The colors suck.

[Bicster]

So uninspired are the proposed colors for the Leaf that I've now changed my reservation to each one of them at one point or another.

Silver... it's not a bad silver. But every third car on the road is silver these days. It's boring.

Black looks fine, but my cars don't get washed very often, and black looks pretty bad unless the car has just been washed. There's also the interior heat problem. But I'm sure a (clean) black Leaf with black tint will look quite nice.

White... I might actually like this color, especially if it's a pearlescent, not-quite-white hue. But the last car I owned was white, and people kept running into me. At the time I had a friend who owned a body shop, and it was his opinion that people just don't see white cars on the road. Now I have two small kids, so I'm especially interested in being seen on the road.

Red. Maybe? I've seen this color on the road. I like it, but it's not "me."

Planet Blue: I wish I knew what the heck this color looks like. My first reaction was that it looked just like the baby metallic blue of my Dad's Buick LeSabre...which is not a good thing. But Nissan appears to have two versions of this color. The darker one appears to be almost acceptable, and the pale version is just gross.

Right now I've selected boring, er, I mean Brilliant Silver.

 

[adric22]

I agree - I ordered blue, but I would have preferred a deeper blue. Also being that this is a "green" car, I'm surprised they don't offer a good green color.

 

[cinmar]

I concur. I ordered white due to the heat in the Central Valley, but I'm thinking about switching to red for visability purposes.

 

[mwalsh]

Every color I'd consider is just a little off from what I'd want:

Silver - I'd want it darker.
White - I'd want it a pure white.
Red - I'd want it more a wine color.
Blue - There will be just too many, and it's not that far from the color on a Mini I already own.
Black - I never buy black cars...just too difficult to take care of.

 

[Bicster]

On color choice and safety & visibility: http://www.aaafoundation.org/pdf/carcolorandsafety.pdf

 

[Bicster]

Here's a study that concludes white is the safest color: http://www.monash.edu.au/muarc/reports/muarc263.pdf

 

[cinmar]

After looking at these studies, one of which doesn't seem to definitively say one way or the other on color safety, I think I'll stick with white. I like that the proposed Leaf white is not a bright white, but more pearl. I was thinking of visiability of red during the day, but I guess it makes sense that white is more visible at night.

 

[Bicster]

Car color vs glass (not interior) temp. Interesting nonetheless: http://www.tom-morrow-land.com/tests/cartemp/index.htm

Apparently the color of the interior affects the interior temperature much more than the exterior color of the vehicle. Since we don't get a choice of interiors, that makes things easier.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=105831

 

[cinmar]

So this means we should be more concerned with window tint/applications?

 

[Bicster]

So this means we should be more concerned with window tint/applications?

It's possible Nissan will incorporate V-KOOL or something similar from the factory. If they do, tint won't help much with solar heat rejection.

 

[Nubo]

White... I might actually like this color, especially if it's a pearlescent, not-quite-white hue. But the last car I owned was white, and people kept running into me. At the time I had a friend who owned a body shop, and it was his opinion that people just don't see white cars on the road. Now I have two small kids, so I'm especially interested in being seen on the road.

White, with Flower Power appliques -- visibility problem solved

Well, at any rate I've settled on the white. I think it goes well with the blue highlights in the headlamp assemblies. And heat rejection was also a consideration.

 

[Bicster]

I am leaning toward white again, with dark tint. Come to think of it my previous white car had no tint. Surely the contrast helps?

 

[mwalsh]

I am leaning toward white again, with dark tint. Come to think of it my previous white car had no tint. Surely the contrast helps?

I like white cars with tinted out windows!

 

[Randy]

I was really looking forward to a nice bright yellow color, but that wasn't to be (unless my name is Lance Armstrong)!

I agree, the colors are not very exciting....And I'm also not very excited about the very light colored fabric on the seats inside. I'm sure that will get dirty in a hurry and show it...

But, I'm still very hungry to get a Leaf, so I guess these issues are not showstopper-ish enough....

Randy

 

[Bicster]

And I'm also not very excited about the very light colored fabric on the seats inside. I'm sure that will get dirty in a hurry and show it...

I share this concern. Apparently production interiors will be darker than what we've seen?

Since Scotchgard is off the market, is there any good DIY fabric protection? I had the floor mats in my 4.5 year old car shampooed the other day and they still look like crap. I take it with the Leaf my entire car will be dingy like those floor mats... unless there is a good protectant available. Maybe I just need aftermarket leather

 

[palmermd]

Maybe I just need aftermarket leather

Here we go again....

 

[Bicster]

Here we go again....

Aftermarket pleather?

 

[evnow]

http://www.apteraforum.com/showthread.php?t=4151&page=13&highlight=leather

No - I don't think we want to revisit leather.

 

[Bicster]

http://www.apteraforum.com/showthread.php?t=4151&page=13&highlight=leather

No - I don't think we want to revisit leather.

LOL @ that thread.

Don't mind me, I'm just a good 'ol Texas boy. I keep out of the politics forum for several reasons. At least I try. :twisted:

Regardless of what brought us here, we're all interested in EVs, and that's something

 

[BrendanDolan]

My current car is black, and of the small choices, seems like it'll look the best. No increase in annoyance factor for me since I'm already dealing with a hard to maintain color.