MrsSB is looking for a new car - it's a big purchase so she wants to get it right.
One of the three colour options she's considering is black (glossy metallic if it makes a difference), although it's in 3rd place. We live on a country road that's often muddy in the winter - how hard is it to keep a black car looking good?
(it's a little sports car and allowing it to get grubby isn't an option!)
Easier than a a white one.
If you want it clean and looking ncir, dont get black. We had 2 black cars and hated them
Now, I only have 1, theu get dirty straight away and show up EVERY LITTLE mark.
I would avoid at all costs, esp if it needs to be kept in good nic
I've got a (non matellic) black car and a metallic silver van. The black car always looks dirtier than the van.
I'd rather have nicer brighter colours, but they were the right cars at the right price, so clolour didn't come into it at the time of buying them.
What car?
What are the other colour options?
Please say one of them is like Fabio's bike 😁😎
White is surprisingly good at looking clean, also a big advantage when it's hot. Black is a nightmare if you aren't into cleaning cars.
Silver hides alot of dirt.
PS keen car 'cleaner' here and we've white, blue and silver at present.
Black will show dust and road spray quickly.
Black metallic car owner here, gets very hot in the summer & rarely looks clean, metallic black is completely pointless too. Wouldn't get another.
Edit +1 for silver cars
I have a black car and a white car. They both look dirty at the same speed, IMO, just the white one looks somewhat better with dirt on it. But you can still tell that they are both just as dirty, if you know what I mean. It's not like the white looks pristine when the black looks filthy. When you're close up the white is still obviously dirty, and if you care enough to pay attention then both will still look dirty IMO.
As someone else has said, silver hides a lot. Very Dark cars (even if not black) show dirt and also show small scratches
currently own a black metallic car, and have previously owned another black metallic car.
After the first one I said never again, but unfortunately some cars just look better in black, so this one had to be black.
I think black is the most difficult colour to keep looking nice, so if you are the type that washes your car once every 6 months, its going to look pretty terrible, but if you wash it weekly its not too bad.
Get it ceramic coated , it makes quite a difference to how long it stays looking nice for. You dont need to pay a pro hundreds to apply it (although I'm sure a professionally applied ceramic coat will last longer), I use Auto finesse Lavish ceramic foam applied using a foam lance, just spray on after washing, and rinse off, it makes quite a difference.
sorry, people clean their cars? i thought that only happened when it went into the garage for its annual service?
oh, i'm with henry ford in that all car should be black - although i hasten to point out that this is pretty much the only view of his i wold support!
We've a black and a silver car....the black car gets cleaned more (although that's still rare as lifes too short for car cleaning)
After owning a black van I wouldn't have another one. Constantly polishing and waxing it, whereas my grey car seems to stay clean a lot longer and it's only when it gets washed that I realise just how dirty it is.
My Wife's car is metallic black. When it's clean and has been give a wax, it looks amazing. In the summer, it will perhaps look good for a couple of weeks, before general pollen and dust dulls it a bit.
In the winter, you basically wash it and then by the time you have driven a mile down the road it looks filthy again.
Best car I had for looking clean even when pretty filthy was my old Ibiza. It was a kind of mid-grey colour that hid the dirt really well - probably because it just looked like dirty grey to start with. The wheels always given the game away though.
I have a black car and a white car. They both look dirty at the same speed, IMO, just the white one looks somewhat better with dirt on it. But you can still tell that they are both just as dirty, if you know what I mean. It’s not like the white looks pristine when the black looks filthy. When you’re close up the white is still obviously dirty, and if you care enough to pay attention then both will still look dirty IMO.
Agree with this. previous car black, current one white.
Although a muddy road was the OPs concern, dont forget the general winter road salt/mess. will make a black car filthy in minutes, barely noticable on a white one.
A white car you can clean to a passable standard with a hose, or even a good rain storm. The black one I had to clean, dry and wax to get any sort of decent appearance.
Never again.
We have gone from Black to a white car and white is easier. Black looks dusty really quick and if you don't wash it carefully/properly you will soon have clearly visible swirl marks in the top coat.
Had black before and it always looked mucky. Now have road-grime-silver* and it's ideal for not looking that mucky, when it is mucky.
*called something else but forget what.
Black car with drug dealer tints for the win! 🙂
I've had both, I find black is much worse for showing dirt quickly. In winter, salt shows up straight away on it, first journey after being washed. In summer, it gets pollen and dust showing up straight away. It shows defects swirls and holograms very badly too.
Also I seem to have people constantly pulling out in front of me as if my car is invisible. I don't remember that with any other colour I've had. Even worse for it than the 'motorway surface grey' Fiesta I had once.
Only ever owned one black car. Never again.
Purposefully chose metallic grey for our van when ordering as it hides the dirt and small scratches brilliantly. Had a white van before and would happily have another. Yes, white shows dirt but as already mentioned looks better with dirt on it than black.
Just please don't get something in primer grey.
Agree with most of the above. Back on the day my white calibra looked gloriously sparking after a quick hose down - lived that car. Lived in a flat at the time so only ever got a petrol station jet wash but always looked mint
Some years later I had a plain black Audi - I polished it once when felt the urge, spent a whole morning on it, it looked amazing. Went inside for lunch and an hour later it was covered in pollen - I might as well have not bothered. Never polished it again.
Best car ever was a dolphin grey metallic Audi - basically the same colour as road grime. It polished up nicely if I felt like it but continued to look fine even when filthy
Weve got a classic Saab in black now - cleaning that up for the occasional show is sort of a hobby now and it does look amazing when done, but most of the time it looks grotty
In short, get a black car if you love washing cars and like a challenge, but not if you want some that looks nice for minimal effort
We've just changed from a Black Focus estate to a White one . The Black one was such a good price 4 years ago £18K with just 6 miles ( not a typo) on the clock !But have to agree it looked brilliant sat on the drive after cleaning with Auto Gym it was a shame to drive it 🙄 The worst thing that stood out on it was that Saharan dust after a rain storm 😔
Was a bit dubious about White but I guess it can't be any worse? 🤔Time will tell .Seem to remember cleaning the Black one after a week! Soon got fed up with that 🙄
My current car is black. I wasn't keen on getting black as Ive had previous ones and they have scratched easily.
I think this one has had some kind of paint protection on it before I bought it and it does stay way cleaner than I thought it would and hasnt scratched. Maybe just Merc black paint is better than Ford ?
In the winter it does look dirty and I just leave it for a few weeks.
This pic was taken after a 3 hr drive through heavy rain in crappy weather
Current car is black and would not have another. Dirt in winter, dust in summer so it always looks dirty, shows marks and fine scratches and swirls far worse than a white or silver car does. I'd have white over black personally, depending on the car as some look awful in certain colours.
Dirty white looks like a shade of white, dirty black looks dirty, though if you look close you see tar spots on white.
Look great when clean. Look bad a few minutes after they have been cleaned. <br /><br />
Dark grey would be a good shout.
I’ve had a few black cars now, yeah they show dirt but not as bad as made out. My current metallic blue once is probably just as bad.
I once took a white car to get a quote for a new sill. The first words from the body shop guy were “ah, that’s good it’s white”.
Last car was white, current is black. No aircon, during the really hot weather it was hideous. It takes longer to get looking clean and looks dirty faster.
Any imperfections except rust show far more. Rust stands out a mile on white.
FunkyDunc
Free MemberMy current car is black. I wasn’t keen on getting black as Ive had previous ones and they have scratched easily.
I think this one has had some kind of paint protection on it before I bought it and it does stay way cleaner than I thought it would and hasnt scratched. Maybe just Merc black paint is better than Ford ?
In the winter it does look dirty and I just leave it for a few weeks.
This pic was taken after a 3 hr drive through heavy rain in crappy weather
Almost certainly a ceramic coating.
Mercedes paint in particular is known for being hard, i.e. resistant to scratches (and difficult to polish). However as far as I know that makes no difference to road grime sticking to it.
No manufacturer can paint cars properly any more though IMO, almost every car I see has terrible orange peel. The worst I've seen recently was a Ferrari! I've genuinely had better results from a rattlecan.
(it’s a little sports car and allowing it to get grubby isn’t an option!)
I think it being a "nice" car gives you a little leeway with the cleanliness. Mine's a "nice" car in very dark metallic grey and it looks stunning when properly clean, but even filthy it still gets the nod of approval/thumbs up/"rev it mister" from kids and petrolheads alike.
A ceramic coating can apparently help with keeping it looking lush but I'm yet to convince myself that the £1000+ I've seen quoted is worth it. £1000 is a lot of jet-washes.
Said I'd never own another black car after the first but have owned about 3 or 4 since. Pain to keep clean, looks great when they are though. Would have another 😀
but I’m yet to convince myself that the £1000+ I’ve seen quoted is worth it. £1000 is a lot of jet-washes.
try the auto finesse lavish ceramic foam stuff I mentioned earlier in the thread, it gives an exceptionally good result for virtually no effort and costs about 30 quid, I'd say 80% as good as a pro job, assuming the car paintwork is in good nick to start with. Its obviously not going to fix defects like would be fixed if you paid a pro hundreds of pounds, and if the paint needs a polish first its not going to do that,and I doubt it will last as long, but its remarkable in what it does for such little effort.
ive got a black car.
Polished its like a mirror. Lasts about 30 seconds after youve finished though.
I would pick a lighter colour. the difference was about 4-5k for me though so a no brainer to pick a black one.
I've got a black XC60. But, i bought a ceramic coating to put on it. Took me a day to prep and another day to apply. Cost me £200 in all.
But it looks nice most of the time, so i thought it was worth doing.
I had a black 911 with ceramic coating. Still showed every single swirl and scratch, however fine. On the other hand, it looked a million dollars after being detailed. I wouldn't buy black again. There's a reason silver cars are popular.
try the auto finesse lavish ceramic foam stuff
I will do just that. Thanks for the recommendation.
What car?
What are the other colour options?
It's a 718 Boxster (4-ish years old) [yeah yeah.... humble brag]
My current car is silver and she doesn't want a silver one. I think we can safely say that black is no longer an option!
A Boxster - got to be Miami Blue!
Don't go boring! 🙂
And not black - Porsches aren't meant to be black.
I have a (very) dark metallic blue car.
I live on a dirt track.
It looks filthy incredibly quickly.
The previous fire engine red car (pretty much the same model) took a few days (in winter) to look filthy.
On the plus side, i do so many miles that *all* cars look filthy within a week.
Plus it's a company car, so i don't much care beyond making sure it's ok when it goes back.
I once took a white car to get a quote for a new sill. The first words from the body shop guy were “ah, that’s good it’s white”.
White is very hard to colour match though.
A Boxster – got to be Miami Blue!
yep, miami blue or shark blue
My last 3 cars have been black, every time I say I wont get another then the next car ends up being something hard to find with a particular engine/spec/age/condition and colour is always the bottom of my priorities.
Always been into my cars but I can't get my head around spending every weekend cleaning and polishing them so just vac out the worst of the filth left by the kids and give it a quick wash when I can't read the number plate.
Our old, battered pickup is silver and looks mint after just showing it a jet wash, my black car I could spend all day on and to be fair would look great for 30 mins until it rains/is driven/gets dusty.
If theres an option for anything other than black then go for it!
I have had three black cars, all bought because they were the best I could find/afford at the time. I would not have another unless I had no real option for the reasons outlined above. Strangely enough they were also the three least reliable cars that I have owned, particularly the Citroen BX 16v…coincidence?
Surely all colours are just as dirty
Having tried many different colours of car , by far the best I’ve had for looking clean when it’s actually filthy is Metallic Gold. Was a common option back in the day but now well out of fashion.
Silver is probably the best compromise though
I tried to order my current car in this colour : Atacama Copper. Wasn’t available in uk spec cars
I previously owned a black car and now my current car is white. I would say that the black car was harder to look pristine and would show every little blemish. Something in the middle is probably easiest to live with.
Having tried many different colours of car , by far the best I’ve had for looking clean when it’s actually filthy is Metallic Gold
Seeing as we are looking at a Fabia in this colour, this is good news..
My last few cars were black. Great when clean but never clean for long. Also we live in a hard water area so always had water marks that needed polishing off after every wash if the car was just left to dry.
My next car is grey.
Current car is very shiny black, or at least it was when it was sitting at the dealership tempting me in. I knew it would look crap 99% of its life but here we are anyway
Even when they are clean most black cars look terrible due to fact that most have been washed so poorly over time. They just show all the swirls, buffer trails and holograms (as others have stated). I would never even contemplate a black car for that reason.
That Metallic Gold (is there another kind of gold?) looks more Mushroom Soup to me, maybe it's my monitor settings.
Anyway black cars, our S-Max is Panther Black (i.e. slightly speckly metallic). It looks mucky when it's mucky, which is most of the time.
I find it incredible how popular black is considering how bad it looks in the British weather. I did have a Black Audi A7 and got it ceramic coated that to be fair meant I only had to wash every other week. Most black cars look terrible brand new as first wash leaves panels covered in swirls.
That Metallic Gold (is there another kind of gold?) looks more Mushroom Soup to me, maybe it’s my monitor settings.
Looks clean though? It’s actually filthy.
Easier than a a white one.
Utter tosh.
I use to work for a building materials (including quarries) company, all company cars allocated to onsite staff were white - they just didn't show the dirt like other colours and the company didn't want 'dirty' vehicles leaving site(s).
Consequently non-onsite staff always had dark colours to show that they weren't site riff-raff 🙂
Had a black Volvo 850 T5-R (sold just before the prices started rising) years ago. It was lovely when properly clean but took a lot of effort. Put it in to a mate who was a detailer to properly clean and machine polish it and it was absolutely, mirror finish, lovely.
Then it broke down and sat in the mechanics yard for weeks to be fit in between jobs, went in to chase them up and saw it under a thick layer of dust. Phone call to say it was done so popped in to pay on the way home "We've dropped it off around at your flat for you, don't worry we've washed all that dust off", walk home was in the fear they'd used the brush lying on the ground which they absolutely had and made it worse than I'd ever had it. Complaint led to them offering to take it back in and "sort" it which I refused.
So yeah, great when it's looking good but frustrating when it's not. Next car due later this week is black so back on the merry-go round for me!
looks
dirtyfaster dirty.
FTFY. Had black cars for 20 years, and they look lovely shiny or grimy
Sorry, but that brown Fabia is 70's dog turd after a week in the grass
Bright yellow is the best for being seen thus safest as folk are less likely to drive into you. 🙂
Just as hard as any other car to keep clean. However, it shows up dirt a lot more. Nevertheless, if you are like me you would be cleaning it every couple of weeks or so anyway so it wouldn't matter about the colour.
When just cleaned and detailed black looks the best colour. 10 minutes later after a drive its the worst colour.
Are you lot SURE you've got black cars ? Or just very very very very very dark blue?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wx8-mysJG2s
I've had a couple black cars and I've found the trick to keeping them clean less painful was to get a DI resin filter to remove limescale. It means you don't need to dry it off and there is zero limescale with no extra effort. I can wash a large estate e class in under 20 minutes (with a Pre wash foam too) and it comes out looking like I've freshly waxed it as the filtered water makes the final finish amazing. Also as I never dry it down, the paint gets much fewer swirl marks and less chance of accidental damage from grit in a drying cloth.
We've had 3 black cars (and one white). Not because we like black cars. They are a pain to clean and show the dirt quickly as others have said. Look great when they are clean but need more washing than a white car.
Greys, blues, reds all generally better imo for daily use.
Current car is white, and it’s much easier to keep looking clean than the previous black car was. The black one was a nightmare - especially if you want to keep it actually clean - as others have said it takes a small amount of dirt and shows it up. If this is to be for a sports car you want to keep clean and shiny I’d avoid like the plague.
The precious two cars to these were both silver which was great - they just slowly turned a different shade of silver without looking dirty even when not cleaned for months.
The most annoying thing I've found since buying a black car last Spring is how quickly it can look crap in summer, a few days of pollen and a light shower and it looks like a barn find. I was prepared for it to look crap between washes over winter but thought it would hold up better over summer. That said this is my first winter owning it and I'm already caring a lot less about it's appearance so maybe by summer it won't annoy me either...
My last 3 cars have been black, every time I say I wont get another then the next car ends up being something hard to find with a particular engine/spec/age/condition and colour is always the bottom of my priorities.
It's actually pretty near the top of my list and I still can't understand why brits are so averse to having any colour in their life. Is everybody's life so full of joy and colour that they just don't need any more in their life? I've looked at a few cars that seem to have the right specs recently only to find that they are offered in six different colours none of which are actually colours at all. Black, white, various shades of grey. OK some may contain the merest hint of a colour but that seems to be as radical as the average British car buyer is prepared to get these days.
So, no, I'd never buy a black car, or a white car, or a grey car, or silver or any insipid shade of pseudo-grey. At leadt it narrows my options down to something more manageable 🙂
It’s actually pretty near the top of my list and I still can’t understand why brits are so averse to having any colour in their life.
Not averse, just prioritise condition/age/milage over colour.
1st black car was due to my (blue) VRs Estate being written off. Needed something that day, local, vaguely interesting for peanuts. Black Focus ST - super chavy, made a great noise and sold for a profit.
Next was an imported JDM van that only came in 4 colours. Perfect vehicle came up in a unique spec (real leather, 3.5 v6, AWD, electric doors) from a highly regarded importer so again... black.
Current car, try finding a clean, low mileage E91 335d lci m sport with dark interior and no sunroofs... would rather Le Mans blue but only 1 car ticked the boxes in the few months I looked so ended up with black again.
Not averse, just prioritise condition/age/milage over colour.
That makes sense and I'm sure you are not alone. In fact I'm sure it is me being weird in prioritising colour over almost anything else. I don't care what the condition, age, specs etc are. The thought of having to walk up to a black, white, silver, grey or any insipid colour car every day of my life is just too depressing to contemplate. I look at car parks sometimes and am depressed by how boring my fellow human beings seem to be. Row after row of shades of grey. People who work hard to earn good money and actually aspire to own a grey audi/bmw or whatever, just like everyone else in the car park. Slaving away just to conform.
Same with bikes really. If I'm spending that sort of money then it has to be nice to look at too and that means that it has to at least be in colour.
Each to their own though 🙂
But you can't see what colour it is when you're inside it, so surely it's better to have a car thats nice inside??
Dont get me wrong, if I had the choice I wouldnt chose black (i'd have metallic Orange), but I'd rather have a car thats in good condition and comfy to drive than a certain colour.
Ah my bikes are always pretty colourful, currently have a metallic baby blue hardtail and clear coated my enduro bike with holographic purple metallic flake over raw carbon 😆
I tend to agree re. colour - some cars look great in a 'big' colour (orange McLaren and pea green or yellow GT3/4/etc for example) but there can also be an element of 'look at me' also, which I hate.
MrsSB's current golf is blue and she's had it for about 10 years so anything blue is a non-starter and white is a bit of a fashion colour - at the end of the day the car has to be sold to someone and it's always easier with a 'safe' colour.
I could have gone with the Sao Paulo Lime …
Bugger to keep clean though.
I've got a black car, replaced a red car which replaced a blue car. All look crap in winter but OK when the road filth stops. Winter washing consists of cleaning lights and plates and once a month through the car wash.
2 black vans, they get cleaned maybe once or twice a year .. not sure what all the fuss is about? The worst thing about black is people seem to think you are invisible and pull out in front of you a lot ..... but then silver is probably the worst colour for that, and those vehicles always seem to be ones driving with no lights on when it's poor visiblity ....
2 black vans, they get cleaned maybe once or twice a year .. not sure what all the fuss is about? The worst thing about black is people seem to think you are invisible
If they only get cleaned once or twice a year (assuming they get used in the uk), they’ll be more Matte dark grey in colour. Which might be part of the problem.
If they only get cleaned once or twice a year (assuming they get used in the uk), they’ll be more Matte dark grey in colour. Which might be part of the problem.
Nope, they just look black with a bit of dirt on them ... :-)!