mspearl95

So I'm thinking about getting a 2013 UL, and have found 2 that are local enough to access. One is obsidian/cashmere, and the other is obsidian/black. I definitely like the obsidian, but am having a hard time choosing which interior color I prefer. What say you guys?

uicandrew

If you're in a place with hot summers, parchment. Cooler leather to the touch !

jbm79

I'm scared to own the parchment interior...as it may be too difficult to keep clean (or at least to keep it "looking" clean). But, black is too hot during the day for where I live.

I got the grey interior, which offers the best of both worlds (grey seats with black carpeting and accents). Good luck!

LexRuger

Black interior is great because it hides dirt extremely well. Unless you have passengers in the car often you should rarely have to wipe down the black interior.

From what I've read on this forum and other forums. Todays paint is very soft due to environmental regulations so I would stay away from dark paints since they scratch so easily. Just a heads up.

mspearl95

cool thanks for the feedback you guys! I worry as well about being able to keep the cashmere clean, as the winters here are very rainy/muddy(PNW). I'm leaning towards the black interior, or if I come across one with the grey interior, I may go that route instead. Only found the two ULs so far(both obsidian), but am still scouting for more. I may end up just waiting for the 2014s anyway, we'll see how low Lexus is willing to go on end-run '13s. :-)

Also, do you think a well-kept black interior would be more sought- after for future resale?

lesz

Modern finishes come with both advantages and disadvantages. Today's pearl and metallic finishes have a beauty and depth to them that cars produced a couple of decades ago didn't have. On the other hand, those same modern finishes can present real challenges if/when any even minor paint work is needed on the vehicle.

With those pearl and metallic finishes, paint work will often stick out like a sore thumb because, unless the entire vehicle is painted at once as it would be in the factory, the metallic flakes are going to lie differently. The result is that, from one direction, the repaired area can look to be lighter in color than the rest of the vehicle, and, from the other direction, it can look to be too dark. Even differences in the nozzle pressure used can cause the repaired area to lack the depth of the original finish.

Some colors are worse than others. Any metallic or pearl red is likely to be be very difficult to repair to the level of expectations of someone who is particular about fits and finishes. Pearl whites can also cause headaches for even a very skilled and expert paint technician. And light silvers and light golds can present similar challenges. Within the metallics and pearls, the darker metallic and pearl finishes still require careful blending by a skilled technician to match paint, but they present far fewer challenges than some of the lighter metallic and pearl colors.

About the only color that should not present those kinds of challenges related to paint work is black. Yes, black is more susceptible to polishing swirls and fine surface scratches when rubbed up against even a person's clothing. But it is the one color for which matching the paint even to a very discerning eye should not be difficult. I have an obsidian GX, and I previously owned a black 2006 ES. There is no question that, as someone who is especially particular about finishes, I have to be more careful about avoiding surface scratches, but those surface scratches will generally polish out easily with a high quality polish, and it does give me peace of mind to know that, if I do need paint work, it will be able to be done well enough to satisfy even my very particular eye.

With regard to interior colors, my current 2013 ES, which has a nebula gray pearl exterior, has the parchment interior. My first choice would have been the gray, but I wasn't interested in waiting to get a vehicle with that color. I've been pleasantly surprised that the light color leather has not been that difficult to keep clean. In fact, the black leather on that 2006 ES showed dust and dirt more than does the parchment on my 2013 ES, but I'm guessing the gray would be the color that would show most dirt the least