Car colour - popularity on resale

r3nu4l

Well I've just taken the plunge and bought a new Audi A3 2.0L TDI Sport Quattro (170 bhp).

So I have narrowed the colour choice down to either "Aruba Blue" or "Condor Grey", seeing as how the new-generation A3 no longer offers "Dolphin grey" as an option

I want to sell this car on in 3 years time and I'm wondering about the popularity of car colours. Will it be easier to sell the blue or grey car? According to Wikipedia and MotorQuote Blue is very popular amongst used car buyers but I would have thought grey would be popular too (very safe colour).

Any advice or suggestions?

/not your typical Motors thread but this is our first new car so colour considerations never came into my choice before when buying.

Ferris

People used to say that Black was the best colour for resale, I like Blue in a car myself.

I do like white on the A3, especially an up spec'ed version such as the one your getting, but its a risk resale wise. Thankfully the fad of buying yellow A3's seems to have died out, those cars must be impossible to shift.

pburns

Get the colour you prefer and stop obsessing about resale - I doubt there will be any difference.

If you were thinking of one in hear-aid beige or Barbie-pink there might be cause for concern...

recycle

r3nu4l wrote: »

Well I've just taken the plunge and bought a new Audi A3 2.0L TDI Sport Quattro (170 bhp).

So I have narrowed the colour choice down to either "Aruba Blue" or "Condor Grey", seeing as how the new-generation A3 no longer offers "Dolphin grey" as an option

I want to sell this car on in 3 years time and I'm wondering about the popularity of car colours. Will it be easier to sell the blue or grey car? According to Wikipedia and MotorQuote Blue is very popular amongst used car buyers but I would have thought grey would be popular too (very safe colour).

Any advice or suggestions?

/not your typical Motors thread but this is our first new car so colour considerations never came into my choice before when buying.

I think its a bit sad to be so concerned about colur and resale value. If your that way inclined surely you shouldnt be buying a brand new car in the first place.

Having said that, i would say that any colur in an A3 wud look very good. Nice jammer them. Best of luck whichever colur you choose.

Gumbo

i would never ever buy a black car, my GF bought black brand new in 2004 and it has been a pig to keep clean. it shows everything, from the smallest hairline scrape to a speck of dirt you picked up on the way back from the car wash!

unless i could invest the time into washing and polishing a black car every weekend rain wind or snow ie. have a garage, then i wouldnt buy one imo.

for some reason silver has to be up there at the top for resale value, but also charcoal grey is very populat at the moment.

mcwhirter

Black is the worst colour to keep the paintwork looking good.... It shows up scratches etc the must.

RobAMerc

Either should be fine, buy the colour you like best - its not exactly canary yellow your looking at now is it !

Black is defo the hardest colour to keep looking good imo.

Stevie Dakota

Colour IS important come resale, only a fool would say otherwise. Try selling a canary yellow 3 series. You'll do it eventually, but you'll wait and have to take a lower price. Some colours come in and out of fashion but you'll never go wrong with met blues and silver/grey.

Alanstrainor

Aruba blue would be the one i'd go for!
but like everyone has already said, just go with the one you like the best, they're both nice colours and neither should have a huge effect on resale.

RedorDead

r3nu4l wrote: »

Well I've just taken the plunge and bought a new Audi A3 2.0L TDI Sport Quattro (170 bhp).

So I have narrowed the colour choice down to either "Aruba Blue" or "Condor Grey", seeing as how the new-generation A3 no longer offers "Dolphin grey" as an option

I want to sell this car on in 3 years time and I'm wondering about the popularity of car colours. Will it be easier to sell the blue or grey car? According to Wikipedia and MotorQuote Blue is very popular amongst used car buyers but I would have thought grey would be popular too (very safe colour).

Any advice or suggestions?

/not your typical Motors thread but this is our first new car so colour considerations never came into my choice before when buying.

Go with meteor grey - nicer than either of the above colours

Henry Ford III

Colour choice does make a difference when it comes to resale time.

The dealer may offer help (or just try to sell you what he has in stock) but in general avoid anything garish, faddy etc.

Silver, black or red are all genreally good.

The wrong choice can rally hurt. Try selling a white Merc.

r3nu4l

Thanks lads, both colours are nice alright. I'll probably stick with the Aruba Blue as greys and blacks are commonly used on company cars (A3's) over here.

I just want to be sure because I don't want potential future buyers of my quattro saying "Nice car but it's blue, if it was in the grey I'd buy it"

EDIT: @RedOrDead, I don't want Meteor Grey because that's hugely popular amongst the company car A3's over here.

TomMc

New A3's tend to be bought by very conservative types so you see a lot of dignified (or sombre!) but somewhat boring blacks, plain silvers, dark greys, navys etc. On the used market people would not be quite so staid. More so in the UK. A gaudy colour might work on the S3 (debatable), but not on the rest of the range. Either of your colour choices are much of a muchness, so buy what you prefer the most. Neither will effect values too much either way but blue might just have a bit more kerb appeal. While gaudy colours may knock a grand off the value& make resale difficult, anything easy on the eye but rarer will or at least give you an advantage of a potential quicker private sale. But that is for the birds at the moment. Buy what you yourself like. Not that I would ever buy an Audi but I think it always looked good in Akoya or Avus Silver or that Crystal or Liquid Blue (Ice Blue). Although a lighter shade of grey is optimum and the classiest.

pburns

RedorDead wrote: »

Go with meteor grey - nicer than either of the above colours

Unscientific, anecdotal evidence would suggest that women HATE those dark grey colours for some reason...

Esel

ABW ftw. Or yellow, orange, etc. :eek:

lightening

A grey car? Are you a retired accountant?

bigpinkelephant

I really, REALLY hate silver or grey cars and would NEVER buy one. Don't even get me started on white! Black would be the furthest I would push it, as those colours are all so boring. I love reds and greens or maybe a bright blue.

lightening

bigpinkelephant wrote: »

I really, REALLY hate silver or grey cars and would NEVER buy one

Same here. I do like some cars in white though.

bigpinkelephant

lightening wrote: »

Same here. I do like some cars in white though.

The new Fiat 500 is lovely in white, and a white Mini Cooper is nice also.

peasant

I think yellow could actually look great on an A3



They just didn't get the shade quite right ..it needs to be LOUDER

Like this:

-Chris-

I agree with Red Or Dead, tbh...

Aruba blue is a very "medium blue", similar to Mauritius Blue. It's a beautiful colour, but it wouldn't be as easy to sell as a more conservative colour.
Condor Grey is like a dark silver with a hint of green in it. I'm not sure how good it'll look on an A3.
Meteor Grey is the closest to your original choice of Dolphin Grey (which was also a big company car colour, btw).

Aruba Blue:
http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/Audi/A5/1.8T-170BHP/1080897/


Condor Grey:
http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/Audi/TT/Coupe-Leather/997612/

lightening

peasant wrote: »

it needs to be LOUDER

Yeah, its too canary and not enough deep flame yellow. Their red is a great fire engine red.

I find with the grey and silver cars, no matter how much you polish and wax, they just look the same. This is of course personal, but look at this...




And then this...



Even though the angle is better on the grey one, the red one is much nicer. I think it will age a lot better.

Steve

Fashion & Appearance FTW....

[/joking]

I'd go with red.

Holsten

I'd go with the blue.

If I was getting the car myself it would be in white... yummy.

pburns

lightening wrote: »

Yeah, its too canary and not enough deep flame yellow. Their red is a great fire engine red.

I find with the grey and silver cars, no matter how much you polish and wax, they just look the same. This is of course personal, but look at this...




And then this...



Even though the angle is better on the grey one, the red one is much nicer. I think it will age a lot better.

Nay, couldn't agree less...

Red on a TT is just WRONG! If ever a car was meant to be a silver/grey/black Teutonic hue the Audi TT is it.

When I see a red TT I think the owner is completely missing the point (IMHO)... Not that I'm against red - it really suits some cars.

E92

Avoid stupid colours, like yellow, pink etc, and avoid non metallic paint at all costs.

Black is a pain to keep clean, but from a resale point of view I'd say once it has metallic paint it should be fine.

White just doesn't sell.

Anything metallic is grand, as long as the colour isn't anything mentioned above.

And well wear on the new car OP:)!

HashSlinging

Red with 18's....nice car BTW is it the facelift model.

Brabus

lightening wrote: »

Yeah, its too canary and not enough deep flame yellow. Their red is a great fire engine red.

I find with the grey and silver cars, no matter how much you polish and wax, they just look the same. This is of course personal, but look at this...






Even though the angle is better on the grey one, the red one is much nicer. I think it will age a lot better.

Wow the colour of my A3 this TT looks even better in this red. The mother and sis have a thing about red cars. Must be a female thing...

robbie99

Some cars look great in white. The Golf GTi. And the E92...










:cool:

Volvoboy

robbie99 wrote: »

Some cars look great in white. The Golf GTi. And the E92...










:cool:

''Do you come with the car''

''Hehehehe, oh you''

lightening

pburns wrote: »

When I see a red TT I think the owner is completely missing the point

I sort of see where you are coming, German meticulous architect style design and all, I can see why the "gunmetal" type colours would suit.... each to his/her own. Maybe the reds should be kept for the alfa's and the like!

Brabus wrote: »

Wow the colour of my A3 this TT looks even better in this red

What?

Brabus wrote: »

The mother and sis have a thing about red cars. Must be a female thing...

Are you insinuating that I am a girl <SNIP> uncalled for remark removed, this isn't AH

WHITE_P

Can't imagine the colour of this car doing much for its resale value. Not to mention reducing the amount of potential buyers to one gender.

Esel

WHITE_P wrote: »

Can't imagine the colour of this car doing much for its resale value. Not to mention reducing the amount of potential buyers to one gender.

You forgot hairdressers!

lightening

<SNIP> uncalled for remark removed, this isn't AH[/QUOTE]

Fair enough... However, he did bring his ma and his sister in to the thread, its just impossible for a nartsider dub not to comment!!!

pburns, no hard feelings, its just the colour of a car after all...

r3nu4l

HashSlinging wrote: »

Red with 18's....nice car BTW is it the facelift model.

Yup indeed it is HS Not due to pick it up until September. We (Me and mrs r3nu4l) went with the Blue in the end. We both really like the Condor Grey but it's just too close to a company car colour (as was our original Dolphin Grey choice, on reflection).

E92, thanks, I look forward to driving it.

AudiChris, thanks for your advice too via PM a while back, turns out the LED DRL's are only an option on S-Line and standard on the S3 in the UK, not an option on the sport, ah well

Ferris

Just wondering if you could class rust as a colour:D!

A bit of a killer for resale but still better than pink.

copacetic

nice choice with the blue, I don't think it matters too much as long as you avoid funny colours and black, which is impossible to keep looking even a bit nice in our climate imo.

Mine is dolphin grey and have been happy with it, not as bad as black for keeping clean and not as universal as silver. Not many used as company cars here but it is a common colour to see around.

If I was going for a new one, would prob get the monza silver that is only available in sline trim, although the quartz grey is a nice middle road between silver and grey also.

The 170TDI is a great engine in the A3, just watch out for the points on your license!

If you are that way inclined you can get factory sat nav installed aftermarket for
about £800GBP, easy change and saves you spending the 100% audi tax! (more
like 300% over here)

zzzzzzzz

RED ftw. everything looks better red

RoHunter

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Aruba blue would be the one i'd go for!
but like everyone has already said, just go with the one you like the best, they're both nice colours and neither should have a huge effect on resale.

same