Hey, it’s me again, your favorite blogger with practical car-buying advice. You may remember the biggest tip of the decade when I told you your next car should be green. While I believe that green is a worthwhile hue, if you really want to drive in style your next car should be purple.
Other than not actually doing the math before you sign your contract, car buyers’ second biggest mistake is not buying a car in an interesting color. You have to look at this thing every day, do you really want another greyscale blob that just blends in with something else? There are a lot of things that suck right now, at least have some fun with your car.
Of course, there are super expensive cars like the Nissan GT-R in the iconic midnight purple, or Bentley coupes in a bonkers shade of grape, but you don’t have to have supercar money to have a purple ride. Almost everyone has seen some sort of Charger/Challenger muscle car cruising around Plum Crazy, but there are some excellent purple cars you may have forgotten about.
For a hot minute, Honda decided to offer the Civic in “Smokey Mauve Pearl.” Pictures don’t do it justice but it’s the right amount of purple for your typical Civic buyer who doesn’t want to stand out too much, but just enough to make it interesting.
Buick does a very respectable purple with its “Smokey AmethystMetallic.” This is the perfect shade for those buyers who “aren’t too cool” to buy a Buick.
Arguably one of the best purples on the market is BMW’s “Thundernight Metallic” which is available across several models but really shines on the 2-series coupe.
Interested in an EV? You can still get it in purple. Chevrolet makes a color called “Galaxy Gray Metallic,” but when you see it in person that’s purple, baby!
While we are on the topic of kinda-sorta purples, Nissan offers a color in the Ayria called “Northern Lights Metallic” which is probably the closest you are going to get to the GT-Rs Midnight Purple without breaking the bank. It’s an awesome Mystichrome-style paint that changes color based on the light and the angle and will shift from purple to metallic green. The best of both worlds.
Some people go a little extreme with purple, and I’m here for it. But you don’t have to, get yourself a normal car in an abnormal color--make it purple.
Tom McParland is a contributing writer for Jalopnik and runs AutomatchConsulting.com. He takes the hassle out of buying or leasing a car. Got a car buying question? Send it to Tom@AutomatchConsulting.com