A pal's pal is a car designer (my dream job when I was about 15). He says that when a proper. physical model (still in use, it seems) is done to really get a grip on looks, it's always painted in silver to show the lines at their best.
What Car? - V2
- Thread starter Ponty
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A pal's pal is a car designer (my dream job when I was about 15). He says that when a proper. physical model (still in use, it seems) is done to really get a grip on looks, it's always painted in silver to show the lines at their best.
gintonic
50 shades of grey pussy cats
my current car is silver - it doesnt really show the dirt, nor am i sure it shows the lines to their best. My black Targa 4S looked stunning, as did the white Boxster, but the black boxster didnt. i quite like the newer pale grey colours - i want a grey car with blue headlights
That's interesting. A friend is a designer and a car nut, he talks at length about what colours are best for different cars. Silver is a strange colour for me, it just looks grey and I hate the way they disappear in poor light and wet roads.
Car repair shops use flat grey primer for resprays because it shows up the imperfections and can be filled and flatted until it's perfect, maybe it's the same for silver at the design stage.
gintonic
50 shades of grey pussy cats
actually i realise i am wrong - it isnt silver, Pork call it "Agate Grey" - looks like silver to me....
tones
Tones deaf
Reminds me of a colleague Downunder who had a Holden Commodore custom-finished in black. It looked quite stunning, but he found, as you mentioned, paradoxically, nothing shows up the dirt quite so well. In addition, he had to have the air-conditioning running even in winter (or what passes for winter in Melbourne).
Ponty
pfm Member
That’s a cracking colour. Ours was Atlas Grey, which looks almost black in some lights. An absolute bugger to keep looking good.
lordsummit
Moderator
Ooh, Agate Grey looks much the same colour I’ve just order a Fiat 500e Cabrio in!
palindrome
Thru a hedge, backwards and forwards.
BMW have introduced a range of colours with a different hue:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-de...ption=on&minimum-badge-engine-size=3.0&page=1
Makes a change from shiny-shiny. I have seen some in the flesh at dealers and they do look interesting.
John
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-de...ption=on&minimum-badge-engine-size=3.0&page=1
Makes a change from shiny-shiny. I have seen some in the flesh at dealers and they do look interesting.
John
palindrome
Thru a hedge, backwards and forwards.
If you're referring specifically to beemers, I would say metallics are the same, if my experience is anything to go by. My partner runs an Audi A5 and the paintwork on that is certainly more durable.
John
John
Jezzer
Unspecified
Audi have a similar colour, Daytona Grey, which my A5 came dressed in.
(Not my car but similar)
Nice. I used to have a S5 in Daytona Grey.
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
Nice. I used to have a S5 in Daytona Grey.
I toyed with the idea of an S5 (in Navarra Blue) but wimped out at the last minute and bought a 218 V6 diesel. As stated elsewhere, nice car but a few niggles which was disappointing in a three year old car.
I want another one but given the paucity of A5 V6 diesel coupes, an S5 might be the answer.
Brown Bottle
UTB
I've had 3 silver cars, they were great for not showing the dirt. I wanted a grey A4 but alas only black was available.
Cheers BB
Cheers BB
Some manufacturers stopped using clay models in favour of Virtual Reality 3D systems, but many have returned to using clays, as walking around the object is better than any virtual 3D presentation. You cannot appreciate a car design until you can run your hands over it, but someone also told me it’s to do with acoustic perception too: our hearing feeds into how we perceive objects as being solid or not.
There’s a Netflix documentary series about industrial design called Abstract: the art of Design, and one episode in the first series features Ralph Gilles, head of design for what at the time was FIAT-Chrysler Automobiles (since merged with PSA Peugeot Citroën to form Stellantis; he remains head of design for the new company). Gilles was adamant a good car design isn’t just one that looks good, but one that feels good when you hand-wash it.
I have the 3L Audi V6 engine in an A5 coupe, it's a great engine and like new at nearly 200k miles. Have they now been discontinued?
I don't like silver cars for the way th that they disappear on grey, wet, dark days. The best car I had for not showing dirt was a burgundy red metallic Cavalier. It would go for weeks and look fine, then when I eventually washed it it would suddenly be incredibl y shiny.
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
In the A5s there is no V6 50TDI any more. The highest power is the 40 which is the I4 190PS.
Pre-facelift, there was a 286PS and 218PS V6, but the higher-power model was a rare beast indeed in coupe form. For some reason there seem to be more as sportbacks but they're 'orrible.
If you want a V6 diesel now, their post-facelift S5 drinks at the dirty pump, but one of those will set you back £50k. I can get an RS5 for £40k and £10k buys a lot of fuel and smiles.
The only cars that have the V6 diesel are the bigger buses like A7, A8, Q5, Q7, SQ7 and Q8 with only the S4 & S5 being smaller.