Another Request For Color Advice

[MA128]

I know this is a silly request because it's a matter of personal taste. Nevertheless, your opinions - and especially personal experience - would be most appreciated. As you can see in my signature photo, I currently have Space Gray over black. IMO Space Gray can be a little mousy in bright sunlight, but I love the way the golden early morning or late afternoon sun brings out different shades and shows off the curves.

I've always favored silver or grey exteriors because they hide dirt well and are relatively elegant (i.e. not boy racer). For the new car (the last BMW with NA 6-cylinder and hydraulic steering!) I'm thinking of:

Mineral Grey with black or coral
Space Gray with black (again)
Vermillion Red with black
Deep Sea Blue with black

DSB seems to go better with a light interior but I don't like caring for light interiors. Not sure it would look good with black.

Saw a Vermillion Red one night in Boston and it was really beautiful but will I tire of it?

Lastly, I plan to keep this car a very long time as it will have only 75,000 miles on it when I retire. I'd like to choose a combination that will age well and not go out of fashion.

BTW, I've never owned a car this long (4 years in June) because I get bored and there's always something else interesting on the market. This really is an exceptional car; there is nothing else like it.

Thanks fellow 1-ers!

[Update] Went with Mineral Gray / Black and very happy.

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by MA128

I'd like to choose a combination that will age well and not go out of fashion.

Alpine White with black leather/leatherette... A classic combination.

[Gray_Panther]

Deep Sea Blue. It's an exotic colour that is easy to keep clean, and people would get lost in it!

[simianspeedster]

All of the color combos you mentioned are quite nice. My take:

First, a general note on 1 Series with black interiors: the 1 Series has a high beltline and relatively small windows compared to other BMWs, so the interior is already a bit dark. Also, 1 Series don't have much "jewelry" (i.e. minimal trim content), so I think an all black interior can look a bit stark on a 1. Just my opinion, of course.

Mineral Grey on the Coral/Black interior looks fantastic and you won't see many like it because Mineral Grey is a recent offering for the 1 Series. Mineral Grey is an interesting color that changes significantly depending on the lighting and angles, so it plays nicely off of the sculpted sides of the 1 Series. Mineral on Black is also nice, but I think the Coral/Black interior is more fun.

Space Grey is a great color, but it's also incredibly common across the entire BMW range if that matters to you at all -- I see multiple Space Grey BMWs every day in Southern California.

I just ordered a Vermilion Red 128i so it's obviously a color I like and it's not too common. If you want to split the difference between a light interior that requires maintenance (i.e. Taupe) and an all Black interior, you can always consider Savanna Beige/Black which is a perfect match for Vermilion Red IMO. I cam very close to ordering that combo, but my current car is Oyster/Black inside (i.e quite similar) so I wanted to do something a bit different. I went with Taupe which will require some maintenance, but I sat in a Taupe interior at the dealer and it just felt right to me. My heart overruled my head.

Deep Sea Blue is as beautiful a color as BMW has ever offered IMO. BMW has offered a lot of blues in recent years and I think DSB is their best. My wife's car is DSB or I would have probably ordered it myself. I agree that it looks best with a light interior, but it would also look great with Savanna/Black or all Black if the latter isn't too dark for your taste.

As tough as it is, you just have to choose a combo at some point and not look back. I think all of the combos you're considering will age well.

[eywflyer]

My recently arrived 135is is Deep Sea Blue with black leather interior (along with the blue stitching), and I absolutely love it. I've always liked blue cars and this is by far the most beautiful blue color I've owned.

As others have noted and I am already seeing, DSB is one of those lighting-sensitive colors. It can look very dark or even purple in cloudy conditions, but looks amazing in sunshine. I have a number of sunny day photos posted in the "135is owners show us your cars" and the Official DSB threads.

[Iron Man]

What is kind of funny, is that I was doing the same thing, though I am deliberating between DSB with beige and Le Mans Blue and black. I really like DSB and beige, but I started second guessing myself. I plan on keeping my 128i for a long time, so I want something I will really be happy with.

Regarding grey cars, I don't really like them, since they seem a little boring to me. If you do choose a grey, I would go with the Mineral Grey over Space, but I think you need an interior color that will pop with such a blah exterior (the Coral for sure).

In the end though, I really love blue, so my preference would be a blue exterior with a light color interior. I think if you take good care of it, the Oyster or Beige interior will last and look good even after years of use. The black seems a little stark with a dark color exterior.

Good luck with your choice, in what ever you choose.

[135ivert]

Gray is the safe choice. It's almost the absence of choosing. I don't see too many space gray around CO (except in my garage) probably because it just blends into the scenery.

Do you want to enjoy your car or do you want to be noticed? If you want to be noticed, I'd go for the blue or red. With a black interior I don't think you can go wrong with either. If you want to enjoy your car, buy what you like and ignore everyone else.

[Shake]

Since you already have the space grey on black combo, my vote is to change it up for Mineral grey with coral red interior. I think this is a classy combination that will age well.

[EatMyDust]

Our X3 is Monaco Blue which is pretty close to DSB. Really nice color, looks great, and hides dirt very well for a dark colored car. I probably would have gone with DSB for my 135 on order, but went with Space Grey instead because DSB was so close to the color of the X3 -- so if I were in your shoes I would probably opt for the DSB for the 1er for the same reason. YMMV.

[exPat]

I think choosing a color for the 128 is especially hard when 8 of your choices (out of 11 colors) include 3 shades of Black, 4 shades of Gray/Silver, and White. This leaves 3 other colors and 2 of them are Blue!

I don't know if this is the result of some bean-counters looking at sales of CPOs or if the Bavarians only like variations of the Roundel colors (10 out of 11 choices!). Whatever, it absolutely sucks. It doesn't help that almost 1 out of 2 cars on the road today is Silver, Black or White. Maybe this is a commentary about the emotional mood in the U.S.

Anyway, since I'm forced to choose from the current pallet I'm giving the nod either to TSM/Black or SGM/Beige (in a nod to my uncle's Anthracite/Tan 2002). But I'd really like to see some Agave, Inka, Verona or Golf!


Silver/Black


Anthracite/Tan


Edit: misspelled 'Roundel'

[exPat]

I'm still in that window where I can change my order, so I've been spending too much time thinking about color. The emotional side of me pulls one way (red! blue!), the rationale side of me looks at resale (alpine white! gray!), and the practical side of me wants as little attention as possible (silver!) even though I'd happily make room for a Valencia Orange 1M.

I decided to do a quick search of the Official Color threads here on 1addicts. There is no value judgment intended, only a (biased) data point to evaluate relative interest in particular colors. Also, apologies but my Google-fu failed to find an Official Mineral Gray thread.

Obviously there are various factors at play beyond popularity levels. Discontinued colors or new colors probably don't have fair representation. Also, some colors are cross-posted (e.g., jet black, carbon black, sapphire black) so you may want to aggregate colors.

This is where things stand:


SORT BY POSTS

Alpine White - 732
Space Gray - 379
Black - 375
Sparkling Graphite - 323
Crimson Red - 250
Le Mans Blue - 193
Sedona Red - 181
Titanium Silver - 159
Monaco Blue - 155
Saphire Black - 104
Blue Water - 98
Deep Space Blue - 97
Cashmere Silver - 58
Tahiti Green - 54


SORTED BY VIEWS

Alpine White - 344,529
Black - 192,192
Space Gray - 138,788
Sparkling Graphite - 121,421
Le Mans Blue - 102,235
Crimson Red - 88,777
Monaco Blue - 77,765
Titanium Silver - 76,249
Blue Water - 52,690
Sedona Red - 46,183
Cashmere Silver - 36,273
Saphire Black - 33,008
Deep Space Blue - 18263
Tahiti Green - 16,149

Edited for clarity

[simianspeedster]

And don't forget that there isn't even an official color thread for (the lovely) Vermillion Red Metallic.

[631twentyeighteye]

I personally love my AW, hides dirt surprisingly well and it always looks good, But if i was to buy new i'd get le mans blue. My buddy's 135 is le mans and it is an absolutely gorgeous metallic blue that looks different in shade and in sun. Though that may be a bit too boy racer for your taste. Black interior is always a given since all other colors simply wear/show wear faster.