Hello all!
For better or for worse, many of the Model S colors this year are rather dark. (Black, Blue, Green, Brown are all extremely dark, and the Grey is sort of in between...) I'm trying to decide between the regular White and the Blue. They have their pluses and minuses (ruminations on that at the end of this post), but one that I can't easily quantify is the maintenance of the dark color. I used to own a fairly dark blue car, but it was long ago and it was a car I got used, so I didn't expend a lot of effort trying to keep it looking really nice.
So, I ask those of you with dark cars now or in the past: would you do it again? Do you plan to do it on the Model S? Do you have any secrets to share on how to keep the car looking great over time?
Here's an example of the sort of thing that bugs me. This is a photo I took at the Fremont event (you may need to zoom to full size). Note the finger prints on the passenger door, below the co-pilot's hand. Compare to the white car below, which almost certainly has similar prints, given the ones visible on the chrome, but the white totally hides them.
Then, here are some shots from this past weekend at Palo Alto. Notice the swirls on the hood, behind the windows, and all around the rear door handle.
How do you avoid such things? It seems as if fingerprints are pretty visible on this finish. Can they be wiped away without introducing the sort of streaks visible here? What about as the car gets dusty?
Thanks!
Ruminations on colors
I had originally planned to get my Model S in the standard non-pearl White. My parents both had white cars when I was a kid, and they were hassle free.
I started looking at the darker colors because I was concerned about some appearance issues with the white car. Some of those issues are related to the uneven body gaps on the early production cars, but some are specific to the design. For example, I don't really find the door seams very attractive. The front edge of the front door is just a straight vertical line, unlike say an Audi, which is curved. The back edge of the rear door is a hard diagonal that goes awfully close to the rear wheel well (again, compare other makes where the seam follows the shape of the well). Have a look at those first two photos above. See how huge the trunk gap looks on the white car? And how clearly you can see the uneven fit between the front and back doors? The trunk gap on the blue car is just as big, but it's much less visible.
From attending the event in Palo Alto this past weekend, it's evident that Tesla has made significant strides in the body fit, but of course the design elements are unchanged, and the body seams still blend really well into the dark colors.
A friend also said she didn't like how the panoramic roof looks on the white cars. I don't mind it, but it totally disappears on the dark colors, to be sure. The chrome accents really "pop" on the dark colors, and tend to get a little bit lost on the white, at least in the sun. OTOH, the dark colors all just look black when not in bright sunlight, while the white looks really dramatic, especially from the front where the nose cone and the air intakes give it a look of sleek power. And the white is gorgeous at night. See, for example:
Decisions, decisions.
For better or for worse, many of the Model S colors this year are rather dark. (Black, Blue, Green, Brown are all extremely dark, and the Grey is sort of in between...) I'm trying to decide between the regular White and the Blue. They have their pluses and minuses (ruminations on that at the end of this post), but one that I can't easily quantify is the maintenance of the dark color. I used to own a fairly dark blue car, but it was long ago and it was a car I got used, so I didn't expend a lot of effort trying to keep it looking really nice.
So, I ask those of you with dark cars now or in the past: would you do it again? Do you plan to do it on the Model S? Do you have any secrets to share on how to keep the car looking great over time?
Here's an example of the sort of thing that bugs me. This is a photo I took at the Fremont event (you may need to zoom to full size). Note the finger prints on the passenger door, below the co-pilot's hand. Compare to the white car below, which almost certainly has similar prints, given the ones visible on the chrome, but the white totally hides them.
Then, here are some shots from this past weekend at Palo Alto. Notice the swirls on the hood, behind the windows, and all around the rear door handle.
How do you avoid such things? It seems as if fingerprints are pretty visible on this finish. Can they be wiped away without introducing the sort of streaks visible here? What about as the car gets dusty?
Thanks!
Ruminations on colors
I had originally planned to get my Model S in the standard non-pearl White. My parents both had white cars when I was a kid, and they were hassle free.
I started looking at the darker colors because I was concerned about some appearance issues with the white car. Some of those issues are related to the uneven body gaps on the early production cars, but some are specific to the design. For example, I don't really find the door seams very attractive. The front edge of the front door is just a straight vertical line, unlike say an Audi, which is curved. The back edge of the rear door is a hard diagonal that goes awfully close to the rear wheel well (again, compare other makes where the seam follows the shape of the well). Have a look at those first two photos above. See how huge the trunk gap looks on the white car? And how clearly you can see the uneven fit between the front and back doors? The trunk gap on the blue car is just as big, but it's much less visible.
From attending the event in Palo Alto this past weekend, it's evident that Tesla has made significant strides in the body fit, but of course the design elements are unchanged, and the body seams still blend really well into the dark colors.
A friend also said she didn't like how the panoramic roof looks on the white cars. I don't mind it, but it totally disappears on the dark colors, to be sure. The chrome accents really "pop" on the dark colors, and tend to get a little bit lost on the white, at least in the sun. OTOH, the dark colors all just look black when not in bright sunlight, while the white looks really dramatic, especially from the front where the nose cone and the air intakes give it a look of sleek power. And the white is gorgeous at night. See, for example:
Decisions, decisions.
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