Hi,

This is my first post here. I'm from England and generally post on the Mini2 website.

I'm toying with the idea of buying a Mini Cooper S, but I don't know which way to go with the colour. I like monotone colours, and currently have a metallic black VW. I love black, but the maintenance of it can be difficult. And as I am a bit of a perfectionist, any marks (swirls, chips etc) bother me.

I've looked at the Astro Black , but I am not sure about the blue tint to the colour, and all the cars I've seen under the showroom lights are showing swirls (brand new cars!). I know you should be able to get round this by either correcting the paint after delivery or requesting they don't prepare the car.

So this has made me think about Pure Silver (I'd want the whole car in the same colour too, not with contrasting black roof). What are your views on Pure Silver on the MCS? - others have said it's mainly a One or Cooper colour. One sales person even told me that all Pure Silver would be difficult at resale time as opposed to black. How true is this?

Any pictures of either colour would be appreciated. Thanks.

By the way, I know Dark Silver is another monotone colour, but I don't like it.

 

Pure Silver is very nice and oft overlooked. It would be quite good with the black MCS grill/wheel arches and somewhat easier to maintain. Never heard that about the resale thing, though.

PS would give you more contrast and be a tad bit cheerier than AB which would minimize contrast and be more sultry. Either would be great...I'd bet you'd see more AB/AB combos than PS/PS out there on the roads.

There's a PS R56 Cooper on the dealer lot right not that looks amazing...so I guess I personally am partial to PS!!!

 

I've ordered a Pure Siver MCS with same color roof. Advantages to the color:

1. Somewhere I read some insurance data saying that silver and white cars were the most visible to other drivers.


2. Seems to hold up well. Silver paint on a 1962 Buick looked good 20 years later.

3. Reflects solar radiation. Black cars can get very hot when sitting in the sun. With global warming, I hear that England actually gets some sun these days.

I plan to put a Dark Silver racing stripe on mine. Either that, or some Kandinsky inspired graphics. IMO, MINI's look to much like econo-boxes without stripes.

However, if you are into monotone cars, realize that the black plastic wheel well trim will contrast the PS.

 

These are the two colors I was struggling with when I was configuring my MC, but I wanted contrasting roofs.

For a long time (about four years, actually!) I wanted PS because it would be much easier to keep clean, etc. and over in the States, silver is actually a very popular color when it comes to resale (not that black isn't...). After seeing each color either on the road or at auto shows under the bright lights, I slowly fell in love with AB because of the complexity of the color. Obviously, I chose AB, and so far have been able to keep it swirl free using high quality sheepskin wash mitt and the two-bucket wash method. It didn't come with swirls from the dealer, thankfully. I like seeing the huge difference of going from covered with road grime to sparkling clean .

I think both colors have their pros and cons. For me, I hardly ever saw AB's on the road, but I saw tons of PS/B and PS/PS's everywhere. I still have only seen one other AB/W in my area so far. I guess I just wanted to be a little different. I think both colors are lovely, so if you are concerned about the upkeep and such, I'd go with PS.

Wow, Robin! Kandinsky inspired graphics would look awesome! I say go that route! And yes, I also think stripes are a requirement!

 

I just saw a PS/PS MCS on my commute in this morning... it looked good (and was a LOT cleaner looking than most other cars out there... silver hides dirt pretty well, but still cleans up very nicely.

I had a black car previously, and when freshly cleaned, it looked FANTANSTIC, but that usually only lasted a day or two before it was showing spots, dust, ect.

Happy Motoring either way

 

In the past silver and grey paints had a habit of oxidizing and would lose luster. Regular waxing helped, but only slowed the process. Dull paint effects resale. How many classic cars do you remember being silver?
Sometime around '80 materials and techniques improved, but, it has taken some time for the public to notice the improvement. There are folks around who have been told, by people the trust, that "silver cars don't sale well".
Dont fret, I always heard white cars were all "fleet vehicles". Now you cant sit thru a red light without watching 3 or 4 drive by.

 

Go for the pure silver with the red leather seats, steering wheel, shift boot and emergency brake covers. The combination would look very cool. Then if you really want a neat look, have your body shop paint the black plastic parts in pure silver as well, which would make it look like you had a body kit. I think the resale value would be fine. MINIs loose less than half their value after five years, which actually isn't that bad.
Mike

 

I always thought that pure silver looked too close tothe color of asphalt and was hard to see. No advantage to AB. AB seems to have a deeper shine than PS does. Still, your ride, your $$, your choice.

 

<snip>
How many classic cars do you remember being silver?
<snip>

hmm, M-B 300SL Gullwing (along with the less SLs), Porsche 550, RS60, RS61, 356, 911 to name a few off the top of my head. I just saw a dark-gray 912 from 1968, with original paint, that has won several concours...

Red paint can actually oxidize worse than silver, but it really comes down to how you car for your car...

My last car was jet-black w/ clearcoat... it sat outside for more than half of its life, and after 11 years of daily use and ~175,000 mi, it still look(ed) good.
I waxed it 2xs a year (a few times 3xs) to help protect it. It still took a shine and had NO swirl marks...

 

PS> Any color looks good on a MINI. There is no such thing has an ugly MINI.

 

Here in rainy Pacific Northwest Dark Silver and Chili Red look cleanest during the winter months-Astro Black and Pepper White the dirtest. Pure Silver and others fall somwhere in the middle. I have Dark Silver and I have been pleasantly surprise that mud doesn't show too much.

 

I have a PS 07 cooper with a black roof and I LOVE IT!

The color really stands out.

dpmini
Proud owner of Lightning Charlie

 

I've got a silver New Beetle today, and am waiting for an AB/AB MCS to arrive as a replacement. Either is, I think, a perfectly fine choice.

 

I'm in the same boat as you, I was almost postive that I wanted AB until I saw it in person after a trip to my local MINI dealer. I'm not too fond of the bluish tint. Unlike you however, I'm leaning towards DS... I'm partial to dark colors.

On a side note, do you guys think the upkeep for DS would be difficult?

 

I ended up considering PW, PS, DS, and AB. PW is beautiful, but I wash my cars so infrequently it would look horrible all the time. AB I think would have a similar problem with me. PS I decided against because my wife's MC is Solid Gold, and they'd just look way too cute next to each other. So it was down to DS and AB, and DS won out because I prefer it. And, it's the same color as the road dirt around here, so if I dont wash it, people will just think it's grey.

If it's a body-color roof, maybe. I don't think a PS/B MCS would suffer in sellability, but PS/PS would be unusual. Nice looking, but unusual.

 

I love my PS Dingo. I love black also but know how hard it is to keep a black car looking good. The PS doesn't show dirt, is kind of classy in my book, and doesn't draw unnecessary attention from the local constables.

Here's a pic, sorry I'm not the best photographer.

 

Point taken, Jakay. A very classy list of silver cars.
My use of the word "classic" failed to describe the group as I intended. I was aiming for the '55 Chevy, '71 Cuda, any 'Stang group of classics. Poor choice of words on my part.
Heck, even Rolls has used silver paint...... mia culpa (or is it mea culpa?)
Anyway, I still say that lots of folks stayed away from buying silver or grey cars because the paint was thought to fade easy. Better paints and better application methods have changed that, but, there are still folks out there that believe it (like in Colt's post above).
I spent more than a little bit of time convincing my wife that she wants a DS MCS. No small feat. Does that make me a silver-tongued devil?

 

AB/tan and not only cause I liked the adult beverage....... Then again, My SO, the artiste, likes the DS

 

In the sun dark silver is without peer. In sunnier climates it should be easy to keep sparkling. I must confess that astro black is my favorite, but black looks dirty unless you are fastidious. Here in rainy Seattle washing you car from Dec to April makes little sense.

 

Loui, I live up here too, and I still buy black cars. I guess I'll never learn........ I do have a silver truck tho that sees a lot of time in the rainy season.

 

I went to the dealer to order my car, and was planning to get a Pepper White/Black combo, but I saw an AB/White combo on the lot and fell in love with it. I really like navy blue, and AB looks more like a navy blue than a black. I would have bought the one on the lot, but it had a sunroof that I didn't want...and lacked the LSD. If it weren't for the AB on the lot, I would have a Pepper White today. My AB has the white roof, white wheels, and white mirror caps. I love it, but it's so hard to keep clean. It looks real good right after a detail though. So, to break it down:

DISADVANTAGES: Shows dirt and like any other dark color is not easy to keep clean. Imperfections (swirls, scratches, rock chips, etc.) seem to be more noticeable as well. Gets hot in the sun.

ADVANTAGES: Looks so good when it's detailed. It's very unitique...it seems to have a hint of purple in some lights...navy blue in other lights...etc. AB also adds an extra 8 HP...and it comes standard with your very own hot British model (accent included at no extra charge), a leprechaun (pot of gold not included ...yeah, I was disappointed too), genie that will grant you three wishes, rocket boosters (which are fun to play with), and wings that extend from beneath the car when activated. ...and these are just the extras that us AB owners are aloud to speak of in front non-AB owners (we refer to them as "normies")

That being said. If all the AB extras don't influence you, and it's just a color that you're interested in, then I say go to a lot and get the color that catches your fancy. MINI's look good in any color...but not all colors include a hot British model.

 

You are lucky that your dealership has cars in the lot. My dealership doesn't have any.