# What is the color of your vehicle? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 5, 2021, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480 "2021-05-05T20:58:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/41 "2021-05-06T11:32:29Z")
I drive a Desert Tan Wrangler JK ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/42 "2021-05-06T11:49:44Z")
I love my new HR-V, but I didn’t want Black initially. I decided I like it because it is classy looking … when it is CLEAN! I’ve discovered that the dust really stands out on it when it’s not. Looks icky. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/43 "2021-05-06T12:09:04Z")
Solar Orange according to BMW. It’s my second orange car, the first was a mid-70’s Honda Civic. I’ve had 1 red, 1 green, 1 silver, 2 orange and 3 blue. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/44 "2021-05-06T12:21:04Z")
Crystal White Pearl. I often refer to it as “me auto, Pearl” in a Mr. Krabs voice. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/45 "2021-05-06T12:36:37Z")
Current car Crimson Red Pearl Previous one was a Cyprus Pearl (greenish brown?) Prior to that Midnight Blue Pearl Before that Milano Red And finally my first car Toreador Red My wife when I met her hated red cars. Hence the blue and green in the middle. More recently kid has overridden Mom, so back to red. My wife still believes that red cars get more attention from the police. I don’t believe this applies to Subaru Foresters! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/46 "2021-05-06T13:23:34Z")
I’m a bit surprised to see that there are people who have brown cars. Back in the seventies, my family had a brown car. Actual brown, like the color of chocolate. And a bit later in the decade, a yellow car (an AMC Pacer). I vaguely remember going to the car lot to shop for it, and seeing all the bright primary colors: yellows and reds and blues and greens. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/47 "2021-05-06T13:33:29Z")
My favorite car was a chocolate brown. In fact chocolate brown with a white vinyl roof. I didn’t love the car for the colors though. It was a 77 Camaro with a fast 305 engine and California Transmission. It had great acceleration and was easy to work on when needed. I drove that car cross country 3 times. What a joy it was. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/48 "2021-05-06T14:03:23Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Well whether badass or “looked better”, same thing. > > Where do you live though? I lived in Anchorage at the time. But please tell us more about this color-based personality assessment so we can hate on people for the right reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/49 "2021-05-06T14:03:36Z")
A dark metallic red 2020 Chevy Malibu, as was my previous car, the 2017 model. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/50 "2021-05-06T14:14:37Z")
Don’t worry, I’ll judge you too, when I find the time. 🕶⌛ ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/51 "2021-05-06T14:19:43Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > the impracticality of dealing with a car that will be an absolute oven if ever parked in the sun - as it inevitably will be at some time. You do not realize that what makes cars hot is mostly the infrared radiation part of the sunlight that the car absorbs and that the colour in the visible part of the spectrum is not a relyable indicator for the absortion coefficient of the invisible radiation, i.e. infrared, do you? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/52 "2021-05-06T14:23:40Z")
Are you claiming black cars aren’t hotter than light color cars? If so, you might need to educate several of us on this. In practical experience I have to strongly disagree with your statement. My second Camaro was black exterior and interior. It was a friggin oven and I decided I would never drive another black car again. Even my first car with a black interior and charcoal grey exterior was awful in the summer. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/53 "2021-05-06T14:27:53Z")
All other things being equal, yes, they are indeed hotter. But there are pigments that look black to the eye that reflect IR and there are pigments that look white to the eye and absorb IR. So there might be black cars that are cooler than white cars. Of one thing I am sure: I had a white car once, I parked it in the shadow in the Spanish summer, but the shadow moved and it got scorchingly hot. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/54 "2021-05-06T14:50:55Z")
Point is, either way, you open the frickin’ door or windows and let it air out quickly to ambient then kick in your AC. Yes, the black car probably gets 15-20 degrees hotter in the sun, but that’s just the difference between the third and fourth circle of hell. You’re still in hell. And yes, I’ve spent a July in Phoenix in mid-one-teens weather. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/55 "2021-05-06T14:56:25Z")
Dark grey. Very popular fleet car color, since I bought it used (and the mileage and condition makes me think it was in fleet use). ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/56 "2021-05-06T15:01:55Z")
Moving just a bit beyond anecdote, seems like car color can make a measurable difference in fuel consumption. > **[Silver and white cars are cooler, says study](https://phys.org/news/2011-10-silver-white-cars-cooler.html)** > > (PhysOrg.com) -- From an environment standpoint, silver and white cars are cool; black cars are not. Researchers at the Berkeley Lab Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD) say that the color of your car affects your car's fuel economy and... ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/57 "2021-05-06T15:08:25Z")
Thanks for that link: > White, silver, and other light colors are coolest, reflecting about 60 percent of sunlight but there are dark “cool” colors that can also stay cooler than traditional dark colors. When dark surfaces are needed for aesthetics or to reduce brightness, one can use special “cool-colored” materials that stay moderately cool by reflecting only the invisible component of [sunlight](https://phys.org/tags/sunlight/). When I wrote that my white car got scorchingly hot in the sun I meant to say that I could not touch the stering wheel without getting blisters. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/58 "2021-05-06T15:25:05Z")
After almost 50 years, I was finally able to get a red car. I’m shocked that red is first in the poll, it is not first on the road. Perhaps we red car owners are so proud of our car color we vote more. My old car was a silver Prius, just like a million other silver Priuses in the Bay Area. One guy said that he got a McCain sticker for his bumper not because he was going to vote for him, but just to distinguish his Prius from all the others. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/59 "2021-05-06T15:39:12Z")
So it’s okay to also hate on people who drive red cars and dark blue cars. What a relief for Princhester. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480/60 "2021-05-06T15:46:07Z")
Metallic blue Chevy Silverado. When I bought it I was thinking you don’t see many blue Silverados. Now I see them everywhere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-color-of-your-vehicle/941480.md?page=4)