5 Lexus Factory Colors Always in Style
By Bassem Girgis

 

The description of Atomic Silver is absolutely right... Gray, but in a very silver way! I always have trouble explaining it to friends, but that's partly why I like it.

 

They forgot about Smokey Granite Mica

 

Blacks, both metallic and non-metallic, seem to be extremely popular on some luxury makes, yet not so much so with Lexus. A black car can shine like a mirror when it is freshly washed and detailed, but can be a PITA to try and keep it that way. It also heats up quite rapidly under a high sun angle.

One color Lexus offered some time ago (on the 1Gen IS300) I thought was quite classy, but we haven't seen since, is the Auburn Sky Metallic. It seemed to be a cross between reddish-orange and cinnamon.




And, of course, my all-time favorite is Amythist, a purplish-gray....especially in the lighter tones of it.

 

Reminds me of back when we were shopping for our 95 Explorer. The Limited trim came in a color called "Iris" that we did consider, but we would up getting it in white.





I think a lot of colors are a function of the era they were from. Issue is with straying from colors that are "timeless" (white/black/grey and variations therein) is that when you keep a car a long time, eventually that color goes out of style and it looks garish. Consider avocado colored appliances, salmon colored porcelain bathrooms. Bright colored business suits. Orange carpeting. What looks "great" when its in, often quickly looks terrible when its out.

For instance, I like green cars. Had a very nice dark green Jeep Grand Cherokee. I also really liked Lexus' cypress pearl and the later light green colors. We also had a light green Prius where the only thing I liked was the color. But, if you look at a 8-10 year old LS460 in that green or in silver, the silver one looks newer and is worth more.

 

Silver is popular for two reasons. First, it is easy to keep clean, and, second, its image-association with technology in a tech-crazed age. Except maybe for the superbly-done Atomic Silver from Lexus, and some similiarly-done Titanium shades from Dodge and Audi, which have a very pronounced metallic/metalflake effect, regular silver is about as exciting as the music in a dentist's office LOL.

Maybe my mind is just starting to go on details like this, but I just don't remember many green (or even greenish) factory-stock colors on very many mass production Lexus products (exotics like the LF-A may be an exception). The Lexus product-panners, for some reason, just never seemed to latch on to it very much.

 

Lexus has had metallic greens throughout its history. It's really only recently they've abandoned green.

Silver has has been popular longer than the tech age. It's just a classy simple color, that's why it's so timeless. Not everybody wants an "exciting" color, especially on a luxury sedan. In fact, most people don't. Sales reflect that.

 

Greens seem to be most popular on hybrids. In fact, I can remember some manufacturers and some vehicles (particularly from Ford) that offered green only on hybrid versions of whose vehicles. You couldn't get that color with regular gas-engine versions.

As far as Lexus goes, like I said, I don't remember that many greens (maybe an occasional dark forest-green on the ES)......but I'll take your word for it. You have owned more Lexus products than me. I have only had done.....a bright yellow IS300.

Well, for that matter, the Tech Age itself is longer than many people remember. And, it's probably the second-simplest color to hide the dirt and keep clean........next to a light tan or beige, which is often the exact color of much of the dirt itself.

 

One of the reasons I'm holding onto my IS is the color- Glacier Frost Mica. After nine years, I regularly get people asking, "what is it?" Having a car I don't see often on the road psychologically helps me feel it's still fresh and not played out. Sadly, these interesting "three in one" colors seem to be a thing of the past with Lexus and Infiniti. In fact, other than Ultrasonic Blue, I'd say the IS color selection is one of the worst it's ever been. Just basic colors we've seen a million times already.

 

One of the problems with that type of paint job is that it is quite difficult for body shops to replicate accurately. The average body shop, no matter how good it is, usually does not have the extensive painting-facilities that a large auto assembly-plant does. Also quite difficult are those "chameleon" colors that change from rose to bluish-green to purplish, depending on the sunlight and viewing-angle. They were basally a fad that (not surprisingly) lost favor.

 

in person under certain lighting conditions there's almost a golden hue to the paint as well. i have two 3ISs and one is this color. i, too, find the color quite difficult to describe accurately.

 

Green was very common on older Lexus cars

 

Pearl white is sharp, but I like with gold crystal even better. You see othe withe pearls. You don't see white gold crystal pearl.

 

So a lot like pearl white straight on, but from an angle you get the gold tinge, and hold flake.

 

has a nice metallic look and rare. This is the only one I have seen.