Newbie thoughts on Colours and Styling

DakarDude · 08-02-2009, 08:41 AM

Hello Everyone, I've been reading e90post for some time, finally decided to register and post, yes this is my first post!

I'm planning on getting a pre-owned 6-cylinder E90 soon, to replace my 318ti, and I've been pouring over the pics in the Photos forum, to make my mind up of what to get. Many thinks to everyone that has posted the pictures to that forum, they've realy helped convince my wife that TiAg isn't the only acceptable option

I've decided to post my thoughts about the colours and styling that the current 3 is offered in, sometime in frustration that the best combos aren't available as standard! Of course all this is opinion only and open to debate - polite comments gratefully received. Impolite comments - not so much

Also, bear in mind that a lot of these thoughts are based on the options you can get in the UK where I live, I notice a few 'color'/styling options are available in NA that we cant have here (without going Individual!).

- For E90 and E91, the M Sport bodykit option looks best, for E92 and E93, the SE option is better (there seems to be wide agreement on this as well)

- In the UK, you get Shadowline window trim with M Sport on 6-cylinder cars, and I think Shadowline goes best with lighter colours

- The only light colours available with M Sport are Alpine White, TiAg and now with the facelift models, Bluewater

- TiAg is 'played out' I'm so bored of seeng silver cars! In the UK, the weather is so crap that silver just looks grey.

- Almost no one buys white cars in the UK! I've been told that when you got to resell, people think they are pre-owned police cars, have had a hard life and therefore wont pay a lot!

- I cant afford a facelift model, so Bluewater is out

- Le Mans Blue isn't quite light enough but is the best combo, imho

- Arctic, or Atlantic Blue on an M Sport with Shadowline are also light and would look great, but were not an option (why?)

- Conversely, 6-cylinder SEs get Chrome window trim, which goes well with darker colours

- SE in Sparkling Graphite, Monaco Blue, Deep Green, Space Grey or Black looks great

- With the facelift, you can now get Barbera Red on E90/91, not just the coupe, and again with the chrome this looks wonderful. Why it wasn't available from day one I dont know.

- For some reason, Crimson Red looks good on the Sedan or Touring, in SE or in M Sport, with Chrome or Shadowline, doesn't matter. But on the Coupe and Cabrio, its just too much, it look like 'my other car is a Ferrari' if you know what I mean

- The selection of Blue colours really wasnt thought out!

- There wasn't really a tasteful, obviously blue colour for SE buyers initally. Bluewater has remedied this to some degree.

- Montego Blue strikes me as a much more sporty, extravert colour that Le Mans. Others have called it 'dynamic'. Its too 'loud', too 'Impreza' for SE. I think Montego would suit M Sport/Shadowline better, and Le Mans suits SE with the Chrome. BMW should have swapped the names, so offered the colour we know as Montego on M Sport and called it Le Mans (this would then solve the problem that 'racing circuit' colours are only available on M Sport).

- Where I work, someone has a E90 SE in Monaco Blue in the office car park. I think so far this year, there has only been 2 days that were sunny enough to show it is blue and not black! Whats the point of getting Monaco if you cant tell its blue, just get Black Sapphire...

- Likewise, you can only really tell Arctic isn't silver when its on the move, or parked next to a silver car. Its still a great colour though, I love the way it changes between silver, gold, blue and green as the light catches it.

- Le Mans Blue is my favourite colour of all of them (not just of the blues). If I can, I'll get a 330i M Sport sedan in this.

- Anyone that thinks they can see purple/eggplant in Sparkling Graphite needs their eyes tested

Very classy colour, all the upsides of silver and black with none of the downsides (too common, swirls, etc). Sadly, again probably too subtle (or should that be dull) for the British climate.

- No comment on Platinum Bronze, Tasman or Havanna, I've never seen a current 3 in any of these colours for real on the roads.

Andy

PS - my Avatar really is my current car!

DrGP · 08-02-2009, 09:40 AM

Sorry, just too much information to process. Since you are looking for a pre owned car, find one with the options, mileage and price you want and then decide whether you like the color combo or nor.

srcstc · 08-02-2009, 10:57 AM

M-Sport looks best on a coupe imo.

DakarDude · 08-03-2009, 03:39 AM

Not exactly the welcome I was expecting, DrGP!

I was not asking for advice, it was an opinion piece. Yeah, fair point, it was a very long post, but its based on reading and looking at photos on e90post for months - so its months of pent up comment all coming out in one go. Apologies if it was too much.

I am going to choose based on options, mileage and price. For me, trim level and colour are just other 'options'. The gist of the comments was that some combinations of those options, that I think go particularly well together, were not made available by BMW when it would have been simple to offer them (e.g. most colours available with the M Sport option are medium to dark, when I think M Sport looks better with light colours).

Andy

rc'Z · 08-03-2009, 06:34 AM

Welcome Andy, I like colors that look good clean or dirty. I don't care for colors that cry to the cops, "give me a ticket". You may be going a little over board for color, other aspects/equipment of/on the car are more important. There is no perfect ride that meets all needs. Enjoy what you get and stop fretting over it, you will be happier.

Rando · 08-03-2009, 09:47 AM

DakarDude: Welcome, and thanks for the post. I agree with most of your assessment, except for the purple in sparking graphite... In some light, it's there, and I don't like it.

I was similarly disappointed with the lack of blues. I loved Mystic Blue with the old generation, but the new blues are just too extreme... very light or very bright.

One thing I still don't understand is how so many people like the gray colors... I get that they are robust against dirt and all... but they never look as awesome when clean as black or white or silver, IMHO. But that really is a subjective thing.

One interesting thing with black is that bodywork is not visible. I actually liked that so that some of the creases were toned down. But if you have a nice front bumper for example, it would be hard to make out.

Le Mans Blue seems to now be available for regular cars for 2010, if I read one of the earlier posts correctly.

08-02-2009, 08:41 AM	#1
DakarDude New Member 0 Rep 12 Posts Drives: E90 330i in Arctic Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: UK iTrader: (0) Garage List 2005 330i SE [0.00]	Newbie thoughts on Colours and Styling Hello Everyone, I've been reading e90post for some time, finally decided to register and post, yes this is my first post! I'm planning on getting a pre-owned 6-cylinder E90 soon, to replace my 318ti, and I've been pouring over the pics in the Photos forum, to make my mind up of what to get. Many thinks to everyone that has posted the pictures to that forum, they've realy helped convince my wife that TiAg isn't the only acceptable option I've decided to post my thoughts about the colours and styling that the current 3 is offered in, sometime in frustration that the best combos aren't available as standard! Of course all this is opinion only and open to debate - polite comments gratefully received. Impolite comments - not so much Also, bear in mind that a lot of these thoughts are based on the options you can get in the UK where I live, I notice a few 'color'/styling options are available in NA that we cant have here (without going Individual!). - For E90 and E91, the M Sport bodykit option looks best, for E92 and E93, the SE option is better (there seems to be wide agreement on this as well) - In the UK, you get Shadowline window trim with M Sport on 6-cylinder cars, and I think Shadowline goes best with lighter colours - The only light colours available with M Sport are Alpine White, TiAg and now with the facelift models, Bluewater - TiAg is 'played out' I'm so bored of seeng silver cars! In the UK, the weather is so crap that silver just looks grey. - Almost no one buys white cars in the UK! I've been told that when you got to resell, people think they are pre-owned police cars, have had a hard life and therefore wont pay a lot! - I cant afford a facelift model, so Bluewater is out - Le Mans Blue isn't quite light enough but is the best combo, imho - Arctic, or Atlantic Blue on an M Sport with Shadowline are also light and would look great, but were not an option (why?) - Conversely, 6-cylinder SEs get Chrome window trim, which goes well with darker colours - SE in Sparkling Graphite, Monaco Blue, Deep Green, Space Grey or Black looks great - With the facelift, you can now get Barbera Red on E90/91, not just the coupe, and again with the chrome this looks wonderful. Why it wasn't available from day one I dont know. - For some reason, Crimson Red looks good on the Sedan or Touring, in SE or in M Sport, with Chrome or Shadowline, doesn't matter. But on the Coupe and Cabrio, its just too much, it look like 'my other car is a Ferrari' if you know what I mean - The selection of Blue colours really wasnt thought out! - There wasn't really a tasteful, obviously blue colour for SE buyers initally. Bluewater has remedied this to some degree. - Montego Blue strikes me as a much more sporty, extravert colour that Le Mans. Others have called it 'dynamic'. Its too 'loud', too 'Impreza' for SE. I think Montego would suit M Sport/Shadowline better, and Le Mans suits SE with the Chrome. BMW should have swapped the names, so offered the colour we know as Montego on M Sport and called it Le Mans (this would then solve the problem that 'racing circuit' colours are only available on M Sport). - Where I work, someone has a E90 SE in Monaco Blue in the office car park. I think so far this year, there has only been 2 days that were sunny enough to show it is blue and not black! Whats the point of getting Monaco if you cant tell its blue, just get Black Sapphire... - Likewise, you can only really tell Arctic isn't silver when its on the move, or parked next to a silver car. Its still a great colour though, I love the way it changes between silver, gold, blue and green as the light catches it. - Le Mans Blue is my favourite colour of all of them (not just of the blues). If I can, I'll get a 330i M Sport sedan in this. - Anyone that thinks they can see purple/eggplant in Sparkling Graphite needs their eyes tested Very classy colour, all the upsides of silver and black with none of the downsides (too common, swirls, etc). Sadly, again probably too subtle (or should that be dull) for the British climate. - No comment on Platinum Bronze, Tasman or Havanna, I've never seen a current 3 in any of these colours for real on the roads. Andy PS - my Avatar really is my current car!
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08-02-2009, 09:40 AM	#2
DrGP Lieutenant Colonel 137 Rep 1,914 Posts Drives: Sapphire 335i coupe Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: SE, PA iTrader: (0)	Sorry, just too much information to process. Since you are looking for a pre owned car, find one with the options, mileage and price you want and then decide whether you like the color combo or nor.
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08-02-2009, 10:57 AM	#3
srcstc Major 82 Rep 1,365 Posts Drives: 2016 Camaro 2SS Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: NJ iTrader: (9)	M-Sport looks best on a coupe imo.
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08-03-2009, 03:39 AM	#4
DakarDude New Member 0 Rep 12 Posts Drives: E90 330i in Arctic Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: UK iTrader: (0) Garage List 2005 330i SE [0.00]	Not exactly the welcome I was expecting, DrGP! I was not asking for advice, it was an opinion piece. Yeah, fair point, it was a very long post, but its based on reading and looking at photos on e90post for months - so its months of pent up comment all coming out in one go. Apologies if it was too much. I am going to choose based on options, mileage and price. For me, trim level and colour are just other 'options'. The gist of the comments was that some combinations of those options, that I think go particularly well together, were not made available by BMW when it would have been simple to offer them (e.g. most colours available with the M Sport option are medium to dark, when I think M Sport looks better with light colours). Andy
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08-03-2009, 06:34 AM	#5
rc'Z Captain 13 Rep 821 Posts Drives: 2009 335i Convertible Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Virginia iTrader: (0)	Welcome Andy, I like colors that look good clean or dirty. I don't care for colors that cry to the cops, "give me a ticket". You may be going a little over board for color, other aspects/equipment of/on the car are more important. There is no perfect ride that meets all needs. Enjoy what you get and stop fretting over it, you will be happier.
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08-03-2009, 09:47 AM	#6
Rando Lieutenant 52 Rep 487 Posts Drives: BMW Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: CA iTrader: (0)	DakarDude: Welcome, and thanks for the post. I agree with most of your assessment, except for the purple in sparking graphite... In some light, it's there, and I don't like it. I was similarly disappointed with the lack of blues. I loved Mystic Blue with the old generation, but the new blues are just too extreme... very light or very bright. One thing I still don't understand is how so many people like the gray colors... I get that they are robust against dirt and all... but they never look as awesome when clean as black or white or silver, IMHO. But that really is a subjective thing. One interesting thing with black is that bodywork is not visible. I actually liked that so that some of the creases were toned down. But if you have a nice front bumper for example, it would be hard to make out. Le Mans Blue seems to now be available for regular cars for 2010, if I read one of the earlier posts correctly.
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