"Undesirable" colours - convince me!

[Republik1980]

Looking at S2s I see that there's a fair old difference in price between those in colours everyone wants (blue, grey, silver, black to an extent) and those in less desirable colours (namely purple, green, non-metallic red and yellow).

Of course being tight I'm drawn to the "better value" of such cars, even though, like everyone else I'm not too keen on the colour.

While I'm well aware that ultimately it's my choice and I'd be the one who'd have to live with it, I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on these less-favoured colours..

I really don't think I could touch one in red or green, however there's an apparently nice yellow 111s in the classified atm for £12.5k (60-odd thousand miles and some nice bits; roof, exhaust etc), which I'm sure would be 10-15% more were it in grey or blue.

I'm trying to convince myself that this bright colour would be a good idea - after all the styling of the car is hardly understated, so why not pair it with an extrovert colour? The cars are small and fast, so a high-vis colour would surely be a great idea from a "visibility to other road users" perspective..

From some angles (namely the rear) I think it looks pretty sweet.. from the front I'd much rather have something in grey or blue. Also, the car would be an indulgence; why not try and get exactly what I want rather than settling for less based on price..?

Funnily enough while yellow doesn't seem too popular on S2s, it seems far more desireable and iconic on S1s.. as regards future value does anyone think perceptions of colour might change over time?

Anyway, sorry for the rambling, vaguely-pointless post; I doubt any responses would push me over the edge into a purchase (I've been sat watching prices steadily rise for 2yrs) but I'd be very interested to hear what the good people of PH have to say on the matter!

Edited by Republik1980 on Sunday 30th August 13:05

[Republik1980]

Thanks guys - the Exige looks fantastic Alex!

It's good / interesting to see such a spread of preferences - I suppose there really is no accounting for taste!

Maybe it's just me projecting my preferences but I'm sure the colour affects the asking price significantly. For example there's an early Red 80k S2 111s with a hard top on Auto trader currently for £11k - had it been silver / grey / blue I'd have expected it to have been maybe £1-1.5k more. Likewise the (now sold) Yellow one that inspired my original post seemed a lot cheaper than comparable cars in other colours.

I agree with the "buying the car, not the colour" argument, however ultimately the car would be an indulgence bought purely for the purpose of enjoyment, so I wouldn't want to be constantly thinking I'd wished I'd bought a different colour - superficial as that might be. I did this with my last car (discounted the fact it was red on the basis of the otherwise good condition) which I lived to regret (although I suspect a red Elise shouldn't turn pink as quickly as an old Golf).

Perhaps if nothing else this thread has made me a little more open to colours I wouldn't nec. have considered in the past - typically now it's gone the Yellow one is seeming more appealing...

[Republik1980]

antiok said:

Yellow FTW. Shows off the lines best.

Don't see the point in buying a black one its not as if they are subtle cars in the first place.

Unless you go for a crazy colour like lilac which alienates the majority of your future market (men) then I don't see it impacting values much. Remember when looking at classifieds that a) different sellers have different idea of values - it's not one guy pricing them all and b) that's what they are advertised for not necessarily what they sell for.

It could depend on supply and demand in certain models - Elise S1 azure blue seems to be the most common colour so more choice on the market = potential price impact.

Interior colour can be the most off putting for some buyers.

Yeah, typically now the "good deal" has sold I'm starting to warm to the colour.. funnily enough I've been looking at Azure S1s and they do look very nice; in my case a happy coincidence that the colours I like are pretty common!

kambites said:

I think this is the case. When I was looking I was convinced that all the grey/silver/black cars were cheaper until I actually started recording the prices of all the cars I could see for sale and it turned out there was absolutely no difference in terms of average price. I think you've just found one or a handful of outliers which happen to be cheap for a reason other than their colour. Any S2 111S for £11k has something wrong with it; excluding racing cars, the cheapest two S2 111Ss on Pistonheads are silver.

ETA: Actually one of them is a 111 not a 111S but the principle still applies.

Yup; I did start a spreadsheet but it all got a bit depressing so I gave up!

To be fair of the two silver 111's in the classifieds, as you say one is not an "S" (and is also a very early one so lacks the leccy windows, sound proofing etc of the later cars), the other is also early so lacks the refinement of later cars.. although doesn't seem a bad price given the silly low mileage..

There are 2 or 3 nice looking Blue 111s' around atm; although unfortunately I can't quite justify what's being asked for them..

Edited by Republik1980 on Thursday 13th August 14:40