How difficult is it to live with one? By that I mean how bad do they look dirty, how much effort is really needed to keep them looking good, etc. I've owned a white Fabia vRS Estate for almost 3 years so know how bad that can be but it's always cleaned up well even months between washes. My current commute means 500miles a week on Welsh A and B roads so I can't avoid it getting dirty and part of me likes the "well used" look anyway.

I wasn't originally going to consider a black Octavia vRS Estate CR TDI for this reason, but with there being so few about with even half decent specs (seems many first owners didn't spec them with much) I'm finding myself considering all colours since condition and decent options is more important and of course budget.

Nightmare

In the winter drive to the bottom of the road and its water-marked abd covered in salt

In the summer wash and polish it! Go inside... Have a cuppa.... Come back out and its covered in dust.

Shows every swirl / scratch / chip

But when its clean it looks awesome! But thats only for the first 5 minutes

Oh and everytime you wash it you need to dry it. Or it leaves water marks. so you can't do a quick 5min wash on it

Had a black Oct'y for a few years, when it was clean it did look very nice. As has been said it took a little more looking after, if I was going anywhere special I would always wash day before and the on the big day use a fast detail product just before I left.

It depends how obsessive you are with having an immaculately clean car.

 

We've had a black Octavia estate for four years, as well as a white, blue and now grey car.

 

I've never found the black car to be any more of an issue to wash and it looks just as good when clean as any other car I've washed.

 

It also shows the dirt just as much.

 

The only criticism I have is that any swirl marks are more obvious in bright sunshine. On the white car they were almost invisible. This is offset by the fact it looks brill when clean, especially with some fresh tyre black.

Edited 16 February, 201412 yr by silver1011

Massively annoying. So much so that one of the criteria for my current new car search is "not a black one". They look lovely when clean but as soon as you drive it, you may as well not have bothered washing it.

LOL at Jase, it's not that bad. But its true it only looks really clean for about 

5 minutes. 

Black car is easy to keep clean if you put the work in first getting it that way

and get some good long lasting protection on it.

Personally I like the Colinite 476 as a last coat. 

It lasts ages and once you've a good treatment of that on you can just wash

and dry the car and it will look pretty good with just that.

I use Poorboys black hole to really bring up the shine and depth then

go in on top with a coat of Nattys Blue paste and then a coat of 476.  

But 476 is not the easiest wax to use and it takes a couple of coats to seal

the car properly imo. 

But as I say, once you've thoroughly cleaned and sealed it it's as easy to keep

clean as any other car (except as Jase says you do HAVE to dry it after a wash

or you may as well not have bothered once it has air dried.)

 

Oh and they are a bit of a sod to clean on a sunny warm day as they dry too quickly

because they absorb more heat than other colours. I usually keep spraying mine all over

periodically as I wash it to keep the metal cool until I'm ready to dry it.    

But that awesome 5 minutes of sparkling is worth it I think. A sparkling, freshly cleaned

black car will always turn heads whatever the make and model

But then I would say that wouldn't I?

My black estate does look sorry when dirty which is 90% of the time but scrubs up well when required so I've no issues with that, just a fact of living in rural UK.

Besides when you're inside you can't see it so just enjoy the drive.

I thought as much. Said for years I wouldn't have black just because you see swirls more. What has been seen cannot be unseen. Ideally I'd like a Race Blue one or even a dark grey but it seems lots were quite stingy when ordering and it looks like many don't even come with maxidot, or at least they don't mention they have it and they take pics of the interior at an angle so you can't see the dash properly. Very few have parking sensors too and I would like it just for the nice display.

Search continues

I think the reason i don't get on with black is that im very anal on how my car looks.

I think i may have OCD in the cleaning department

I'm doing so many dirty miles now and not having time to clean it's an issue. Just want an easy colour to maintain (not silver!) so as long as it's all sealed I can easily clean it once a month.

Never again.

 

They do look good for the first 10 min after you've waxed them as long as you don't drive anywhere, or put it outside in a breeze.

Had one black car - never again. show every spec of dirt and swirl mark going.

 

On top of that I once had somebody try to get into my old octavia at traffic lights as they thought it was  taxi!

I'm doing so many dirty miles now and not having time to clean it's an issue. Just want an easy colour to maintain (not silver!) so as long as it's all sealed I can easily clean it once a month.

A great colour for not showing dirt is whatever Skodas equivalent of VWs "Mineral Grey" is. My dads Jetta never shows up  dirt really, looks great when washed and even if it does get covered (1 mile long dirt track on a farm every fortnight) then it seams to clean its self somehow.

I'm even looking at black bikes at the moment...

The kid in me remembers Street Hawk!!!

 

Here's what I'm getting, just can't decide upon black or metallic green...

I'm falling in love with the black one... Doh!

 

 

Happy days...

Black Superb Estate looks great when clean but after one day it's filthy again. Won't buy black again

Sent from my XT890 using Tapatalk

I find not caring makes it easier...

Had 3 black cars. If you have time to wash it and wash it well go for it. No colour looks better

Good wax/sealant helps no end

Have black Octy at the moment. Vry difficult to keep clean.I try and wash it once a week but ashort trip and back to square one. Next car will be beige and then I will look at the make !

I've got a black Fabia Monte Carlo and it's about as easy to keep clean as any other colour. I invested in some fancy cleaning products and it looks good even if it's dirty. One annoyance is that road grit shows up very quickly because it's kinda white but other than that I see no problems. I definitely wouldn't see it as a deal-breaker when buying a car. Here's mine when it's clean:

 

Edited 17 February, 201412 yr by stevenStefano

I have a black car and feel the effort to clean it when I want to look nice is worth it.  This is my fourth black in 30 years car but the first with metallic paintwork.  When searching for an Octavia vRS the car I saw with the worst swirl marks was Race Blue.

When my Fabia is clean it looks the nuts but as it is dirty it looks terrible and with the winter rain i haven't been able to was it for weeks, i love black cars but whether i will buy another i don't know.

I've got a black car and have owned three before this one.  Every time I swore it was the last but when clean they look great.  As people have mentioned, a damn good clean & seal and then they seem to keep the shine even when dirty. 

My old Octavia....

 

Collinite wax is a black cars best friend.

Better still:

Poorboys BlackHole Glaze followed by Collinite or Poorboys EX-P Sealer