Color- I can still change my mind...

When it's clean, nothing looks better than a black car. When it's dirty, nothing looks worse. In general the lighter the color, the less dirty it will look. It's up to you what's more important.

 

Brick is correct about black.
Having owned many cars I like silver and red for the "cleaner look" aspect.
Both colors hide dirt,dust,etc. better.
My Pri is red,very easy to keep clean.
My black Mercedes SLK has to be dusted every day,lots of work!

 

White is the easiest color to maintain while black is the most difficult. Especially since you live in FL and have the hot sun to deal with most of the year, I think a light color would be more comfortable and practical for you.

The bisque interior is not easy to keep clean, BTW.

 

If you have the time and enjoy washing your car at least once a week or more, black is beautiful. I love my Spectra Blue Mica, but it is hard to keep clean. I also have a white Camry which normally only needs a monthly washing to keep it looking good.

 

Black also has the unfortunate side effect of soaking up all that solar energy...

 

If you want a deep color, the metallic grey hides dirt better than black. It also comes with the grey interior, which is easier to keep clean than bisque.

Be careful with white. Great exterior color and the easiest to keep clean. But it's available with either grey or bisque interior. If you order it, you'll have to stay on top of your salesman to make sure you get the right interior color. I've heard stories about the cars showing up with the wrong interior color. For this reason, you're best picking a color that only comes in one interior color. That way you know for sure what interior color you will get.

Silver also hides dirt very well, and only comes with grey interior.

FWIW, our two Priuses are Silver and Metallic Grey. We've had them for two and three months, and have not had to wash them yet.

 

We have a Barcelona Red now, with the bisque interior and we love it. We have a Black with Bisque on order and I know it will be a challenge to keep it looking good, that's what my wife really wants. We like the tan vs grey interior.

 

I would go with silver or red. White paint fades fast and looks boring. I also have a black Prius and it sucks. Car is good but I wish I got a silver one.

 

maybe the black will be easier to maintain and keep looking nice and scratch free if you put that invisible bra film on?? i bet it makes it easier for washing too

 

please buy the black touring, we here on priuschat need to hear from fellow black touring owners who have the 3m invisible bra film installed on

the only other thing bad about black prius cars is fellow prius owners with other colors either look at you all jealous and stuff, or they do not even wave at you.

 

pictures of my black touring at its dirtyiest!!

i had to tow it with a uhaul to help my friend move, it was 120 miles away and i had no ride back and none of his family members had a drivers license

 

Living in Fla., you need to stay away from any dark color due to the solar absorbtion. Also, unless you own a car wash, black or spectra blue is a hard color to keep clean. I have found my wife's Barcelona Red and my Driftwood Pearl Tan to both be easy colors to beat the Oklahoma summer sun and to keep clean, especially my Driftwood Pearl Tan. Both of our Tourings have the Bisque interior and keeping them clean hasn't been a problem at all. Again, in Fla., you will want the lighter interior for less solar absorbtion.

 

a couple more pictures

this was after i washed it, ran a clay bar over it, used cleaner wax, polish, and waxed it.

it made it shiny as heck

 

I think that if you live in Florida, you should stick to one of the light colors (ranked in order of light color that IMO the Prius looks best in):

Super White
Silver Pine Mica (the light green color)
Classic Silver
Driftwood Pearl (the tan/bronze color)

As to interior color, I know that I personally could never keep the Bisque clean. So for me, it would have to be the Dark Gray (which is really a medium or medium/light gray) if available.

EDIT: About black. Although generally a dirty black car looks worse than dirty other colored cars, I think that a dirty black Prius looks relatively good. It has something to do with the Prius' shape which is not unlike that of a sports car. Think of a dirty black Porsche 911 or Fiat 124 Spider (if you can remember how they looked) -- they look better than a dirty black sedan. Same thing with a dirty black Prius -- it still looks pretty good, considering.

 

i'm a fan of black and tan, personally.

i used to wash the car weekly. then life got a little more hectic, we have water restrictions going on 3 years now, etc. i do love when it's clean, but when it's dirty i do still wish i had more time to wash it.

my car has the tan cloth interior. it's survived so far pretty well considering the other driver is usually covered in some kind of automotive fluid or another. (you should see the house... ) we sprung for seat covers and all weather mats, and that helped tremendously.

 

Yesterday a lady was closely looking it my car in a parking lot. She approached me and I expected her to make a hybrid / MPG comment / question (this is usually what I get from people). Instead she said I was just admiring the colour of your car (Seaside pearl).

I would not buy a black car in hot Fla - hard to keep clean and heats up in your hot climate, but it's your choice.

 

Since Prius owners seem to be unusually motivated by any reasonable prospect to improve mpg: consider the summer mpg hit resulting from a dark color. This presumably requires more work from the air conditioner compressor to achieve a given cabin temp.

 

I would stay away from black for the reasons mentioned, but I've always thought white cars showed dirt badly as well. As a car color I find that white is not only boring, it makes a vehicle resemble a cheap govt/company base model ride...or a surplus purchase. This is perhaps less of an issue for a Prius, but I'm amazed when people buy a new white Taurus, Lumina, etc.

 

oh please, this is just getting silly. they have these things called trees which you can park under and it will keep it out of the sun

i have posted about this many times, you can pretty much keep a prius going in full ready mode, stopped, idling with the temperature set at 72 degrees, for about 28 minutes without burning any gasoline..

i say who cares about sun absorption.. thats just a weak excuse not to get a black car. the real reason not to get a black car is that it sucks to keep clean and looking nice. i would like to hear from other people who have bought black prius cars that have the 3m shield installed, and would like to know how well it saves the car from car washing

if you use the wrong car washing rag or the wrong towel, its going to hurt the paint, and swirl marks show up. i would like to know if i get the film installed, can i go back to using old dish rags?

will it save time and i would not have to wax it that much?

or is it strictly for protecting the paint against road dust/dirt/bugs that hit the car?

is it the static electricity in the car waxing process that makes it attract dust? or cause dust to stay on the car?
do they make car wax with less attractive force?