black color. smart or not ?

Amen: the black of my 1998 A4 is one of only two things I dislike about the car, for the reasons Tony mentions above. I am finding that this car's body color is not aging as well as the 1999 Subaru Legacy OBW we also have, which is white and which looks a lot newer and hardly shows the dirt in our western New York region.

I would *NEVER* choose black if I were selecting the color of a car (I bought this car used from my sister, who was an idiot and didn't pay the extra $500 for the pearl white we both prefer).

"clarke" wrote

Another reason not to choose black or other very dark color is that it heats up more in the sun. So if you're in Florida or Texas, that may be of concern, especially if the interior is black leather also. :)

Pete

I deliver cars for a detailing service. We get all kinds of cars in. Black is very popular here but there are distinct problems that only seem to show up on black cars. All the above apply, difficult to keep clean, shows scratches, very hot in sunny climates, etc. We had a Lexus in yesterday that was a sad case. The car was pretty new but had deeply burned-in water spots on the flat surfaces. I asked the manager, who is an expert in paint care, if it was possible to polish out the water spots. He said "maybe." He said it's possible for the minerals, chemicals, etc. in the water to burn all the way through the clear and color coats, and the only way to restore the car would then be repainting. Black cars given constant care look great, but they are a LOT more work to take care of than other colors.

Alan

I had a black audi 80 93 till 2003, no poblems, washed it about once a month & waxed it once a year just before the winter, no probs, no dull paintwork, no rust, just the mechanical bits started to wear out at 130K, i can't speak for any other brands though,

Steve.

The difference is very minor. I have seen a test where they placed two cars, one black, one white, but otherwise identical, in the sun. After many hours, the temperature difference inside was only a couple of degrees.

That actually makes more of a difference. Dark interior and large windows are the most important contributors.

"Robert Roland" wrote

That may be true. In that case, do things like window tinting help at all?

I had a black '00 Accord with tan leather interior, and the thing would be like an oven after standing in the sun for a few minutes. I always attributed it to the black color, but maybe the large windows were to blame. On the other hand, my silver b5 A4 with black leatherette interior wouldn't heat up nearly as much out in the sun. It was in northern Virginia, btw.

Cheers, Pete

I have a 2006 A3 Sportback (i.e. 5 door) in Mauritius Blue and it looks good. An extra £480 for the pearlised paint. The 5 door looks good in red, though I feel brighter colours can call more attention to themselves, e.g. from a vandalism/police/carjacking point of view.

I don't know about plain tinting. It might help some. However, some cars have a metal based tinting that is specifically designed to reflect heat. I have mostly seen it on French cars. It is very obvious if you wear polarized sunglasses.

I think so. Also, the windows on that car are very flatly angled, so they make a very large effective area for sunlight to enter when the sun is high in the sky.