That’s valid. Also, depending on where you live, weather is also something to consider. I liked having a black car, because in UT the summer is consistently sunny without rain, so keeping it clean wasn’t that hard. During winter, the roads are snowy and slushy, resulting in every car looking filthy.
If I lived somewhere that the weather is an inconsistent mix of sun and rain, I’d probably avoid a black car.
You’re a brave soul, old bear. Those brushes can be brutal.
Yeah, stopped going there lol
But NOT because of swirls
I would drink bleach before I got another black car.
Our current home had a black toilet(!) in it when we bought it. It looked like hell about five minutes after it was cleaned, and only got worse from there until it was cleaned again.
So having a black car is like having a black toilet. Except you can leave the toilet at home and close the door.
Luck?
To @212hackr. Background: I’m totally OCPD about certain things. My last car was dark blue, and I swore I’d never got another dark-colored car. But local inventory on the VW Golf Sportwagen was low, so it was either black exterior/beige interior or white/black. I chose the former.
When I went to pick up the car, I made a passing comment about bird poop on the hood. The valet at the dealership immediately pulls out a (dirty) rag and starts SCRUBBING the spot before I could stop him and then, for good measure, wiped the ENTIRE HOOD after that. I nearly dropped dead.
My salesperson was a sweetheart and got them to detail the hood (which introduced other defects, but whatever).
I used to do the two-bucket method for washing, but that was a PITA. I take it to a self wash place (and only at dusk/night, unless truly desperate for a wash). Pre-soak w/ soap water and wash the wheels/tires while waiting. Then rinse (and rinse off the brush attachment), repeat the pre-soak. Drop foam soap from the brush BEFORE using the brush and make sure that my time doesn’t run out while using the brush. And I only brsh VERY, VERY lightly, and only over the dirtiest parts of the car. Then rinse, use the air-dry gun, and I’m off.
It’s so painful. And it’s so F*CKING hot in the car during the summer.
I won’t do black again unless I have no other choice.
NOW you tell me!
Grey has worked very well for me, can’t tell if it’s dirty from 6 feet away during 3 seasons, and 12 feet if it’s covered with salt in the winter.
Here’s the dilemma:
I’ve got $700 a month on an X7 pushing almost $90k, it’s black.
$4k at signing, max MSDs. My thoughts are; how long can BMW keep the 2020 residual lower than the 2019? Am I going to be able to replicate this on another X7 in November or December? This is about a months worth of searching.
Do I just take it and deal with the black car?
I have only ever owned black cars. I also wash my cars all the time, and I firmly believe no color is better when clean. If you’re not a clean car person, black is not the car for you and it will look horrible. Once you go black, you never go back. 
That seems like a great deal on an X7! Being a broker, you know that it’s impossible to predict future months.
I’d say take the deal and indulge yourself in a membership at a touchless car wash. Or, at least a weekly clean.
I’m not a broker, I just registered to pass off an F Pace hack, by the time someone wanted it, it was long gone.
Regardless, it’s a dilemma.
Are you really anal about the exterior appearance of your car? If not (or if you are but don’t mind paying for good quality washing fairly frequently), I don’t think the color is a big deal.
I own my car and want to keep it about 5 yrs, so that’s why I’m kind of anal about it. I would be much more indifferent about the color of a leased car.
i’ve had 3 black cars and my current one is also black.
i get a hand wax once every 6 months, carwash 1-4x/month depending on how dusty or rainy it is and it’s hand dry.
contemplating ceramic coat but it’s like 1500+ here.
haven’t had any swirl mark issues. you can personally notice dust easier on the hood, but from afar it still looks clean.
when in doubt, topcoat. https://topcoat.store/
https://www.instagram.com/topcoat.store/
Lease or buy?
I’ll never have a black car again, even if I owned a carwash.
I live in sunny California. Why do I want to drive a hearse around.
Same goes for the interior, which gets even hotter in the sun.
You just have to remember that from a distance it looks clean even it is dirty close up or at least that’s what I tell myself 
All black cars are not the same.
I was long at the altar of NO BLACK CARS due to friends having POS looking cars that were ‘flat black’.
The secret to black cars is that you HAVE to have a metallic black, they’re totally forgiving and imo pretty similarly easy to keep looking clean/good as any color outside of white.
Ask your local detailer about metallic black vs flat black and they’ll probably tell you the same thing. The metallic (in my experience on BMW’s) really masks the dirt.
-mpd
I did a ceramic coating on my new car by myself. It was pretty easy. It’s the cheaper 9H version, but it was simpler to apply than the other ceramic by the same company/others. I used Adam’s Polishes spray ceramic, and it looks great! Then again, I jumped ship from black cars when I got my 2017, after having 3 black cars from 2002 - 2016, so you do “go back.”
