I recently looked at a silver 2003 in a showroom. It looked great up close - the metallic paint is very sparkly, and the car almost looked like brushed aluminium. And I liked the contrast of the black interior with the silver exterior.

But, it seems like every third car here in Sydney is some shade of silver. As RedRover said, it's the most common colour for the S2000, and for many other cars as well.

For me, I find black to be a very striking car. But, I've heard it shows dirt, dust, swirl marks, and imperfections the worst of any colour.

My thoughts, based on limited views of silver and black S2K's (where's that group drive when you need one?), is that silver looks great up close, but (for me) is a bit more bland further away, while black looks great further away, but may look worse up close (depending when it got it's last wash/wax/paint chips/etc).

I wish Honda made a metallic black rather than the flat black for the S2000. They do for their Accords - I've seen Nighthawk Blue, which looks black with dark blue sparkle, and Graphite, which is a charcoal black colour.

Your thoughts?

What do you think of black vs. silver?

Any advice on the care of a black car? I'm going to order Zaino from the US and have it shipped here (see http://www.nsxsc.com/nsexcitement/waxtest.html). If you have a black S2K, what do you do to keep it looking its best?

As an aside, what do you think of the Suzuka/Neuburgring Blue? I would think that would be the rarest colour of all.

Cheers,
Scott

 

IMNSHO all the colours are great. My only gripe with black other than the cleaning issues is that from the front the grill blends in with the body colour and so loses definition. The other colours accentuate the gaping maw at the front of the car. That said, black does hide the head light washers.

My personal favourite is yellow. I mean, it's not a subtle car, why have a subtle colour.

 

With my 3'11" companion in the passenger seat, I already stand out, so the yellow for me is overkill.

Veni
Vidi
Fisty

 

I have a black one and keeping it in a presentable condition is a definite art.

My favourite colour is Grand Prix White or Sebring, but there happened to be a good condition black around so I got it instead

My previous car was silver (bit like Sebring silver) and it looked bright and sparkling even when it was coated with a thin layer of dust. (almost made it champagne gold!) I could get away without washing it for 2-3wks.

The worst scenario with a black car is after a few days of dust gathering and there comes a light sprinkle. The rain droplets pull the dust together and cover the whole car in a chicken pox like rash.

Now car wash is a weekly business and with the water restriction we lose the privilege of hosing the dirt off first before the shampoo stage, which I believe increases swirl marks no matter how gentle you are with your scrubbing.

Furthermore drying the car after the wash is another tricky step as you don't want to scrub hard yet you dont want to leave water marks behind.

Personally, I find black cars look their best in dawn or twilight times when the lighting is gentle. This really stands out the depth of the blackness and at the same time allows the wax to give a nice oily glow.

I am a big fan of Maguires products and with this weekly washing, I have to polish and wax my car every 2 months or so.

If Sebring was available I would still stick with silver.

 

In answer to your question of Black Vs Silver I have driven one of each colour. My personal reaction is that when you're inside (& driving) the red interior seems more natural with the silver exterior. But that's just a matter of personal taste, others might see it differently.

In 1999 & early 2000 it was possible to get a White one with black interior (as well as White/Red).

At the time Robert Lane had a White/Black in stock and I quite liked that one but was 'influenced' by my wife who preferred red. C'est la Vie. Whilst I've been happy with the Red colour (no regrets) I still like the white.

The 2004 model at the Melbourne Motor Show was a white one and it looked quite good. I believe it's the one that is now at Eastern Honda, Doncaster Rd, Doncaster.

In the thread about the recent Sydney drive there were photos of a white one that looked particularly good.

 

I have owned nighthawk black and silverstone silver Hondas (black was a 2001 Civic, silverstone was a 2000 Insight).

Without question the silver looked the cleanest most of the time. I treated them both with the same paint sealer and both were parked outside (No garage).

I sold them both around the same time (to come back to OZ) and even though the Insight was a year older the paint looked better than the Civic's. After four years and weekly washings the paint sealant kept the paint 98% swirl and scratch free. You had to look very closely (4 inches) to see the paint chips.

The civic on the other hand, looked like it was twice as old in comparison. It was really neat to look at around dusk though. it would look black, 5 minutes later it would look sparkly black, 5 minutes later it would look almost purple, then dark blue, then black again.... :-)