Hi folks! I've been wanting a Mini for years and now that I can finally afford one (whee!) I'm gonna get a 2010. Meanwhile, I'm awash in a sea of options on the configurator. So I'll prolly be popping up here from time to time to bug y'all with questions.

Here's my first: the all important COLOR??

I was so sad when I learned the perfectly awesome Lightning Blue was no longer available, wah... and from everything I've heard, the other colors i'd be interested in are basically staying the same for 2010. So I'm prolly going with one of the silvers instead. BUT... which one?

*I don't care for the Dark Silver -- too close to grey for my taste.
*The Pure Silver looks pretty on the config'er, but I'm also wondering about the Sparkling Silver.
*On my computer, SS seems to have a tan-ish tinge to it that *might* go well with the Tuscan Beige interior. Am I wrong? Does that seem like a weird combo or do y'all think it might work?
*If not, should I go for PS, or... would I be better off checking out the new (Camden) White Silver coming out for 2010? I've heard conflicting things about whether that color is even going to be available in the US.

Thanks! ~Danae

 

I have Pure Silver. I like it.



Sparkling Silver is supposed the be like Sparkling Wine (Champagne that wasn't made in the Champagne district of France). Wouldn't be right for a British car to have a French color name.

I suggest you try to see this color at a dealer, and if possible, in different light. I've seen it a few times as I visited the dealer. I'm not fond of it, but many are. I see it more as a brown tinted silver, rather than a golden Champagne color.

I considered Redwood Lounge Leather for my MCS, but feared that it wouldn't go well with PS. I've since seen it and regret not getting it. I haven't seen Tuscan with PS, but suspect that it would be fine.

 

The only silver I like is Dark Silver. Pure and Sparkling Silver look plain and boring to me. Sparkling Silver looks like a beige that came straight from a Toyota Camry.

 

PURE SILVER is the only color that does not look dirty when its dirty. I have PS and i LOVE it.

 

I have Pure Silver, wasn't my first choice but now I love it. Don't really care for the Sparkling Silver, it does look more champagne in color and haven't seen the new White Silver. Robin is right, go to the dealer and look at them in person.

 

Here's mine

 

NOW WAIT A MINUTE!!!! I have Sparkling Silver, and I really like the color and it doesn't show dirt at all. I don't see alot of them on the road either, which is nice. No stripes or anything just yet, just stock. But I do like Sparkling Silver or as I like to call it Champagne.

 

Probably because no one likes the color


I keed, I keed. Although I gotta say, when I was buying my MINI I was offered Sparkling Silver, and I turned it down because I much preferred Astro Black!

 

Have PS, love it. If you can get the new white silver, I would definitely ask to see a sample in person, but a white silver is probably even more pale than PS is.. and I bet that it's a lovely color.

I am not a fan of sparkling silver either. It looks beige to me. My last car was a beige corolla. I'm not doing beige again, ever.

I think any interior color choice you go with with PS will look gorgeous!

 

It was interesting when I got mine, I saw it on the internet at a BMW dealer. And you couldn't tell from the photo son when I called they said it was silver. And I thought o.k. I can live with that. So I went down to the dealership with my wife and they had taken it off the lot and had it in the back detailing it. Because the sales person knew I was coming. So when they brought it out viola it was Sparkling Silver and I loved it, but my wife loved it even more. It's a classy color, business like.

 

go with your heart, by the way saw lighting blue 2009 at mini of sf, there still out there

 

I obsessed over color when deciding on my Mini. Now that I'm driving it and seeing many Minis on the road I've decided that all of the colors look good. Some look better with white versus black roof or with particular stripes but those nuances depend upon personal preference.

SS is a color that changes in appearance depending upon the light. It can look like it has a tan-ish tinge. There are some pictures (somewhere on this board) of a SS with the Tuscan Beige interior. IMO it looks great. Try looking through the SS owners thread or doing a search for Tuscan Beige interior.

 

Thanks everybody! Your input has been really helpful. I perused the Sparkling Silver owners' club thread as suggested and now have a much better idea of the color's properties. It does indeed seem to be more of a champagne than a silver, which I think would go quite well with a TB interior -- now the only question is whether I can live with the rumored "olive-green tint" it sometimes takes on in certain lights. I will definitely have to check it out at the dealer.

I may still end up with Pure Silver, though. I live in SoCal, so naturally I want a light-colored interior to help the "broiled-alive-by-my-car" factor, but I'm now wondering if TB would really work with a PS exterior. Maybe I just need to see the two together, but it seems like mixing a gold/tan-based shade with a silver-based one would be odd. Or am I the odd one?

 

Yes.

There is a lot of jewelry that mixes gold and silver. Looks fine.

Tuscan is one of the classic colors for British sports cars from the mid-20th Century. I suspect it will go with any MINI color. Since the interior materials and textures are very different than the exterior color, they have a different relationship than a two-tone paint job would. People tend to accept the interior as the interior, and exterior as exterior. So, it has a somewhat different psychological effect than exterior-exterior colors would.

 

I would want to see a picture of pure silver with tuscan beige interior. It could be an unusual combination that works on the Mini......or not. Black obviously goes well but beige is less common. BMW does have beige interior on its Titanium Silver for its 3 series configur.ator. I don't know if that's close enough to get a good idea though. Good luck.

Now....do you want body color, white or black roof?

 

I had dark silver/white with black interior in previous MINI. Liked it. Good for not showing dirt too.

I've had Sparkling Silver/black with black for 2 yrs. Like it. Equally good for not showing dirt (though both cars were a disaster on the back end). SS gets a lot more comments and questions from people on the street. But perhaps that's just because there's more interest in MINI than there was a few years ago... my 2 cents

 

SS's very nice. Was an option for me but ended up with the DS black roof combo... I'd go for a black roof in combo with a sunroof. Without sunroof it's a big black panel prone to scratches if you're not detailing yourself so would then rather opt for a body colour roof on the SS.... BUT I saw a SS with white roof and racing stripes the other day and it looked really sporty. A little bit different as well.... my choice however would be SS /Black Roof with sunroof.... the classic look Goodluck with your choices...

 

PURE SILVER ROCKS !
but i would have to fall in love with WS if it ever comes out ....

 

Wow, lots of opinions here. Awesome!

Robin -- that's a good point about interior vs exterior... I'll definitely be rolling that around in my head too.

I played around some more on the config'er last night and now I'm pretty sure I'm going with a contrasting roof, no matter what body color I end up with. I originally was thinking a white roof (again because of the heat factor) but when I saw it on the screen it seemed like the black roof looked better because it matches the tops of the wheel wells and bottoms of the doors...the kick plates...? er, whatever those panels are called. It just seemed weird to have a PS or SS body in a black and white sandwich.

Wouldn't it be nice if they let us you-ify the bottom half of the sandwich too?

Anyway, hopefully even with a black roof a proper tint job will cut down on the heat.

I have an appointment with an MA tonight -- yay! May come back with who knows who many other ideas and options. So excited!!!

 

I have a black roof with a deep dark tint. Love it.... car still gets hot inside. I have to leave the sunroof cracked on days when it's over 90 degrees otherwise I return to an oven... but... my interior is also black. Here's what my interior looks like.

 

...and wow, is my head full! (As in, crammed with information, not ego. ) It was a really informative visit on all fronts, so I think I should probably start a new thread to share some of the non-color related things I learned. Look for that later.

Anyway, on the color tip --

I still long for that gorgeous LB. But alas, unless something major changes, I'm out of luck on that score. They just happened to have two Minis parked right next to each other on the lot, one SS and one PS, which made comparison much easier. At first I liked them both, but as the sun started to get lower in the sky, that dreaded green tinge REALLY showed up on the SS. Crap! I really did not care as much for the color after that, even though the Tuscan Beige interior clearly would work beautifully with it.

So that leaves me with... Pure Silver. But with Tuscan Beige? I still don't know about that one. My MA was kind enough to park one with a TB interior next to one with a PS exterior so I could eyeball the open door of one against the exterior of the other. Can't say I love the combo, but then again, Robin might be right about considering them as two separate things. Besides, there are plenty of silver accents on the Mini interior, so maybe that would help tie it all together.

But, if I settle for that but don't really adore it, am I going to spend the rest of my Mini ownership years regretting having gotten that combo?

Decision paralysis! Augh!

 

Camden white silver is the answer to all your prayers IMO. If that were available when I bought Viola... I would have picked it in a heart beat :-)

 

Unfortunately it doesn't look like that will be possible, unless I'm willing to go the whole-hog Camden route (which I'm not). My MA and I were playing around with their internal ordering system (aka "DCS") and it would not let him choose any of the Camden options - including White Silver - without selecting the entire Camden package.

 

Both are great choices. I love Sparkling Silver... looks great on the MINI:

 

On a light colored MINI, black roofs look good. However, in SoCal, it could cost you. The car will be hotter. You will run your air conditioner more. That will cost you in ga$. It takes energy to run the air conditioner. That energy means more gas burned.

I liked Pure Silver with a black roof, but went with a body colored roof for its reflective properties. A larger black bonnet stripe gives me a nice black accent to go with the black fenders.

You definitely don't like SS when it goes green, and you are ambivalent about PS and Tuscan. What about PS and Redwood Lounge Leather? That color is a classic upholsery color for British sports cars. I recall seeing Jags and MGs with that red leather. From photos posted here, it seems to go quite well with PS.

Another possibility is British Racing Green, white roof, and Tuscan interior. That would be a classic, and BRG is one of the most compatible colors for Tuscan. If you don't like green, you could do the same combo with Horizon Blue.