Dang, now I can't like Nardo Grey

I have a long running daydream about a VW Fastback build, and I think one of these Nardo-adjacent colors would look good and be a neat reference to the Sahara tan and similar-value grey they painted them originally.

Here's an example. Er, of a couple of shades, I guess.

The way I always look at these new color trends is:  How will they look when they are older / less shiny.

Almost any color will look good when new and shiny.  I am sure some of those horrid 80's colors looked good in the showroom, but boy did they not age well.

I suspect, not surprisingly, a gray car will start looking very industrial when it gets a bit old / dirty.

When new, this probably looked pretty good:

In reply to aircooled :

Duke said:

In reply to Beer Baron :

There are exceptions that prove the rule, but they are extremely rare.

Most black cars end up as shapeless blobs, especially when 'murdered out' with black wheel and dark tint.

That's exactly why our Model 3 is black, to hide the fishy face. But it would look great with polished wheel lips :)

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

Duke said:

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

I've never quite understood how Nardo and other grays replaced Nogaro Blue as the "cool" Audi paint color...

I can meet you in the middle on that. Nogaro Blue is still my favorite.

As far as I'm concerned, it's the only color Audis come in.  I've had three :)

Used on VWs as "Jazz Blue". Excellent color. I had a 1999.5 GL in that color and the VW Vortex nerds don't believe it existed :) I think they only offered it for that half model year, then it went away until the R32.

stroker said:

I'm curious--what is the Hive's opinion of "Gunmetal Gray"?  Is that more metallic than "Nardo"?

Gunmetal is metallic. And has been around for a long time under various names. It looks great.

Appleseed said:

stroker said:

I'm curious--what is the Hive's opinion of "Gunmetal Gray"?  Is that more metallic than "Nardo"?

Gunmetal is metallic. And has been around for a long time under various names. It looks great.

Despite having owned several gunmetal grey vehicles, I'm no longer a fan.  It's better than black by a long shot, but since basically all new cars in the last 15 years have been either black, silver, or gunmetal grey, I'm pretty tired of it.

Here is what I think of Nardo Grey or any of its gray brethren.

Every time I see a car this color, I wonder when they are gonna put the color over the primer.

It's kinda a cool color, I just think it looks too much like primer.

APEowner said:

pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:

Remember when Audi came out with Nardo Grey and it was kinda awesome? 

Its been trickling down to all manufacturers, with mixed results but overall I liked the look. On a family vacation last week when passing a Subaru in this color, my sister said: did they say, 'paint it the same color as my electrical panel.' Dammit, now I can't unsee it. 

Perhaps you're looking at it backwards and you should be admiring the nice color of electrical panels.

Exactly, get your electrical panel outside and polish it a bit. Then enjoy the light reflection off those beautiful curves! (I honestly think nardo grey is popular mostly because if how the light and reflections of surroundings look on the cars. Gives them a muted solid hung of metal jewelry look or almost a 4k video game car shine.)