Why are car colours so dull these days? All those greys, blacks and silvers...

[corgisu]

We are beginning to think about buying a new (to us) car and looking around at autotrader etc I am struck about how dull all the car colours are. So many greays, blacks, silvers; most exciting seems to be navy blue. What has happened to the reds, maroons, yellows I remember from my youth?

We are looking at 5ish year old cars - mostly 'sensible' estates - anyone have any preference for Skoda Octavia/ Peugeot 308/ VW Golf estate/ an other in the 'small' estate category ?

Because they sell .

I might like an orange car but when I sell it on it might put people off

We had very little choice of colour each time as we've always bought used cars.

I assume other people are in the same position.

Mines orange. Can always find it in a crowded car park

You are unfortunately looking at "sensible" cars that tend to co me in sensible colours - usually ex-fleet/company cars that are restricted on what colours they can have. My previous car was a company car, and the most exciting choice we had was navy blue.

I was lucky enough to be able to buy my own, so went with a brighter colour!

Mazda do a nice red as do Toyota. We've just bought a red Mazda CX-3.

In the used estate car category that you're looking at, the Best buys for used cars according to Which? are:

Large:
BMW 3 Series Touring
Honda Accord Tourer
Toyota Avensis TS
Ford Mondeo Estate

Medium:
Toyota Auris TS
Ford Focus Estate
Kia Ceed SW

I have a red VW polo
Blue is one of the best sellers where I work

I agree - cars used to be all different colours. It's all boring now.

We received our new car last month. I chose black in the end as all the other colours in the range were awful. Even the reds & blues that I'd usually go for; they were dull shades and looked really drab. So I blame the manufacturer!

Because when you buy a brand new car the jazzier colours cost more. There's usually a few tiers of colour costs, typically something like:

Free colour - often white and maybe one other colour. Non-white alternative was charcoal grey for my last VW. Royal blue for the Skoda on order.
Low price - navy, black, red, royal blue
Mid price - brighter colours
High end - Metallics

Some of the colours we have at work

No idea why it is but it is increasingly difficult to buy a car even brand new that isn't black/white/silver. When I got my last car red and blue were theoretically possible but the red wasn't available for 16 months! The blue was 5 months and the boring colours were 4 months.

You’ve just reminded me of the bright acid green Austin Allegro we had when I was a child. We did actually love it, it was the seventies 😁

At various times we had a blueberry/purple Austin, a metallic mint green Nissan, an orange Citroen, and a lemon yellow Fiat.

I currently drive a metallic peacock blue Skoda which shines like a jewel in a carpark of duller vehicles.

The only time I've ever bought a brand new car I was soo disappointed with choice of colours it was basically versions of black, white or grey.
I get why people don't want overly out there colours like orange in case it impacts resale but I wish there were more blues ,greens and reds.
Apparently the brighter the car the less chance there is in being involved in an accident as its more visible so brighter car colours make sense.

Mines mustard yellow, my last car was a brightish green, I generally seek out brighter colour cars so I can find them, also they are sometimes a bit cheaper, my green one was £200 cheaper than the dull blue car which was the similar, I ask why it was cheaper and the garage said the colour. The brighter colours are more expensive when it's new but when second hand are often cheaper.

I don't understand the issue, surely the one person who can't see the colour of a car is the driver, so why should they care?

I have a bright blue Citroen C3 Picasso and I love it. I can find it in a car park and it means I'm very visible on the road. But I'm going to have to change it soon, and I can't find anything in a similarly bold colour.

It seems madness to me, to have road coloured cars. Surely it's a lot safer to have cars in colours that contrast with the road? Yet everything seems to be silver or grey.

See my post. Its safety, for me. I once nearly hit a car which was basically the same colour as the road. I'm not saying it wouldn't have been my fault if I had, but I just didn't see it for some reason. I think I would have if it had been blue or red, or even black.

So yes, I don't want a grey car because I want people to see me easily.

Grey, black and silver are better than chavvy white

It seems madness to me, to have road coloured cars. Surely it's a lot safer to have cars in colours that contrast with the road? Yet everything seems to be silver or grey.

Agree! My company car is charcoal grey- we weren't allowed to order a different colour even at our own expense. I call it "dawn and dusk" coloured. At this time of year, I swear people don't see me even with lights on.

I'm not complaining about having a company car btw, but if I ever have the freedom to have a yellow or orange car I will!

There's a neon green on my road. It's hideous.

I totally agree, they're so boring now (and also agree grey/silver is harder to see on dull days). Ford do a nice royal blue and various reds, I have a pearlescent red Mondeo estate which I love, and my neighbour has a really bright red focus estate. They're both really cheap to run and tax too.

My cars have all been bright colours, red and orange etc.

If you get a Skoda Octavia Estate, you'll get quite a lot of choice in this rather fabulous blue colour. Great cars too, I've had a couple of them over the years.

My current car is black, when I was looking there wasn't a lot of choice so colour wasn't really a consideration. I did see the same car in a nice green that I was going to go for, then I saw the black one that was newer and lower mileage for similar money so made the sensible choice.