A Rainbow of Colours for the Volkswagen Golf

We often complain about the manufacturers’ lack of originality when it comes to offering paint colour choices in North America. For popular mainstream models, we’re usually limited to white and black, a few shades of grey and, sometimes, a red, a blue or a brown. Or beige.

However, we can understand that very few people would buy a canary yellow Toyota Camry or a hot pink Ford Escape. In some rare cases, we’re allowed a halo colour on a new model, but only for a year or two. A perfect example is the lime green paint choice on the Honda Civic Coupe.

• Also: Comparison Test: Ford Focus RS vs. Subaru WRX STI vs. Volkswagen Golf R
• Also: 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf: Watch Out, Bolt

Although it’s easy to criticise the manufacturers, the truth is that customers are conservative when they pick a colour for their new vehicle, since it might have an impact on resale value. In addition, a colour that’s too extroverted could be tough to sell, and a dealer could be stuck with a new car on its lot for a while before moving it out with a huge rebate.

Still, Volkswagen is taking the plunge. In Europe, buyers have much more paint colour choices and take more risks than North-American buyers. Manufacturers reduce production costs by painting their cars in batches on the assembly line. If a buyer desires a unique colour, it will cost extra.

In Canada, a special range of colours is now offered on the 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf and the 2018 Volkswagen Golf R. Aside from the standard colour palette, we can choose one of these:

• Harvest Moon Beige: a non-metallic colour that was previously available on the Beetle
  
• Champagne Metallic: a beige-silver hue
  
• Terra Brown: a non-metallic medium brown
  
• Jazz Blue Pearl: a colour that was popular on the 20th Anniversary GTI
  
• Techno Blue Pearl: a medium-light blue
  
• Inky Blue Pearl : a dark shade of blue
  
• Laser Blue Pearl : a dark blue that was popular on the fifth-generation Jetta
  
• Prussian Blue Metallic: according to VW, similar to the Porsche colour
  
• Azure Blue Pearl: almost turquoise, but darker
  
• Deep Blue Pearl: a colour that’s lighter than Jazz Blue Pearl
  
• Sarantos Turquoise: a non-metallic turquoise
  
• ’91 Blue: a light, non-metallic blue, but darker than Ice Blue
  
• Ice Blue: a light, non-metallic blue
  
• Viper Green Metallic: a bright green that was offered on the Scirocco 3 (not sold in Canada)
  
• Racing Green: a dark colour
  
• Reseda Green: a non-metallic, flat, but not matte-finished green
  
• Cliff Green: a colour similar to Viper Green, but non-metallic, that appeared in 1989
  
• Irish Green: a non-metallic hue that’s not as dark as Racing Green
  
• Magma Orange: a medium, non-metallic orange
  
• Copper Orange Metallic: the darkest Orange available
  
• TNT Orange: a bright, but non-metallic orange
  
• Violet Touch Pearl: a dark purple, but lighter than Dark Violet Pearl
  
• Traffic Purple: a non-metallic purple
  
• Dark Violet Pearl: a very dark purple
  
• Mars Red: a classic GTI colour
  
• Bordeaux Red Pearl: a red that’s darker than Hot Chili Pearl
  
• Hot Chili Pearl: a dark red
  
• Raspberry Red: a colour similar to fuchsia
  
• Ginster Yellow: a non-metallic yellow that was popular on many past VW models
  
• Curry Yellow: a non-metallic yellow that’s similar to the new Kokurma Yellow colour

These 30 colours are only available on special order, so don’t look for them in dealerships. And these paint choices cost—sit down—$2,995 before taxes.

So, it’s up to buyers to decide if they want to risk choosing one of these colours and obtain a car that could be difficult to resell, or that could be worth more given its rarity. These are expensive colours, obviously, but least we now have more choice.