Colors colors colors!

Hey everyone, glad to be joining this community. I just placed my order for a 330i in Norcal, but I keep flipping about what color I should outfit my machine with. The colors on the bmwusa website are quite misleading--the alpine white, for example, looks a little metallic/shiny, but in real life, it's really just white!

Does anyone have pictures of what those colors will actually look like in RL? E.g. a Beemer with an arctic coat (I suppose it doesn't have to be the E90)? I am currently vacilitating among arctic, graphite, and white. Or maybe monaco blue. Aah, I'm indecisive and I sense my dealership getting annoyed with my fickle moods.

I'll get it started off with pics I found:

Red:

White:


Blue:


Graphite:

There was really no reason to post any more pics after the first one.

Electric Red!

It's always fun to see your pictures show up throughout these forums. I really enjoyed taking the pictures of the "Red" one at the Denver Auto Show. This was my first encounter with the new 3 Series. Just got a call from the local dealership offering to get me an invitation to the upcoming 3 Series "Ultimate Driving Experience" at Invesco Field. The team at Ralph Shomp BMW in Littleton are fantastic! I know that you can sign up on-line, but it's good to know that they are working it.

Oops, just checked out E90post.com. Tons of pics there, making this thread a little obsolete. Artic is too....bleh. It's down to graphite and white. I think I prefer graphite, but am unsure it's worth the extra dough.

Titanium Silver shows how beautifully the body is sculpted. I think this is great color. My order is Titanium Silver / Black Leather...

These pics are from e90post. Thanks e90post.

I suggest that you not make your color choice based on pictures on the Internet. I mean there are so many variables in the process of getting that picture to your screen in terms of color that its just a move asking for trouble.

Drive to a dealer and see them in person. That's the only proper way to know what the car looks like in a certain color. And the dealers are a dime a dozen in the Bay Area.

E90 red looks so much different in person. I was going to order Electric red but changed my mind as soon as I saw the color in person. Sparkling Graphite looks better in the shaded area or in doors. It has little bit of purple tones under the direct sunlight. Silver looks much brighter in person as well. So, never choose a color based on pictures... See it in person... As for me, I decided to go with Titanium Silver and it is in order....

Originally Posted by Evil Cardinal

Hey everyone, glad to be joining this community. I just placed my order for a 330i in Norcal, but I keep flipping about what color I should outfit my machine with. The colors on the bmwusa website are quite misleading--the alpine white, for example, looks a little metallic/shiny, but in real life, it's really just white!

Does anyone have pictures of what those colors will actually look like in RL? E.g. a Beemer with an arctic coat (I suppose it doesn't have to be the E90)? I am currently vacilitating among arctic, graphite, and white. Or maybe monaco blue. Aah, I'm indecisive and I sense my dealership getting annoyed with my fickle moods.

Saw an Arctic E90 parked at the curb the other day in bright sunlight. It looked sensational. I thought this was a sissy color when I saw pictures of it but now I would give it serious consideration.

I could never live with the dark colors like graphite or blue. They need to be washed at least weekly if not more often or they will look dirty. I can't devote that much time to keeping a car clean, but if you can keep them clean they will look good.

I'm going with Electric Red. It's the same color red used on the E46. For the past few years I've seen that color on them, fallen in love with it, and when I heard it was being offered on the E90 I had to get it.
Look at all the colors in person like everyone stated. You may find that special something in a particular paint color that is only evident to you in person.

Damn that blue looks black. They shouldn't have bothered with blue if it was gonna look almost black.

Originally Posted by Evil Cardinal

Hey everyone, glad to be joining this community. I just placed my order for a 330i in Norcal, but I keep flipping about what color I should outfit my machine with. The colors on the bmwusa website are quite misleading--the alpine white, for example, looks a little metallic/shiny, but in real life, it's really just white!

Does anyone have pictures of what those colors will actually look like in RL? E.g. a Beemer with an arctic coat (I suppose it doesn't have to be the E90)? I am currently vacilitating among arctic, graphite, and white. Or maybe monaco blue. Aah, I'm indecisive and I sense my dealership getting annoyed with my fickle moods.

If you placed the order for your car already, why are having a rough time choosing a color? I wouldn't think you couldn't change the color if you ordered it. If it's one already on the lot, no big deal. But it sounds like you placed a special order for one.

I bought my 330i in Sparkling Graphite w/ black dakota leather. The picture is nice but doesn't do it justice. The car looked incredible after they detailed it. The silver is nice also but my wife's SUV is that color so I went with this.

Put a deposit down on 2006 325xi.

Sparkling Graphite Metallic
Poplar Wood
Gray leather
Premium Package
Cold Weather Package
Steptronic
Xenon Adaptive Headlights
Park Distance Control

Sales rep stated that production may start in August, definitiely in Sept. Mine makes 6 on order with expectecd allocation of 8.

Originally Posted by boas1

Put a deposit down on 2006 325xi.

Sales rep stated that production may start in August, mine makes 6 on order with expectecd allocation of 8.

That's interesting because the factory shuts down during Aug. which is pretty much the story throughout Germany.

BMWNA told my CA that production for US allocations on the AWD would start in Sept. and that's why I can't do ED until Nov. because they do US allocations first and then ED allocations.

I saw in person Arctic, Graphite, Jet Black, Sapphire Black and Monaco Blue. The only color I didn't like was Monaco Blue, not enough sparkle in it, looked too dull for paying the extra money a metallic color warrants for. It didn't look bad, I just thought they shouldn't charge any extra for it.

Originally Posted by boas1

Put a deposit down on 2006 325xi.

Sparkling Graphite Metallic
Poplar Wood
Gray leather
Premium Package
Cold Weather Package
Steptronic
Neon Adaptive Headlights
Park Distance Control

Sales rep stated that production may start in August, definitiely in Sept. Mine makes 6 on order with expectecd allocation of 8.

Zenon. headlights are Zenon. (Neon goes on the underside suped up honda civic)

Originally Posted by boas1

Put a deposit down on 2006 325xi.

Neon Adaptive Headlights

Whoa, that must look cool.

Originally Posted by Evil Cardinal

I'll get it started off with pics I found:

Red:

That's a pretty nice truck on the lady with her back-end towards the camera.

Originally Posted by will-san

Zenon. headlights are Zenon. (Neon goes on the underside suped up honda civic)

Actually, headlights are Xenons (spell check). Zenon sounds like a super hero (LOL).
psyran

Spell check does work right if you use it, especially when you have to pay so much for those lights! :-)

Originally Posted by Evil Cardinal

Oops, just checked out E90post.com. Tons of pics there, making this thread a little obsolete. Artic is too....bleh. It's down to graphite and white. I think I prefer graphite, but am unsure it's worth the extra dough.

I felt the same about Artic as you do until I went to my dealer and saw the color on a 330i. Looks real good in person, especialy with blk interior. If you are down to choosing one of three colors, you should be able to go to your dealer to check out the colors in person; Artic, Graphite and White are popular colors.

Originally Posted by terps

Damn that blue looks black. They shouldn't have bothered with blue if it was gonna look almost black.

It's weird that the poster put "blue" when there are two types of blue available in the US (and more in Europe).

The very dark blue pictured is Monaco, which looks essentially black unless seen under light.

Mystic Blue on the other hand is very clearly blue and looks pretty nice from all the pics I've seen.

Originally Posted by carnuts3

I felt the same about Artic as you do until I went to my dealer and saw the color on a 330i. Looks real good in person, especialy with blk interior. If you are down to choosing one of three colors, you should be able to go to your dealer to check out the colors in person; Artic, Graphite and White are popular colors.

I liked Arctic as well when I saw it in person. It looks *nothing* like the Internet pics, nor like the puny brochure sample. I actually held the brochure on the car's hood and they were very different.

One vote for Arctic here, must be the underdog color of the E90 line...

adc
03 330 ZHP

Originally Posted by adc

...One vote for Arctic here, must be the underdog color of the E90 line...

adc
03 330 ZHP

I think that title goes to Sonora.