Now this may sound like a silly question because obviously, you go with your favorite color. However, did anyone base their decision on other factors? For example, you like black and/or white cars but went with another color because they look dirty/show dings easier than other colors. Or you went with a certain color over another because less people have that color? Just wanted to get into everyone's head when it came to picking up a color. I'm literally torn between blue sensation, crystal black pearl and storm silver metallic.

 

I picked mine because I wanted to paint the center black: hood, roof, spoiler, and hatch.

So I believed white would have looked best with it down the road.

 

Because everything must be black.
Like the swarm of justice.

(rep to anyone who gets that...)

 

Silver doesn't show as much dirt as white...but stays cooler than black.

 

Oks like I won't be getting repped haha

 

I wanted dark grey metallic and didn't like any of the "real" colors - could have gone with a dark blue. Since dark blue and dark grey weren't options the choice was between black, alabaster silver metallic and storm silver metallic.

Black gets/looks dirty real quick so that was out.
Alabaster is too much like all the other silver cars out there - though I would have liked it even darker I like that it is just a bit darker and diffferent from the majority of silver cars

 

Fits were scarce as hens teeth in 2006 and I wanted a manual shift car, my wife was told that a dealer had a black one over the phone while I was in the bath tub and I told her to give them a deposit with my debit card. I called them when I got out and asked when I could pick it up and the creep said that he had not told her that the car was available because it was already sold...... 2 weeks later a silver Sport with manual transmission arrived at the dealer that had my deposit and I finally (after many phone calls) was told to come and get it..... I drove it off of the lot at 10 pm on a Saturday night in July 2006 after months of trying to find one..... Any color would have been fine except for copper though it is closest to the color of the loose sand and iron ore laden dirt that I have to drive over and would have blended with it the best.... I think that black or white, are the easiest colors to coordinate colors with followed by silver. Black is definitely the best looking in my opinion but is just too damned hot to drive under the hot Texas sun in a car as hard to cool as the Fit or any other with such an expansive wind shield.

 

Black is hot and shows swirl marks. White is cool and doesn't.

I was heavily influenced by those facts. Which later made me feel even better about my choice due to the Cool Roofs facts via the EPA:
Cool Roofs | Heat Island Effect | US EPA

And the Heat Island effect main topic is here:
Heat Island Effect | U.S. EPA

I lived in a hot summer area for a long time, and could FEEL the intensity of black and dark cars just walking by them. Walking by a wall that is substantially darker than another wall would radiate much more heat.

And I did have a black car for awhile. Nothing prettier than a clean black shiny car. And it stays like that 10 seconds during pollen season. Or when it's windy. Or if someone on the planet breathes. Then it would be covered with dust or film.

Meanwhile, I'd had access to white trucks during my earlier years, and they never really seemed shiny, but they never really seemed all that dirty either. I wouldn't notice the pollen on the white vehicles.

Yellow, I had one of those, an older Honda, that seemed good for day time visibility and didn't seem to show dirt. I had a dark flat red car, and the paint was crap, never held a shine. I had a metallic brown. But the ones that showed the dust the most were the black ones. And they were just too hot for inland use.

Ever walked on hot concrete sidewalks? Hot, but not nearly as hot as stepping on to hot, black asphalt that sizzles the soles of your feet. And if you've ever sought out the nice, cool, painted stripes for the crosswalk while barefoot, you then know the power of white.

Visibility was important to me. I'd been rear-ended in the black car. It was practically invisible at night. If you take a walk in the evening, what colors stand out? What is used in a moonlight garden? White.

Tail end of the Moody Blues "Nights in White Satin":

Breath deep
The gathering gloom
Watch lights fade
From every room
Bedsitter people
Look back and lament
Another day's useless
Energy spent
Impassioned lovers
Wrestle as one
Lonely man cries for love
And has none
New mother picks up
And suckles her son
Senior citizens
Wish they were young
Cold hearted orb
That rules the night
Removes the colours
From our sight
Red is gray and
Yellow white
But we decide
Which is right
And
Which is an Illusion

YouTube - Moody Blues - Nights in White Satin (extended version)
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Tons of research and studies out there on safety and car color. You might be surprised at some of the results. It's not white as being the safest...
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the British Medical Journal reported, silver cars were 60 percent less likely to be involved in a serious injury than the control group--white cars. Even when the adjustments for confounding variables were removed from the data, silver cars were still 50 percent less likely to be involved in a serious injury accident than white.

If silver is safest, what are the least safe? Dark earth tones. Brown vehicles were 110 percent more likely to be involved in an injury accident than white cars, when the adjustment factors were taken into account. Black was almost equally bad at 100 percent more likely and green cars were 80 percent more likely.


So if dark colors are unsafe, you might figure that bright colors like yellow and red would be safer because they are more likely to be seen. Well, yes and no. On unadjusted bases, both red and yellow vehicles were viewed as much more likely to be involved in injury accidents, but when adjusted for all the other variables, they actually registered as being safer than the control color of white.

Drivers.com: Hi Ho silver is safe!
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Daimler Benz says white is the easiest seen:
Daimler-Benz say white is right

Daimler-Benz undertook research (before flourescent paints were used) that concluded that white was the easiest colour to be seen. White rated 86% in their tests while black, dark red and dark blue rated 4%.


Safe vehicle colours
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When might it not be visible? Well, we have FOG here. White cars are to fog as black cars are to night. They disappear. That's when red really rocks, and red, orange both seem to be awesome for snow too.

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Consider WHERE you live, WHEN you drive for comfort and visibility. It's not just about favorite colors for me.



I'm convinced I'm saving the world one parking spot at a time by covering that hot asphalt with my white car.



I don't want a ticket, and red cars apparently are seen as speeders. I don't want to be invisible or rear-ended again. I don't want to spend too much time dealing with washing and swirl marks. The less I have to worry or stress, the more time I have for myself. Right?



That's my common sense approach. And I salute those folks who can keep a dark car clean and free of swirls. It's a lot of work.

 

Actually, my favorite color is green. My last three cars (a Dodge Neon, a Honda CR-V, and a Honda Element) have all been green. Unfortunately, the USDM Fit doesn't come in green. My second-favorite color is yellow. The EUDM Jazz is available in "Helios Yellow" which looks great, but of course, that color isn't available for the USDM Fit!

Since I really wanted a Fit, that left me with my third-favorite color, blue. I actually toyed with the idea of Tidewater Blue for awhile, because it was "unique"--I really wanted to stand out from the crowd. The local dealer had a few Tidewater Blues on the lot, and I looked them over several times. The only thing I didn't like about them was that on cloudy days, they looked kind of grey-ish (not one of my favorite colors at all!). I finally settled on the Blue Sensation Pearl, even though I had never seen one in person (just online pictures). I actually didn't see the Blue Sensation until my car was delivered to my house (the dealer had to find that color from another dealer)! I've had it for almost 3 months now, and I love the color! It's really gorgeous in any light. The only downside I've seen is that it gets dirty very quickly! Oh, well, nothing's perfect!

 

good God taffeta white, your posts are epic.


i originally wanted white on black with a/t. they had one at the dealer like a month before i bought my fit. my wife liked SSM, because she said it made the fit look more upscale, but since our previous car was grey, and this would be my car, that left either vbp or black. i love vbp, especially since the fit was the last car offered by honda to feature the color, but now i kinda wish i had gotten black, given that its easier to make the fit look meaner.

i see very seldom vbp fits with aesthetic mods that look 'just right'. guess i'll have to be the first.

so yea, while i would have preferred white in general, and maybe should have chosen black, i like my vbp. wanted that color ever since it was on the ep3

 

I would have liked either yellow or bright green, neither of which was available. My next choice was orange revolution. The only sport manual I could find was in orange, so my mind was made up for me. I really like the color and was lucky to get it. Black shows every scratch and speck of dirt, and white shows rust, so they were out. The silver is too dark for my taste, and my last car was silver. Every blue car I've had experience with has had paint adhesion issues, so I'll never own another blue car, even though I love blue.

To me, small cars can carry off bright colors without looking silly, and I'm sick of the same old black, white, gray, brown, red and dark/light blue choices that the car companies have offered forever and a day.

 

Silver, Its shiny, and easy as hell to keep clean. Although on cloudy days the car is hard to see so I drive with lights on.

 

ive owned alot of colors before the fit. i can say that the SSM so far is my favorite. shows no dirt

 

Yeah

I know

I suck

 

I got black because it was the only M/T Sport that was in stock within 50 miles of here over a period of about 3 months. When I saw it on a dealer website, I went and snatched it up quick.

 

I just really like orange. I'm the type not willing to futz with color choice if it means paying extra - color just isn't that important to me beyond it not being black or white which I just plain don't like. I went to the dealer to buy an orange Element. I was actually so dead set on orange for the Element that I probably would have paid extra if necessary to get one! But then I ended up liking the Fit better and having no preconceived notions about it, I was back to being indifferent about color if color choice meant extra cost.

Test drove a black Fit. Worked out pricing with the salesman. He asked what color I liked...I asked what was on the lot. He said there were no unsold Fits on the lot, and said I could have whatever color I wanted, but if I chose a less common color like orange it might take even a month to get one in. My eyes lit up...Orange! Of course then I gave him the stinkeye - "How much extra you gonna charge me to cherry pick the color?" He said no extra charge. He gave me the Fit brochure to see the color choices and told me to give him a call when I decided which I wanted.

Called on a Saturday...told him orange was my first choice but if it would take more than 2 weeks to get one, I'd go with red instead.

He called back an hour later and said "I'm pretty suprised myself but...can you come in Monday afternoon and take delivery on an orange fit? There just happened to be one nearby!"

So that's a lot of narrative to say...I love orange and it was available at no extra charge.

 

LOL; "...it might take even a month..." - I waited 5 months (minus 4 days) for my SSM! I could have had an ASM in only one month (the dealer offered it after three weeks waiting). I guess the market is quite different in the US than here

 

I got CBP. I was in between that & SSM. Opted for black because my last car was a silver Civic. Plus I like black.

 

i went with silver for GD as second choice. i wanted taffeta white but was not offered for 2008. but this silver looks very nice though. not bright like those silvers on civics. almost as dark and rich in color like my G's silver.

but 2009 it was. so, tada.

 

Mine is blue sensation pearl. My civic (which my husband now drives) is silver, and his accord is black. I needed some color and figured if I was gonna spend the money on a brand new car, I was gonna get what I wanted. Black and white are too hard to keep clean, the tidewater blue was too close to silver, and we have a red CRX. I LOVE the BSP. I will agree with the earlier poster, though, who said silver is much easier to keep clean looking....

BTW - Purple is my favorite color and I really like the blackberry pearl. I just didn't want to have to worry about it looking dirty all the time since it's such a dark color.