Common exterior colors

I have seen a lot of posts talking about how common silver and gray are for the 5 series yet all I see up here in Northern New England and around Boston are black BMW's. Whether it's a 5 or 7 series they are all black. I think I saw one white one, but that was an older model. A Texas poster on another thread talked about there being thousands of space gray cars on the road, but I haven't seen one space gray or silver up here on the roads outside of the ones that were on the lots of the two local BMW dealers in New Hampshire.

I think each area of the USA probably has different favorite colors. I ordered a space gray 535xi back at the end of July and I have been patiently waiting to see one on the highways I travel and I haven't even seen one.

I have seen postings that the favorite color in Germany is black. Maybe New England's climate is cold and rainy like Germany and people want black, but then Great Britain is rainy and I read they like a lot of space "grey." Maybe we could do a geographic poll of our local most common exterior colors.

BMW sells more black, and black variants, in Germany than any other color according to our BMW Leipzig Plant tour guide.

Space Gray is a fabulous color. You'll love it. I had it on my 2007 X5 and came close to getting it on my M3. If I was ordering an F10, it would be either Space Gray, Imperial Blue or Deep Sea Blue. I've owned one black car in my lifetime (Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 AMG) and it was a bear to keep clean, so never again.

i ordered tasman green on my new xi. I have graphite metallic now with black interior. i didn't want another gray, they are very common around here.

My '08 535 is space gray. Here in California they're everywhere.It's a good color but it's boring out west.

I've got an '11 on order. Imperial Blue.

I have a 2011 550xi on order with Black Saphire Metallic as my past two vehicles have been silver and prior two vehicles to those were both black. I love both colors and debate as to which to get on every order.

KirbyJ, btw I'm based in Windham...how about you?

Originally Posted by NH JG

I have a 2011 550xi on order with Black Saphire Metallic as my past two vehicles have been silver and prior two vehicles to those were both black. I love both colors and debate as to which to get on every order.

KirbyJ, btw I'm based in Windham...how about you?

Black is a beautiful color. Of course it is dark and rains so often in New England that gray is a bright, cheerful color up here! I like the way the chrome door handles and grill work look with the space gray.

I'm based in Hampstead.

I went with Jet Black for my '11 550i. For me, there is no better looking color when detailed out properly. Of course with Black, it takes lots of careful TLC to keep it looking proper....

Originally Posted by quackbury

Space Gray is a fabulous color. You'll love it. I had it on my 2007 X5 and came close to getting it on my M3. If I was ordering an F10, it would be either Space Gray, Imperial Blue or Deep Sea Blue. I've owned one black car in my lifetime (Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 AMG) and it was a bear to keep clean, so never again.

I took delivery of my Space Gray 528i a couple of days ago. I love the color.
It's uber-conservative, but I think it's a classy color, and it should be fairly
easy to maintain.

I just ordered the 550i in Milano Beige. Yes, I know....it is a really rare color for the F-10.

To me it looks classy and luxurious. I am not going for the sporty/aggressive look.

Most of the F10s I've seen on the road have been black, as have most of the ones posted on here. Definitely getting to be boring.

95% of the black cars I see have visible dirt, and 80% have swirl marks. I could see doing it in a southern climate, but up here where it rains most of the year - ends up looking like crap.

Classic Titanium for me with black interior of course!

I have a 2008 Space Grey BMW - the color is awesome very understated and it hides dirt well.

I always stayed away from black due to maintenance concerns. Then I realized that it doesn't matter that much for modern bmws. The break dust on the rims makes the car look dirty long before even black looks dirty so if you want your car to look clean it still needs a wash every week, so I went with black this time. It's quite different with my SUV where the rims stays clean for months, I'm very happy that car isn't black...

I went with Sapphire Black after owning blue, red, white autos. Red fades, and white was the best overall. Sapphire Black, however, is simply drop dead gorgeous, and much more luxurious IMO. BUT:

1) Dust shows. The metallic black does help a little, but still needs a quick wipedown at least once a week. I'm finding a good synthetic type wax makes it easy to wipe down without washing.
2) The birds bomb the car with poop and it etches the top of the clear coat. On black, it's much more noticeable - like a smeared mirror. I've been able to buff some of it out with some polish, but still haven't made it go away completely yet. Still experimenting with polishes being careful not to overdue it. On white, you'd never notice it, same I suspect for silver. Hoping my newly added synthetic wax blend retards the etching in the future.
3) More Heat. Black cars just get overall hotter in sunlight. I didn't get the ventilated seats or tinted windows - I have Oyster seats. I've learn to park facing East in the afternoon sun (and not under light poles or trees). If I park facing West, the sun hits the front of the thick, heavy seats which take an hour of full A/C to cooldown, and I get sweaty back syndrome as it cools. Parking with the nose facing East, the afternoon sun gets deflected by the back windows screens and never hits the seat fronts. I also use the automatic venting and I keep front windows cracked. Even the hottest 100 degree days we've had here recently, it's been okay.

Black cars need to be cared for much more, but look much better when clean.

On brake dust, I'm trying some wheel spray. So far, it seems to help. Dust doesn't accumulate as much and washes away easier.

Imperial blue for this CT imperialist!

current X5 is green. I saw a 750 and then a 535 in imperial blue at the dealer and just loved the color particularly in the sunlight. Can't wait, the boat gets into NYC next Wednesday.

My F10 is Dark Graphite. I must say though, had I been able to wait and order the Mkit, I would have gone with Carbon Black, man I love that color.

Originally Posted by Munich77

I have a 2008 Space Grey BMW - the color is awesome very understated and it hides dirt well.

What color interior do you have? I am close to ordering a car and want to get a lighter color interior, but the black interior seems to offer the best contrast.

Originally Posted by da40flyer

I went with Jet Black for my '11 550i. For me, there is no better looking color when detailed out properly. Of course with Black, it takes lots of careful TLC to keep it looking proper....

Couldn't agree more

Personally I've noticed that I wash the black car much more often, not primarily since it looks very dirty but because it looks so spectacular when it's clean. It's a difference between the two. Washing a black F10 is soooo rewarding. A side note is that the first time you hand wash the F10 you will notice three things.
1. It's even bigger than you thought. Everything is big.
2. It's much more edgy than what it first looks like. The creases are signficant. It must be the harmony in the design that hides really how big the creases are on the sides compared to the E60. It's quite an eye opener and almost a sensual experience to hand wash this thing and black enhances the experience.
3. The windshield wipers can't be raised when parked...

Originally Posted by solstice

3. The windshield wipers can't be raised when parked...

Yes, and I HAAAAAATE THAT!!!!!

Very anoying. Well, I gues you can't have it all.

Originally Posted by solstice

3. The windshield wipers can't be raised when parked...

Alternatively, you can park the wiper in the vertical position by pushing up the wiper lever beyond resistance + Hold for 3 seconds immediately after turning off the car. To resume normal position, push wiper lever down after turning on the car.

Originally Posted by nosnoop

Alternatively, you can park the wiper in the vertical position by pushing up the wiper lever beyond resistance + Hold for 3 seconds immediately after turning off the car. To resume normal position, push wiper lever down after turning on the car.

I'm sure the little ol ladies driving F10s in colder climates is going to love doing that each time they park outside in winter to be able to lift the wiper blades to avoid them freezing to the screen and damage them when ripping them loose again...It's questionable design.