# Do cars still come in colors where you are? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 14, 2013, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878 "2013-11-14T02:57:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/21 "2013-11-14T19:20:21Z")
There was an ad for some SUV a year or so ago where a parent was picking up a kid from school. All the other SUVs in line to pick up kids all looked exactly the same with exactly the same paint job but the one being advertised looked different with a slightly different paint job. Ad fail. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/22 "2013-11-14T19:30:04Z")
The worst colour of all from a safety standpoint is, in my opinion, light greyish beige. Why? It’s almost invisible against the light greyish-beige surroundings of the dirty snow of the typical Canadian road during the winter. My uncle had a car of this colour, and we honestly had trouble seeing it against the snowbanks along the road. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/23 "2013-11-14T19:35:17Z")
When I was car shopping earlier this year, one thing I noticed is that the bright colors tended to be limited either to specfic editions or only offered for a limited window of time before being discontinued. The colors that seemed most often to cross all models? Black, White and Silver. This mean most of what you had on the lot were one of those three with a sprinkling of other colors and finding you specific amenities in other colors was more hit or miss. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/24 "2013-11-14T19:50:24Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > Interesting point, but I think people mostly go to a dealer and drive away with the car the day they buy it. At least, that’s the only way I’ve ever bought a car. That may be anachronistic though. Manufacturing is so precise now that one car of a particular make and model shouldn’t be noticeably different from another, but I’m not sure people really believe that. I’m not even sure I believe it. Depending upon the options and other factors, it can take quite a while to get a car that you have special ordered. It can be easier to have a dealer locate one with similar features that is already sitting on a lot somewhere and have it shipped. Way back when Pontiac was still making Firebirds, 2001, I ordered one with a hardtop because I had heard that the T-tops leaked. Most of these cars came with the T-top. Ordered in April. The delivery date kept getting pushed back. Eventually they told me it would need to be the next year’s model, as my order had hit the transition period between years. My patience was wearing thin and one\*\* July \*\*day I was driving through a nearby town and saw one with all the features I had ordered, plus a performance package that I hadn’t, but it had the T-tops. So I said “fuck it” and went back to my original dealer and said I was going to buy this one. They did a little panic because I had not placed any money down on the car I had ordered. But by the end of that very day they had arranged to buy the car from the other dealer and make the sale to me. Great customer service. I drove home in my new car by 6:00pm that day. Of course, I could have driven off in my new car back in April, if I had asked them to locate one that was already on the lot that maybe didn’t have everything I wanted. The hardtop I originally ordered hit their showroom about September as I recall, and someone else bought it. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/25 "2013-11-14T20:20:08Z")
I’m perplexed by the info/opinions about red cars. It’s all I buy! And I’m not in a Corvette, sadly. Just a Prius, and my last car was a Ford Windstar minivan. Also red! My husband has a red Jeep. Cars just need to be red. Zoom-zoom! ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/26 "2013-11-14T20:21:20Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Oh for the good ol’ days when two- and even three-toned cars filled the streets. Wood paneling on cars for the win. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/27 "2013-11-14T20:56:27Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I can always find my car in a parking lot. Unless it’s hidden by two SUVs! (Fellow Fit owner here) There are a few colors represented in my building’s small parking lot. Right now I count 4 black, 3 silver, 2 blue, 3 red, a white, and a forest green. Mine’s one of the blue ones. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/28 "2013-11-14T21:14:38Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Cars just need to be red. Zoom-zoom! Excellent user name / post combo. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/29 "2013-11-14T21:18:40Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Depending upon the options and other factors, it can take quite a while to get a car that you have special ordered. It can be easier to have a dealer locate one with similar features that is already sitting on a lot somewhere and have it shipped. I bought a Ford Mustang two years ago. I wanted a V6, with a manual transmission, and even that was difficult to find, just to take a test drive. After the test drive, I told the salesman that I wanted to buy, but I wanted it in “cherry red metallic” (which was one of the colors offered by Ford for the model). The car which I’d taken for the test drive was black. The dealer was willing to cut a better deal to sell me the black car (because it was on the lot), but I really wanted red. So, they searched the Ford dealer network for a V6, stick, with that color…and found exactly one in the entire eastern half of the country. They had it shipped in, and I took ownership 3 days later. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/30 "2013-11-14T21:22:46Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Cars just need to be red. Zoom-zoom! Nonsense. Everybody knows silver cars are quickest. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/31 "2013-11-14T21:37:26Z")
Red cars are statistically more likely to get traffic tickets. With a shrinking pool to choose from, cops may start writing you up before you even get the key into the ignition. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/32 "2013-11-14T21:41:38Z")
I have a mint green 2012 Fiat. I didn’t choose that color; I bought it from the first owner. Previous car was red. Bought it new in 1995. Chose the red car over the black car. It was sporty and therefore, should be red. Car before that was silver. Bought it used and didn’t care, but that was in the early 90s. First car was navy blue; bought it off my dad who bought it new in the early 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/33 "2013-11-14T21:43:27Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > Red cars are statistically more likely to get traffic tickets. With a shrinking pool to choose from, cops may start writing you up before you even get the key into the ignition. I had a red car for 17 years and didn’t get any speeding tickets in it, ever, even though I drive like a bat outta hell. Got a couple in my old beater pickup truck with 200K+ miles on it. :: shrugs :: When I was in college, the very first line of my statistics textbook was, “You can drown in a stream of averages only one foot deep if the next step you take, takes you in over your head.” ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/34 "2013-11-14T21:53:23Z")
When I was buying my Toyota Highlander a few months ago, I looked at the colors available in the dealership itself and in the brochures, and tried to imagine myself looking at that color year after year after year… My wife said try choosing something other than silver (like a couple of my previous vehicles). I just couldn’t convince myself on anything other than silver. Although the Toyota silver is very light, so it is almost white. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/35 "2013-11-14T22:09:12Z")
Cars still come in colors here. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/36 "2013-11-15T01:49:35Z")
Grey (almost any shade of it) is my favourite colour, so this trend makes it easy for me to find a car when I want one on the dealer’s lot. Not so much in the parking lot, though, so I’m considering looking for something a little brighter and less common the next time I buy (which won’t be for a couple of years yet). ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/37 "2013-11-15T02:12:09Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Disagree heavily, and obviously YMMV. > > Honestly, all these black and gray and dark green cars are kind of hard to see at night. I wanted a silver car, but then everyone and their mother got silver. So I ended up with a blue raspberry Fit. And I tell you, I am very happy with it. I can always find my car in a parking lot. The only thing I dislike about our car is that it is silver. The pavement is grey and the sidewalk is grey, which means that on rainy or foggy days our car is basically invisible. We don’t have the money to get it painted but if we came into a decent sum of money one of the things I would want to do is paint my car some sort of noticeable color. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/38 "2013-11-15T02:13:43Z")
Mostly white, silver and grey in Sydney, due as mentioned before, to fleet sales. I’ll never understand the mindset of someone who forks out for an expensive car (OK, so all cars are expensive in Oz) like a Porsche and gets it in white. What’s the go with that?? My first car (1975) was a red Torana. The make will meaning nothing to anyone outside Australia but it was a sporty number and I loved it. The only reason I wouldn’t get red again is because it faded so much. Things might be different now, since I have an actual garage instead of having to park it outside in the baking sun. My current car is a Mazda 3, dark blue in colour (not sure of the official name). I’m such a rebel. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/39 "2013-11-15T02:15:56Z")
My cars since 1984: Blue Red Gold Blue ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878/40 "2013-11-15T02:29:25Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Nonsense. Everybody knows silver cars are quickest. 😛 What colour medal do you get if you win again? Besides, it’s well known dat da red wunz go fasta! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-still-come-in-colors-where-you-are/673878.md?page=3)