What is this trend for “undercoat grey” cars?

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insanityarise@reddit

In every game I've ever played that let's me customise a car, it's hot pink, always has been, always will be.

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Dedward5@reddit

“Airfix grey” if your of a certain age. But if you don’t like it, go buy a Polo Harlequin.

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TopCatGoad@reddit

Medium sea grey or dark admiralty grey

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ABCDOMG@reddit

I feel like the last 10 years have just gotten more grey and dull in colour. So many shitty looking grey and black cars everywhere, such depressing visuals in so many newly designed things.

In the last couple years I have vowed to never buy anything grey again if I can help it.

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TheRealJustSean@reddit

As time has gone on all colour has been drained. Cars, clothes, furniture, you name it. It's all monochrome now, and it's so sad

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GooseyDuckDuck@reddit

It really suits a lot of the current cars, looks brilliant most of the time.

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Delatron3000@reddit

Always think of it as 'putty grey'. Even see it on some vans, but mostly Audis and Beemers.

They look unfinished

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What I noticed when I was car shopping, is colours are very limited. There are only a few options that are free which are the obvious ones, then you get colours that are around £1000, which isnt too bad in my opinion but will deter people from picking.

But, if you want anything individual or unique the price jumps up to like 5k which most normal people are just not going to pay.

I think a lot of the 'trend' comes from a lack of options.

I find the grey I think we are all discussing, also helps show off the shape and details in certain cars, thats why I went with it.

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psychopastry@reddit

Same as houses - "neutral" colours supposedly help resale value

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sockeyejo@reddit

I long to be able to afford to buy a house if only so I can spend a day viewing houses in this style and tell the estate agent that every single one is revolting and ask what it will cost to put it right, as that will be my bargaining point. Either they do it or I'll be putting in an offer that reflects this cost. Someone has to and happy to take one for the team 🤣

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psychopastry@reddit

Yeah I don't think you know how buying a house works...

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sockeyejo@reddit

No shit 🤣

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GreenWoodDragon@reddit

Bland choices made by bland product people playing it safe.

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partyboob98@reddit

Unpopular opinion, I think they look great as a modern colour

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GreenWoodDragon@reddit

Not much in the way of colour though.

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dvb70@reddit

Yeah I quite like it on cars. It's a bit different. I hate it on houses though.

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NoisyGog@reddit

It really makes your "astroturf green" pop, doesn't it?

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cognitiveglitch@reddit

Modern what now?

Colour

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partyboob98@reddit

Yes.

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frn@reddit

No

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budgiebirdman@reddit

They look like the road which is an incredibly stupid idea.

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HenryHarryLarry@reddit

Yup, bright coloured cars are involved in fewer accidents than cars that blend into the colour of tarred roads / overcast skies.

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HenryHarryLarry@reddit

Yup, bright coloured cars are involved in fewer accidents than cars that blend into the colour of tarred roads / overcast skies.

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prankishink@reddit

me too, i quite like the primer grey. I've seen a muted green too which is a similar aesthetic

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split-tennisball@reddit

Imagine downvoting you for liking a colour.

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And_Justice@reddit

Don't understand this response- you're not going to change how people interact with reddit's poor UI choices by saying this

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mimic@reddit

So what’s your dogs name?

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ArchonBeast@reddit

Ikr. A I see a mini cooper s with black rims. Looks insanely good!

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Honorable_Dead_Snark@reddit

Still better than a white car

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sunheadeddeity@reddit

Houses too. Weird. Like people are frightened of colour

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caniuserealname@reddit

You're probably not too far off tbh.

People tend towards colourful things when they feel bold, and shy away from them when they don't. In periods of high financial insecurity this tends to lead to people feeling 'safer' making big purchases if they are subdued in colour.

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Fourkey@reddit

Baudrillard suggested that there's an element of subconscious resistance to the flood of colour we get from advertising and the such. When we're drowning in things trying to catch our attention constantly it's understandable that we'd seek something more muted in resistance to that.

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frn@reddit

Couple of friends bought this gorgeous Victorian townhouse. They hired a bunch of dudes to paint the entire thing top to bottom in white, haven't hung any art whatsoever, and they're totally happy with it.

Can't wrap my head around that.

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sunheadeddeity@reddit

Saw a photoshoot of the Camerons' house interior once, it was all carefully curated beige and grey. The most decorative thing was a cereal packet on the table. Just an absence of taste or adventure.

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bacon_cake@reddit

Financial uncertainty and the wider economic situation causes a lot of it. People are looking for decor that will last a long time for minimal cost and time. They can't afford (time or money) to repaint when fashions change so they're gearing up for the long haul with plain, muted, dull, colours that can be easily accessorised.

It wasn't long ago people used to take the piss out of magnolia or cream, and it was for the same reasons.

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Miserable_Bug_5671@reddit

They are charging extra for the paint job. You can save a thousand pounds or more by having a grey car. Sad but true.

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FreezerCop@reddit

Nope. It's a premium colour choice, the basic colour for cars these days tends to be red or blue, anything else is £750 up, including the flat grey

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tcpukl@reddit

That's insane

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Glad-Feature-2117@reddit

Not when I last bought a car less than 2 years ago. The matt grey "unfinished" look was one of the more expensive options!

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PhysicsForeign1634@reddit

It's just fashion. There are plenty of people who will be fooled by "the latest thing".

Personally I quite like the look of those pink Jaecoo's you see nowadays, though I would never wish to own one.

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CatBroiler@reddit

Primer grey cars were a trend from the immediate post-COVID era up until maybe a year ago.

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Isgortio@reddit

Almost every 26 plate car I've seen has been this colour or black. It's such a sad looking colour, and is difficult to see in the fog or heavy rain!

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Pedantichrist@reddit

Weirdly not as hard to see as a red car.

Brains are weird.

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NoisyGog@reddit

huh, that's intersting.

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pervertsage@reddit

particularly VAG products

I'm interested. 😚

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NoisyGog@reddit

it seems that Honda's sort of "flagship" colour for their Civiv is that boring battleship grey, it's such a weird choice. That's the colour you see on forecourts everywhere. Other brands are doing it too, but I almost never see a Civic in anything except that horrible grey.
Thing is, they've got such nice choices of colours, as well, their bluey purple and red are really nice.

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Dry_Pick_304@reddit

My last car was a 2021 plate VW Golf. It was essentially the standard no frills model, not a sporty GTi or the sort. It came in that grey colour because was free. Any other colour would have cost me £500.

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arashi256@reddit

I saw a YT video a few weeks ago doing a buildings, building interiors and cars colour comparison from the 1970s to 2025. It's remarkable how much colour has washed out of every day existance when you actually see the difference. Seems like cars are all now grey, black or white or some slight hue variation of that, places like McDonalds and Pizza Hut have decor akin to warehouses, etc.

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Watchkeys@reddit

Are you actually struggling with the 'some people like different colours of car from me' thing?

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PublixEnemynumberone@reddit

But grey/white/black are not ‘colours’ in the first place!

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Watchkeys@reddit

Thank god you were here to point that out.

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And_Justice@reddit

Is this comment not a tad hypocritical?

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Watchkeys@reddit

No, it's a passive aggressive question, just like yours.

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Arbernaut@reddit (OP)

Nope. Not a struggle at all. And weirdly, I love grey… but somehow this trend annoys me. But I’m not the final arbiter of taste, and if people love it or it’s more affordable, good for them! I secretly judge though.

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bacon_cake@reddit

What judgements do you make about them? Genuinely curioous.

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portablekettle@reddit

No, for me it's that a lot of car manufacturers just don't sell as many everyday cars with colour variety any more. This applies for the world in general imo. Everything just feels a lot more monochromatic

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pgboo@reddit

I really like colour but not on my cars, I really dont like bright colours like red, yellow, green or blue. I always buy black, white, silver or grey. My current car is mineral grey but I love that gloss grey.

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Frantastic79@reddit

Grey is the new black, apparently. Loads of people are painting their houses grey too, it's awful!

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AnotherGreenWorld1@reddit

What’s the trend for grey everything? Especially grey composite plastic fences, and grey resin driveways, and grey gardens with plastic plants. Then you walk inside the house and the living room is all grey. Fuck that.

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AnonymousCapybara72@reddit

Grey paving or gravel. My nextdoor neighbour has astroturf with plastic shrubs.

Perfectly reflects this country. Tacky, cheap, lazy, tasteless, but desperately trying to keep up with trends to signal how middle class you are.

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OmmadonRising@reddit

With those horrendous psychotic bright white lights. And the big light on. It's no wonder everyone is mental.

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Puzzleheaded_Drink76@reddit

It's such an ugly grey. Some greys are nice. This is just so flat.

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sockeyejo@reddit

They're all hideous. Was so relieved to sell my 16 year old grey car last year in favour of a red one. 8 can't afford to buy new, so if I ever do end up with something grey again, it's it's getting something to stand out from the crowd, if only so I can find it in the damn car park!

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FreezerCop@reddit

Whereas I have a flat grey car, and stare in wonder at red cars thinking "what were they thinking buying that". Each to their own

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TheGreenPangolin@reddit

Audi thought it was a good idea. That's where it started at least. Apparently car manufacturers like the trend because it's cheaper to produce than metallic paints so of course they encourage it and it spreads.

They are described as looking like clay, and the effect is used on lots of colours- the grey is just the one that stands out most, plus you see it more because it's always more popular to have neutral colours over reds, greens, etc. Personally, I would not describe them as looking like clay- to me, they look like when you are playing a video game and it hasn't fully rendered in places, like they literally don't look fully there to my eyes.

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kelvinside@reddit

Hank Green calls these Nardos lol, look it up

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AgileInitial5987@reddit

The colour is Nardo Grey tbf.

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Brakiss78@reddit

There's a few odd choices out there now. One I'm noticing more is pool table green.

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Frantastic79@reddit

Worse is that gross yellowish green, like the infected wound of a gangrenous whore.

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pervertsage@reddit

"Show us yer axe wound, darlin'!"

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InfectedByEli@reddit

I saw a new shiny BMW painted that colour. It reminded me of the material storage racking at my first factory job.

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bluetooth_pizza@reddit

It's a standard option. For a lot of brands actual colours cost more nowadays.

If you're leasing a new car anything other than white, grey or black usually increases your monthly payments and delivery time.

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TheDreamIs0ver@reddit

We have one of these, simply as it was the cheapest option and we don't really care enough about it/cars to want the more expensive/exciting colour.

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Lenniel@reddit

Have one, loved it when we first got it at it was a “new” colour and something different. Regret it now there’s lots of them. Can’t afford to replace the car now, wish I’d stuck to boring black like I did for every other car.

And yes it was the cheapest colour other than white.

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harrietmjones@reddit

I’ve thought the same!

It’s not even the fact that the cars are grey that I don’t like, it’s just the fact that it’s a particular grey that makes them look unfinished.

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