks like the white goods isle in Currys.

Only vehicles that should be white should be vans/commercial vehicles, police/ambulances.

Cars with a genuine motorsport pedigree (ie. that specific model has been raced or rallied at some point) also fine, E30 M3 in white - all good, X5 in white - just no.

Black cars I like, bitch to keep clean though.

White started selling well in the last 08 recession and became popular for its lack of bling, it's just carried on because some cars look good in white (or black)
But I've seen more coloured cars over the last 2 years than ever before, once the confidence is back people tend to feel better about buying whatever they want.

We will see what colour cars of the near future will be, I suspect poo brown or fawn.

My car is white. I don't own it, it's a company car. However, white cars are statistically less likely to be involved in an accident. As I cover a lot of miles, it seemed as good a reason as any for picking this colour.

From Auto Express

For the fourth consecutive year, the most popular colour for new cars in the UK is white. According to data released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, it tops the charts with 20.51% of all new cars registered in 2016 finished in the hue. That’s a total of 552,329 cars.

It’s a tight-run race though, as the monochromatic podium also includes black in second place and grey in third, with market shares of 20.16% and 17.29% respectively. That means overall white, black and grey cars made up nearly 58% of new car registrations in 2016.

They then go onto say that white is becoming less popular, but black and silver more popular.... 🙁

seems the same in the US

http://www.datagraver.com/case/evolution-of-car-color-in-north-america-since-2000

[b]Onzadog[/b] do you think that is because safer drivers choose white, or because white is safer?

I recently bought a brand new car that I intend to keep for ever or until it dies, whichever comes first. I chose black, even though i love a bit of colour, my bikes are generally bright colours. Black won't go out of fashion though.

For mainstream cars a lot of it has to do with production runs at the factory.

Hertz/Avis/Sixt etc will order 5,000 Golfs in silver for every one private sale that isn't silver consequently there are a lot of silver Golfs around

Be careful what you wish for (and yes, this was actually a production model)...

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Someone got paid good money to design that colour scheme.

Onzadog do you think that is because safer drivers choose white, or because white is safer?

I think they're more visible than the dark colours or grey/silver options that we're also available. I'm as safe as I am irrespective of the colour surrounding me.

Most white cars look like police cars, and a bit cheap. I see the odd one and they look ok, golf GTE spring to mind, but unless you have a hyper car, White looks naff.

When I choose the colour of a car, it's white. The colour it's easiest to get into when it's been parked in the sun at 40°C. It's also the zero supplement colour on most French cars, and the cheapest to repair and insure.

Be careful what you wish for (and yes, this was actually a production model)...

Used to see a harlequin VW regularly, I thought it looked ace!

I have never been asked the colour of my car when insuring it. Perhaps these days they get the info from the registration number? Not sure how without complete access to the DVLA database

I bought my last car in white because (a) my previous silver car got its paint ruined with white sun cream hand prints and I figured this wouldn't happen to a white car and a distant (b) it wasn't £500 extra like everything else. But it's a Toyota MPV so getting it in white just completes the hat trick of boringness.

[quote=loddrik ]Be careful what you wish for (and yes, this was actually a production model)...

Ah - having seen a couple of those around I was surprised that more than one person had got their car resprayed like that. I like it though.

I think my current favourite colour is orange though (my car is boring blue, but then it was cheap and I'm not paying more for a nice colour)

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I think it was called the Polo Harlequin. I assume it was the VW equivalent of Revels - made up of the parts/sweets swept up from the VW/Mars factory floor at the end of the day. My aged hippy aunt had one.

I've heard it's "recession white" but I'm not so sure - to my mind it started way back in the boom - partly I think because of the explosion in Apple products with the iPod and the iPhone, partly because at the time the 80s was going through its nostalgia phase and white was big in the 80s and partly I think Dubai had become the 'must visit' holiday location for exactly the sort of person who likes to have the latest thing on the drive. My folks live in the Middle East - perfectly clean white cars look amazing against the desert and skyscraper look of the Middle East.

Sadly they look bloody awful caked in Road grime in Feb in the UK.

I seem to recall Bike last went through a white phase about 8-10 years ago, Santa Cruz did a lot of white frames back then.

I have said I will never have a white car, I think they're awful. I've got a black one now that's my second least favourite colour, wasn't my choice you've only got to look at it for it to scratch and it rarely gets home from the car wash without looking dirty again.

Blue or green next time for me if I get a choice.

My mate owes a Polo harlequin, they're worth a bit more than normal ones now I'm told. Really it's an unpopular (at the time) green car with different colour panels.

It's not just bright colours that can be a brave choice.

Someone up the road has one like this, but with more solid black detailing...
[img] [/img]

My car is copper pulse.

I feel the term courage is an understatement.

What's brave about a grey 5 series!?

I love brightly coloured cars, but since I buy used I rarely have the luxury of finding one.

What's brave about a grey 5 series!?

It looks appalling.

My GrampMobile is white. It's to keep it as cool as possible in summer sunlight. Anything else is irrelevant.

I see too many silver/grey cars with no lights driving along dull grey roads on dull grey days.

Re: the Polo.
IIRC, they ran an advert with a picture of a car with all the different colour panels. They had so many people ask where they could buy one that it became an official colour scheme.

I have a white car as it was £2k less than picking one in another colour, with additional spec that would have cost more.

I would have a red or blue car given the choice.

I have had 20 cars over the years my favs were usually red or black, black looks so cool when its polished and waxed.

Don't get me started on white cars, work carpark looks like the white goods isle in Currys.

It's because white is very often the only colour that doesn't cost extra and when you're up to your eyeballs in credit, it keeps the PCP deal price down by £2 a month.

I have a white car as I wanted a specific model and it fit the bill.

I like it, bastard to keep clean though.

Based on recent experiences of the 40 mph average zone on the A14, White cars are immune to average speed cams, as are other German marques. Weird, but seems to be the case!

Seems people don't go into car dealers very often and browse around the options stands, most cars are available in a really wide range of colours, it's probably just that it's an expensive option to go for a different colour, especially metallics.
Colours go in phases, too - there was a period where cars came in some really odd colours, there are some metallic greens and browns that I see around and ask myself quite what anyone would choose to drive a car in that colour voluntarily.
My Octavia is dark metallic green, that's the colour it happened to be, I needed a replacement car and the colour was the least important aspect of the choice.
Red paint is a fugitive colour, it fades over time through UV.
Renault do a lovely range of colours, a stunning rich metallic red, a bronze/gold, and several others I've seen on the road, but I'll bet they're not cheap.
I saw a new Honda NSX in a dealership at Cribbs Causeway in Bristol recently, it was a gorgeous deep red - apparently the paint cost £6000...

The white revival started with that Range Rover.
We are still awaiting the brown metallic revival and if you want to pimp it even further have a light brown vinyl roof.

Errrr! Are you 20 years old?

Not around in the 70s an 80s anyway no way you could have been.

Black and white are now standard colours not optional extras like they once were instead of dog shit brown.

Seems to be whatever colour car the manufacturers use in their marketing materials and promotional shots is the one most folks will go for.

Do the designers lead and consumers follow or other way around?

It's because white is very often the only colour that doesn't cost extra and when you're up to your eyeballs in credit, it keeps the PCP deal price down by £2 a month.

^^^ what he said ^^^

I had a gold mark 3 cortina with a brown vinyl roof... but it was 1982...

Since then, white, red, silver, red, grey, green, blue, grey, blue, blue... but in my defence I didn't keep the 4 boring coloured ones long.

It's because white is very often the only colour that doesn't cost extra and when you're up to your eyeballs in credit, it keeps the PCP deal price down by £2 a month.

This. Usually it costs extra to have any colour other than black or white. For example for Mercs and BMWs its around £700 extra.

Silver, red, black, white, white, blue, grey, champagne gold, white, white, black, grey, white, black, silver, silver, green, burgundy, silver, dark blue, blue, silver, blue, silver, blue, blue, beige, blue

But of those, I only chose the colour ( rather than chosing a car that incidentally happened to be a certain colour) twice, both blue

Black can look good when clean but not a good idea in somewhere with tight lanes. Here all cars get Devon rash, hedge marks down the left hand side, black unfortunately shows up the most.
As said above a few cars look good in white but not many.

The multi-colour thing is available as an aftermarket option for any popular car with minimal effort.

[img] ?fit=450%2C302[/img]

In some markets (Turkey for instance) white is by far the predominant colour and has been for ages. If you don't sell a white option your won't sell many.

One of the nicest looking cars in white is this (never owned a golf) they just seem to have got everything right, size, shape, proportions, stance, curves/design.

[img] [/img]

Waiting for one of those coming, well 5 door GTE, I chose white as it was the only option on the lease left in stock.

That Polo on the first page looks like it should belong to the Sixth Doctor.

Black and white are now standard colours not optional extras like they once were instead of dog shit brown.

That's "Russet Brown," Mister.

champagne gold

I had a Champagne gold Cavalier once. One of the best cars I ever owned, I adored it.

The real reason?

We are all becoming more "Belgian"

When I used to live in Germany in the mid-late 90s we used to play a game while driving through Belgium of "Spot the car that isn't black white, silver or dark blue" Even in rush hour traffic on the Brussels ring road you would be lucky to see 1 or 2 non-conformists.

So there you have it. It has taken 20 odd years but we are all becoming more Belgian 🙁

Maybe Brexit will lead to us buying more colourful cars again 🙂

Cars are basicaly a white good to most people anyway. My day to day car certainly is.

Maybe Brexit will lead to us buying more colourful cars again

It'll probably reduce the number of black and brown ones. Last I heard the Brexiteers wanted to send them all back where they came from.

Cougar - Moderator
Maybe Brexit will lead to us buying more colourful cars again
It'll probably reduce the number of black and brown ones. Last I heard the Brexiteers wanted to send them all back where they came from.

Ohh..

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I really like shiny pearly white, if it's done with some nice black window trim. Wouldn't want to have to keep one clean though.

There was a time 10 years or so back when you would struggle to buy a new, white car. I remember seeing a Passat in white (in Walking Bottom carpark, perhaps almost predictably) back then and it really stood out. I asked the driver and he worked for the golf firm Ping, they had a custom order. But now white cars are chavtastic

Now I have a choice between an Ateca with boring colours except a minging orange or a VW which also have crap options. Probably get a light blue Passat as it's least boring but they don't even do them in tornado red anymore. Rubbish.

Always wanted a mark 2 GTI in oak green metallic, that was a good colour. Best around now is Mazda candy red I reckon

Agree on boring Belgian cars. Plus they're shit/lunatic drivers

I too wish that colour was more prevalent on all things, not just cars.

I drive a 'tarmac grey' car. 🙁

Too many black/grey/silver/white boring colours out there.
It doesn't have to be outlandish.

This thread made me laugh. We've got a black car and have just ordered a white one 😆

I actually think there's a lot more colour on the road these days. Those Citreon Cactus are a refreshingly colourful sight and I keep seeing lots of colourful city cars like Aygos. In my experience it seems the bigger the car, the [s]less exciting the colour choices[/s] less adventurous the owners become.

My first ever car was white (18 years ago) I got no end of stick for it. I do think white cars are chav (now) and the fashion for them started with Audi's ad campaign for one of their models (Like the previous trend for silver cars started after Audi launched the TT and every ad campaign for that featured silver TT's).

As mentioned above, drivers of grey, silver, white and black cars (my car is black) need to realise that they are camouflaged during rain, fog, mist, snow etc so should stick their lights on (not just rely on drl's on the front)

My favourite colour on any new car at the moment is the minty green on the fiat 500's

the [s]less exciting the colour choices[/s] less adventurous the owners become.

IME, you were right the first time.

I suppose as well it's one of target audience. A big portion of the market for "family" cars is going to be fleet hire, and I expect most companies aren't going want a car park that looks like a deleted scene from the Tellytubbies.

That metallic green was bloody awful.

A family friend had one it spoilt a good car.

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That looks awesome.

I always wondered why

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Be thankful it wasnt beige as it shouldve been banned

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Almost got hit by a grey car on a bright sunny day many years ago. Small flat roundabout with a tree in the middle. I was on my bike, glanced to my right and went, then a dark grey car suddenly appeared.

Tarmac is dark grey, shadows on tarmac are even darker grey, eyes adjusted for the bright sunlit countryside - car was invisible to the quick glance.

I learned to look better, and some time later the council removed the tree. But the whole thing would not have happened with a red car. What I am trying to say is if you drive a grey car, expect not to be seen.

Yeah everything is invisble at a quick glance because human eyes aren't good enough for that.

The trend back to white was really kicked off by the Mk5 Golf GTi. It's the contrast of the white body, black grill and the famous red grill trim.

Remember that white is both the original no-cost option (remember when the paint would turn to a flat matt finish within a year?) and also a cost-option with the various pearls and metallics.

The reality that "resale white" (or silver or black) is, of course a bit of a myth: so few cars are genuinely traded in - rather than just handed back to avoid the PCP balloon and a new PCP starts - that other than paying for the paint option up front there's no reason not to get an interesting colour.

My current car is white (popular and refreshingly new 7+ years ago). Its forthcoming replacement is be metallic red. Mrs North's car is bright DKR* and looks all the better for it.

The reality is that most people are sheep and are happy with the automotive equivalents of magnolia in the home.

*dog's knob red

That Oak Green GTI is awesome.

That Oak Green GTI is awesome.

See?

Nope it's rank.

bikebouy - Member

We will see what colour cars of the near future will be, I suspect poo brown or fawn.

Just newer BMW SUV's in a particularly horrible shade of dogshit brown round here, so far.

Magenta very popular with Fords and the Peugeot owners ATM, and most of the FIAT 500's seem to be minty green....

Yeah, the manufacturer does seem to be punting Brown/Russet Brown/Rusty Gold/Bronze/Magenta/Deep Reds.

I've been looking for a new car to replace a Black XC60, going back into any dealer of note these days seems to need a solid constitution and an ability to ask "what colour is that"??

But the worst IMO is this..
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This is the other non cost colour on Dacias, Monkey.

[img] [/img]

Well would you have that or white.

Buying our latest car we got to colour and both agreed white. Madame pointed to the car on display saying it looked really nice in white. I pointed across to the Dacia showroom and explained as tactfully as possible that white meant the same as the Dacia Sandero rather than the rather pleasing pearl white of the car on display for which we'd have to pay a fortune and wait forever. The saleman nodded, Madame decided a Dacia white Renault would be fine because we could touch it up with Tipex like our Dacia (I really use white house paint but you get the idea).

My car is black and white.... put it's a Panda, so I guess that's normal 😉

and it's anything but boring

[img] [/img]
(borrowed image)

Some cars.. however... look good in Brun..

[img] [/img]

Any examples?

Nope it's rank.

bikebouy - Member
Some cars.. however... look good in Brun..

No they don't.
They all subconsciously turn into an Austin Princess.

Cars should make you smile, not make you check the bottom of your shoe everytime you get out.
😀

No, it really isn't.

It definitely is.

That Lexus IS a truly rank colour

Yup it's also rank.

Driving along with my wife and another couple, my wife remarked there are alot of boring silver cars on the road, she went on to say she would never choose a silver car.

This caused me much amusement as I pointed out that the car we were traveling in was silver and indeed was her car 🙂

I'm not 100% sure why the XC70 I posted, you think, doesn't look good in brown ?

I think Silver and grey cars hide a lot of the odd shapes and angles designers build into them, that's why the colours are pretty uniformly accepted.

Here is another brown un'

[img] https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR1iFJPRuJPQ6YO1XukjTM6qfo_h-YZ2wjInUfdOUECgwxF6CK6 [/img]
And a green un'
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And a gold n green un'
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"What colour would you like, sir?"

"Let me see... do you have anything in Bronchitis?"

Surprised at all the green car haters 🙂

Favorite colour was my old Citroen ZX in Amazon green.

Pearlescent green (light green base with dark green on top)

[IMG] [/IMG]

I always put it down to the police starting to buy silver patrol cars, I presumed to improve resale value. Until then white was utilities or emergency services.

Bought a 2 year old ex-police car in 2000, only private white car on the roads.

Now have an in your face red car, much nicer.

Very popular..
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