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2010 2011 BMW 5 Series Forum F10 BMW 5-Series (F10) Forums General 5-Series Sedan and Wagon (F10 / F11) Forum Black or Space Grey? HELP!
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      05-16-2011, 06:09 PM   #1
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Black or Space Grey? HELP!

Hi All,

A few days ago placed an order for a new F10 520d M Sport in Carbon Black. Then changed it yesterday to Jet Black as Sapphire Black not available on UK M-Sport and Carbon Black is just too blue for my liking under natural light.

Thought I was then happy.

However, been up to dealer this evening to take another look at a few F10's parked up and I think Space Grey might be the colour for this car. Always had black BMW's in the past but Space Grey seems to suit this new five a bit better and brings out the lines on the M-Sport in particular.

Need to decide quickly though as will have to change my order. Thoughts and supporting photo evidence welcome.

Have already checked out a load of pics on the forum but most of them are too close up to make any kind of judgement call - we need some more distance shots here!

Thanks....
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      05-16-2011, 06:20 PM   #2
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if you will be washing/waxing your car frequently i say go with black! black looks so good when its nice and shiny!
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      05-16-2011, 09:34 PM   #3
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      05-16-2011, 10:05 PM   #4
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      05-16-2011, 10:09 PM   #5
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I concur. For the beauty, nothing beats a black F10 WHEN CLEAN. So it depends on whether you are willing to wash the car on an hourly basis if you drive out in the city or dusty area, or whether you are just going to put the black beauty in a dustless museum so that you can admire it as a piece of art.

However, I think space grey maybe more practical, and still looks stunning.

Declaration, I have Sophisto for my F10.....
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      05-16-2011, 10:19 PM   #6
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I have a sapphire black. Stunning when cleaned but it is hard to keep. Swirl easy too so have to take extra care for car wash. So it depends, if you are a well maintenance guy go for black otherwise gray.
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      05-16-2011, 10:33 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BMW3FXD View Post
Hi All,

A few days ago placed an order for a new F10 520d M Sport in Carbon Black. Then changed it yesterday to Jet Black as Sapphire Black not available on UK M-Sport and Carbon Black is just too blue for my liking under natural light.

Thought I was then happy.

However, been up to dealer this evening to take another look at a few F10's parked up and I think Space Grey might be the colour for this car. Always had black BMW's in the past but Space Grey seems to suit this new five a bit better and brings out the lines on the M-Sport in particular.

Need to decide quickly though as will have to change my order. Thoughts and supporting photo evidence welcome.

Have already checked out a load of pics on the forum but most of them are too close up to make any kind of judgement call - we need some more distance shots here!

Thanks....
Let's see--you're from the UK--rains quite a bit where you live? Want to spend a lot of time keeping your car free of rain spots? Then get black--looks real nice when clean, horrible when rain spots get on it, especially when the car is a little dusty. Space gray is also the same. So I will toss out another color for you to consider. If you want to get a color that doesn't require so much care, then I would go with titanium silver. I was torn between space gray and titanium silver when I was ordering my car. In fact, I ordered space gray because I saw a 535 in that color and loved it. But then after ordering the car, I saw a 535 in titanium silver and was impressed by how it looked in the sun. The curves and lines of the car really stood out. My sales person then pointed out that titanium silver would be easier to keep looking nice than space gray in Hawaii. I've had the car for almost 2 months now and have had to wash it only once. I also have a Lexus GS in dark green and that car always needs to be washed to keep it free of rain/dust spots.
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      05-16-2011, 11:46 PM   #8
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I'd Vote for Space Grey

I plan to purchase a Space Grey 535i and would recommend the colour for a few reasons:

1. Space Grey highlights the interesting lines and shapes of the F10 body;
2. The aggressive look of the air ducts on the M Package cars gets lost on black cars -- the body and the air ducts are the same colour!
3. Black is hard to keep looking clean, as others have noted.
4. Black is somewhat overdone -- close to 50% of new 5-Series cars (in North America at least) are black (or near black). It's become rather predictable, like getting a Mercedes in silver (or black).

I hope these images work, to help illustrate the point.

At the end of the day, it's obviously a personal decision.
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      05-17-2011, 12:08 AM   #9
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For me the F10/11 shows off its design - all those sculpted lines - better with a lighter colour. My company has turned into F10-land with so many turning up as company cars, and the black one looks less impressive than the Space Grey one. If you have to have a dark body colour have you considered Sophisto or Imperial Blue?

My boss has Milano Beige - not everyone's personal cup of tea going off the level of abuse he's had, but I think it looks great
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      05-17-2011, 12:28 AM   #10
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Space grey is nice, just a tad too light, especially under sunlight. It tends to have purple/blue hue, barely noticable. On the other hand, the light grey on Benz which called palladium silver, is stunning with NO noticable purple/blue hue.

If you choose black, might a well non metallic jet black, stunning ONLY when clean.
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      05-17-2011, 12:32 AM   #11
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Space Gray is my suggestion. I have a SG 335 and with minimal effort it looks very nice. Had a loaner in jet black that had just a very few miles on the clock and upon close inspection the car was full of scratches that I am certain my 50K mile SG has and hides.

Just for fun, took out the Porter Cable and removed all the scratches on the hood from the rental. Took a while and a few different products but it looked good. Ran my finger over the paint to admire the smooth surface and my bare finger left a small scratch. Left that one in as it was only one in the hood I could see compared to many dozens that were obvious when I got the rental.

While I love the black car, the fine scratches would drive me nuts. Go space grey unless you can live with the scratches. Crazy thing is looking at the new black cars on the lot, most have scratches from just the lot activity.

Paul
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      05-17-2011, 01:47 AM   #12
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space grey with some black 21" go hard son!!
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      05-17-2011, 03:02 AM   #13
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I love dark colours but, as already commented on, they're very difficult to keep clean and the inevitable swirl marks show up to a greater extent.
A significant issue on UK roads is stone chipping and after 7k miles through a Scottish winter, I'm extremely glad that I chose white for my F10; the chips are there, but you have to look very close in order to see them. Boring it may be, but next to silver, it's the easiest colour to keep clean.
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      05-17-2011, 03:35 AM   #14
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I'm going with space gray because I've owned a black car previously and I remember how sleek and sexy it looked when freshly washed, but I also remember the other 93% of the time every spec of dust was visible on the car.

Everyone mentions the keeping clean issue with black because it's a HUGE issue you notice over time.

Space Gray looks smokin longer and its more neutral to the police
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      05-17-2011, 06:41 AM   #15
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black !
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      05-17-2011, 07:05 AM   #16
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Order one of each :-)
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      05-17-2011, 07:31 AM   #17
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We're getting close to covering all the colors in this thread so I'll throw in a vote for Cashmere Silver. I went with this color because I do think the car looks better in light colors and there are already lots of Titanium Silver on the road. In fact, there are just so many grey and silver vehicles of all types on the road already - every second car is either silver or black - that I wanted something a bit different. As mentioned, the lighter colors show the dirt less as well.

That said, I really don't think you can go wrong - the car looks great in any color.
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      05-17-2011, 07:35 AM   #18
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Quote:
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That said, I really don't think you can go wrong - the car looks great in any color.
To bad they dont offer Imola red. That was a sick color on the E60!
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      05-17-2011, 07:47 AM   #19
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I agree with BobRBob, Cashmere Silver is a great colour, and rare on the F10. I have yet to see another F10 in that colour besides mine. Almost every other F10 I see is space grey or titanium silver and I like having something a little different. Cashmere seems to highlight all the creases on the body, especially in the sun. Photos don't do the colour justice, it is like a silver with a hint of gold in it depending on the light. I originally ordered Imperial Blue, but changed my order after I saw a Cashmere Silver 750i on the road.
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      05-17-2011, 09:13 AM   #20
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Agree 100% with 1&2 below.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bandini3 View Post
I plan to purchase a Space Grey 535i and would recommend the colour for a few reasons:

1. Space Grey highlights the interesting lines and shapes of the F10 body;
2. The aggressive look of the air ducts on the M Package cars gets lost on black cars -- the body and the air ducts are the same colour!

3. Black is hard to keep looking clean, as others have noted.
4. Black is somewhat overdone -- close to 50% of new 5-Series cars (in North America at least) are black (or near black). It's become rather predictable, like getting a Mercedes in silver (or black).

I hope these images work, to help illustrate the point.

At the end of the day, it's obviously a personal decision.
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      05-17-2011, 10:15 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BMW3FXD View Post
Hi All,

A few days ago placed an order for a new F10 520d M Sport in Carbon Black. Then changed it yesterday to Jet Black as Sapphire Black not available on UK M-Sport and Carbon Black is just too blue for my liking under natural light.

Thought I was then happy.

However, been up to dealer this evening to take another look at a few F10's parked up and I think Space Grey might be the colour for this car. Always had black BMW's in the past but Space Grey seems to suit this new five a bit better and brings out the lines on the M-Sport in particular.

Need to decide quickly though as will have to change my order. Thoughts and supporting photo evidence welcome.

Have already checked out a load of pics on the forum but most of them are too close up to make any kind of judgement call - we need some more distance shots here!

Thanks....
Here's my M Sport 550i
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      05-17-2011, 10:21 AM   #22
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space grey!!
black is too much pain to clean unless like all the above have stated that you would be cleaning ur car every other day!

i had a black Infiniti G37 and told myself never again I will get another black car!
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