What is driving BMW color selection decisions. I am very disappointed with the same choices year after year - all seem to be black, white or grey shades. Even the green and brown are so dark, they are hard to see color. The only real color is Phytonic blue, which looks nice - but they discontinued red to add that

Maybe everyone is satisfied with these choices on the new X3, but they seem very routine for me. There used to be a nicer set of choices on other models - but nothing stands out anymore.
Mercedes and Jaguar are offering a broader color choice - BMW you are in a color rut!

Do others feel this way too?

m cars offer cool colours

 

I like the blue, but generally BMW has been going with the boring colors for awhile.

 

Agreed although the blue looks nice. Mrs. is disappointed there is no red.

 

Yes, very boring choices other than the blue. And no shades of red? Even the X1 at least gets sunset orange.

 

The X3 is BMW's mid-market SUV. Expect better choices on options and colors on the X5. Manufacturers always add little incentives for you to go up-market... like better color selections.

 

I***8217;m shocked the Mineral White Metallic isn***8217;t offered on the new X3***8217;s.

 

I'm shocked the Mineral White Metallic isn't offered on the new X3's.

Yes, it is

 

Yeah these X3 colors are too conservative. The future X2 colors will be more exciting since it's theoretically for customers half the age of these X3 or X5 crowd.

 

Not for M Sport and M40i.

 

Ah, it is! It looks as though its available on the luxury 30i. It's not available on the 30i M-Sport or the M40i. I think I've narrowed it down to the Alpine White or the Dark Graphite Metallic.

 

Color choice has always been a problem with my wife and I...especially if you want the M version of any vehicle. Seems like your choices are always black (flat black, met black and blue black), white (ugly flat white or off-white) or some version of silver grey (silver, dark grey, light grey). Glad to see at least one medium blue this time around but I would have preferred some reds, greens, and other earth tones for the M variant. The European/Aussie market seems to get access to individual colors.

 

Something I really wish BMW would offer on all their M-Sport variants would be the mineral white metallic paint, after having metallic paints over flat paints for years, I prefer the look of seeing the car sparkle in the sun (especially after a good wash) and I would love to see them bring the beautiful metallic white to all m-sport models, not that the alpine white doesn't look good, but it would just look so much better as a metallic, and whats weird is that its offered on some vehicles but not all! The M3 has both flat and metallic white, but the regular 3 doesn't for some reason, but both the 230i and M240i get metallic white, yet the X3 M40i doesn't, it makes no sense.

 

Since the build the basic car first then paint it...I don’t understand why they cant share paint amngst all models. I have watched the factory videos and they paint different cars in line in different hues....just a computer program.

 

It's interesting that mineral white is not available also for G30 with M Sport package, but it is for G32 (6 GT).

 

I was looking to keep on hand some touch up paint for my Phytonic Blue (Code C1M) for when the inevitable stone chip occurs. My dealer's parts manager found out from BMW in Germany that they will not be sending this color touch up paint to the USA. Something to do with EPA and customs regulations. What kind of bs is that?
The parts guy is going to contact some body shops to see what they can come up with. Ridiculous is an understatement.

 

Has anyone tried to BUILD a 30i with M Sport Package in Phytonic Blue recently?

You cannot do it anymore. You're limited to three colors in that configuration: Alpine White, Black Sapphire Metallic, and Glacier Silver Metallic.

The problem is...I ORDERED a loaded 30i with that combination on 11/13/17. I just looked at my Vehicle Inquiry Report to be sure I hadn't lost my mind and C1M (Phytonic Blue) and ZMP (M Sport Pkg.) are there. You can still build an M40i in Phytonic Blue.

And, when I go to the "Track My BMW" page, the "representation" used to be blue but is now white. That started occurring a few days ago.

What happened? Did BMW run low on the blue paint like they did M steering wheels and are now limiting the number of vehicles they're building with it/them?

I sure as hell hope that isn't the reason mine is one that has been "held up." It should have been at the dealership before Christmas.

UPDATE - Just got off the phone with my salesguy. He assured me it was painted BLUE on 11/29. It's still in "quality control" and doesn't know why it hasn't been released like so many others.

 

Interesting, something is screwy with the online configurator. When I went to build an M40i, there were only three colors showing (white, silver, black). If I selected one of them, then the other colors appeared (e.g., carbon black, BSM, blue).

 

I just tried the M40i and FIVE colors are there.

The 30i with xLine and Luxury Design have NINE colors.

However, if you try the 30i with the M Sport Design, you only have three colors from which to choose.