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I'll never be able to decide on a color

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White is the best color.

Red is too pinkish candy-ish red and is that “it stands out too much” and not the right shade under the sun.

black you should never own any car in black always scratches and swirl not worth looking at it for few seconds after a wash. Never own a black car.

Grey is the worst color of them all looks like any grey Toyota RAV4 out on the street. It’s “old” and “boring” color that someone in their 20s might buy if they haven’t bought many cars in their lifetime but they will settle on the color and each day they hit the road and look at another Toyota rav 4 or that old Honda Accord that’s beat up.

Blue is a dark shade of blue that looks 60% ok in the sun but looks too dark at night. You can also see scratches and swirls easily.

white -classy, modern, a lot of luxury cars out of the road that are white, accentuates well with the glossy red taillights, lines and the flakes glisten in the sun. Dark headlights and chrome delete or even chrome trims complements the car well. White white looks like a spaceship!!! 🚀
except, of course, when the Tesla is the spaceship 🙂. This is the last image of Musk’s Tesla that was transmitted back to earth as the car headed towards Mars. That launch was when I first started paying attention to Spacex and I guess Tesla (although I had earlier seen that storage hunter episode where someone bid on an unlabeled crate that turned out to have a new Tesla inside).

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White is the best color.

Red is too pinkish candy-ish red and is that “it stands out too much” and not the right shade under the sun.

black you should never own any car in black always scratches and swirl not worth looking at it for few seconds after a wash. Never own a black car.

Grey is the worst color of them all looks like any grey Toyota RAV4 out on the street. It’s “old” and “boring” color that someone in their 20s might buy if they haven’t bought many cars in their lifetime but they will settle on the color and each day they hit the road and look at another Toyota rav 4 or that old Honda Accord that’s beat up.

Blue is a dark shade of blue that looks 60% ok in the sun but looks too dark at night. You can also see scratches and swirls easily.

white -classy, modern, a lot of luxury cars out of the road that are white, accentuates well with the glossy red taillights, lines and the flakes glisten in the sun. Dark headlights and chrome delete or even chrome trims complements the car well. White white looks like a spaceship!!! 🚀

White just makes you look like a taxi. Grey always looks good and looks sweet with dark wheels and white or black interior blue looks good when its cloudy but bit shitty in the sun.
 
All this talk of colors reminded me. A guy that painted funny cars (including one of Don Prudhommes) repainted my Mariner Blue 1991 Miata (at around the 140k mile mark…it was a winter driven MN convertible). He used same Mariner Blue paint but mixed in two large handfuls of non metallic mica…massive pop when seen in sunlight. Very noticeable when I would park next to a normal Mariner blue Miata 😈. Doesn’t really show up well on photos unfortunately. Anyone experimented with mica when repainting a Tesla?
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I had a black 3 my goodness it was dirty the first time it goes out side, heck it’s dirty just sitting in the garage for an evening.
I went white on the Y didn’t clean it for almost a month and only did that because I took a road trip and got lots of dead bugs on the front.
 
Since everyone seems to have an opinion, here's mine.
  • if you're a man
    • Black says "I'm better than you! I'm successful, look at me". It's the color of limousines, etc., and is designed to imply status (earned, or otherwise).
    • Blue says "Seriously guys, don't you have any cars in inventory, I'll take what ever you got...I want a car as soon as possible"
    • Red says "I'm not that important, if I was, I would have gotten the black car, but want to impress people. I need to be noticed and, um, oh, yeah, I can't afford a Porsche" (the ultimate in "making up for something lacking" purchase)
    • Grey says "I prefer not to be noticed"
    • White says "I like the color, I really do, honestly, I like the color, don't you, it's a nice color, isn't it? You do like it, it looks good, right?...and the fact that I saved $1,000 had absolutely nothing to do with the decision?"
  • if you're a woman
    • White is the car you'll buy
    • Black, Blue, Red, or Grey says "I let a man help me pick out the color"
Total sarcasm, mild attempt at humor, with apologies to anyone offended by my description of your car color, or that I'm using only two genders (when I went to school there were only two),

Yes, I ordered the grey car.
 
if you're a man
  • Black says "I'm better than you! I'm successful, look at me". It's the color of limousines, etc., and is designed to imply status (earned, or otherwise).
haha! Yes, this is why I ordered black. But seriously, I had 3 previous cars in my life. Two of which were black and the latest was gray and I just like how "classy" black looks. I understand it will need a lot of upkeep but worth it. And also when I pull up to valet I can feel successful (ha!).
 
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It finally happened! The lightening bolt finally hit me. I was scrolling through pictures, and poof.....there she was.

Red / White Model 3 Performance

Order will be placed this week. Done!
Good choice! I went through a similar deliberation process as you, but different. All my previous cars in the last decade have been black with tinted windows, which were all German luxury cars up to the Model S (black was free at the time). It looks great and classy but you've got to keep it clean. Like you I'm middle aged and ideally don't want to draw a lot of attention (though I'm not afraid of it, as with an early CyberTruck reservation I will be getting a *lot* when that comes out).

My personal opinion (please don't get offended, this is just my taste): When it comes to Tesla colors, I just don't like most of their paint. I am currently driving a friend's blue Model S, and the color is just blah. Even when clean. I live in a high rise with lots of Teslas in the garage, so I see all the colors. Tesla's white looks very good, and is free, but it's boring to me. If I were a woman, or if I were on a tight budget, I would definitely order white. I like the concept of MSM and it's probably the most dirt-resistant but in practice the Tesla paint blend just looks the same 'eh' all the time. I really want to like it, but I just don't. Red, on the other hand, when I look at the color in person, is just a beautiful red, it pops and it really looks great from all angles. Ideally I wouldn't want a color to draw attention as mentioned, but it's just the best looking color Tesla makes.

Also went with the white interior. I would have done the cream if it were available (as in model S), but white is a good second choice. After having black/black cars for quite a while, it was time for something different :)
 
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What a lively thread and on point for us. My wife and I are wrestling with color and model both. My wife really wants the red. Her second choice is white. Neither of us never want another black car for reasons similar to those mentioned.

Been trying to find the other colors in the wild without much success to see how they look on the M3 and MY. We were on a road trip this weekend and we saw a MYP in the red and it looked amazing. OTOH - red tends to be a very highly ticketed color. Most recent data I saw white surpassed it but there was some crucial info missing. As an overall percentage, white was more ticketed (19% vs 16% red). They didn't provide the info for what proportion of total white vs red (or any other colors).

Based on another study in Ohio, black was the most ticketed (then white, gray and red). At least the Ohio data I found showed that as a percentage, there were far more black cars than red. So you would think that overall there would be more black cars ticketed. When I looked at the percentages of tickets vs the percentages of each car color, red was over-represented in the tickets compared to black by about 20%.

I tend to drive fairly fast but not recklessly, so I'd prefer to blend in as much as I can. I have to leave the cars parked outside so another downside to the red is the breakdown of the paint in the sunlight. Black is pretty bad too. We live in Florida and the sun is intense so that is a consideration.

At least the interior color is easy. We have a kid so white is out. We have cream leather in my wife's car and I don't think there is a single spot our kid missed getting something on it. You would they actually tried to get every possible place they could.

We'll probably go the safe choice (white) and hope the bumpers don't mismatch in color as bad as the two I've seen at the Tesla store so far. For those with the red, how well does the red paint match up bumpers and with the quarter panels? How is the MSM in this regard?

I am still new to the site here. Is there a gallery anywhere here where you can browse through photos of actual member's cars?

I am trying to find real photos of the MY (preferably P) in MSM and red.
For the M3 (preferably P) red, MSM and blue.

I think the shape of the body really can impact the color choice for me.
 
My M3P is red, and the paint matches perfectly with regards to bumpers and quarter panels.
 

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I think my red looks amazing, and it doesn't show dirt and scratches so much, but ....

I've been chased by road rage freaks TWICE in the year I've had it. Compared to 0 times for all 8 of the cars I had before it. It's only 2 data points, not very scientific I admit, but I was wondering if a red Tesla makes you a target for weirdos?
 
Blue is the best color for not being that great of a blue. Red is the best color, and makes everyone that doesn't have red salty to the point that they post nonsense threads trying to justify why they were too cheap to get the best color.
Well red sure made my wife salty when I brought it up. I like the blue color, brilliant in sunlight and dark in the evening. I personally think the red is not that great of a red (I’d prefer more ”candy apple”) - I guess that’s why there are multiple colors to choose from.

..and cheap? Hah! I’ve already spent over 10x the price difference between red & blue on aftermarket wheels/tires/suspension/home charging and I don’t even have the car yet.
 
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