Soon to be New Owner of ITS - Question!

[Victorofhavoc]

Let me throw another question in this post...color scheme if you had the choice liquid carbon/ebony or apex blue pearl/orchid? Liquid carbon looks amazing to me, but I am wondering if the apex blue/orchid would be more unique and hold better value?

When it comes to car colors and value retention, there are two semi-independent scales, color preference and rarity. The white interior is the most rare, followed by red, followed by black. The colors in terms of rarity are gold (type s cars only), red, silver, blue, white, grey, black. Rarity typically begets price, but sometimes colors are just unpopular for being ugly and not valued.

Color preference depends on the person but generally in America people prefer lack of color to color for pedestrian cars. The opposite is true for enthusiast cars. Given it's a manual only car, I'd say it's more enthusiast skewed, so I'd personally bet on gold, red, and blue to retain value a smidgen better. Only blue and gold out of the color options comes with a not black interior. The red interior is almost as common as the ebony. So gold on white will be the most rare. Blue on white will be second most rare. Gold on black probably next or maybe red on black. Blue on red and blue on black will be similar in count and more abundant than red.

This is all based on the cars currently available for sale on truecar, CarGurus, and kbb as well as the production numbers the dealer quoted me a few weeks back. It can all literally change at any point because their production lines aren't fully linear planned. They can change to pumping out nothing but white interior cars tomorrow and flip the whole rarity scale in a month, lol.

All this being said, buy the color you like. I saw a grey one and thought it looked wicked, but I really wanted to have a color. I've been driving colorless cars for many years and decided this time I'd do either blue or gold. I saw the gold in person and it looked nice, but getting one over white was difficult and after I saw a gold mdx I was kind of turned off to it. Blue was my next choice and while I love the color in photos, in the sun or on a cloudy day it was just a bit too electric blue for me. I ended up with red and never thought I'd be buying red. It was my 4 year old shouting "RED!" at me when I gave him the Enzo test that sealed it for me, lol.

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[m.c.ricks.ITS]

Let me throw another question in this post...color scheme if you had the choice liquid carbon/ebony or apex blue pearl/orchid? Liquid carbon looks amazing to me, but I am wondering if the apex blue/orchid would be more unique and hold better value?

I absolutely love my APB, I’ve gotten so many compliments from people that do not look like your typical car enthusiast. “Such a beautiful car” “that color is amazing” that’s just my experience. Also in the right light it does really stand out.
Just my two cents.

 

[egxflash]

Let me throw another question in this post...color scheme if you had the choice liquid carbon/ebony or apex blue pearl/orchid? Liquid carbon looks amazing to me, but I am wondering if the apex blue/orchid would be more unique and hold better value?

Are you only considering Apex Blue for the rarity/value retention? If so, sounds like you should go with LCM since that's the color that is "amazing" to you.

It was between LCM and PWP for me and I've always been partial to white. They had both the PWP and the Apex Blue at the dealership I got mine from though.

 

[Bandit_333]

Are you only considering Apex Blue for the rarity/value retention? If so, sounds like you should go with LCM since that's the color that is "amazing" to you.

It was between LCM and PWP for me and I've always been partial to white. They had both the PWP and the Apex Blue at the dealership I got mine from though.

You make good points! I do favor the LCM. Just need to work the deal out with the dealer. They seem eager, but I am cautious of a bait switch. I don't really want to pony up/finance additional cost. I want to get as close to an even trade as I can.

Appreciate everyone's feedback. I really like how everyone is engaged on this forum.

 

[nawfoo]

Get the color you want. I would do the blue with red interior or superman/pepsi. Was never a fan of white interiors.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

You make good points! I do favor the LCM. Just need to work the deal out with the dealer. They seem eager, but I am cautious of a bait switch. I don't really want to pony up/finance additional cost. I want to get as close to an even trade as I can.

Appreciate everyone's feedback. I really like how everyone is engaged on this forum.

LCM looks great in person! Good luck with the deal! I baked in lots of extras and had them price match + give labor discounts. Worked out to the best deal this way. Technically I got 1700 below msrp (57.6k$) and on the middle end of kbb values for my trade. Reasonable deal for both parties with minimal fuss. BMW dealer had a lot more discounts, options, and value for my trade when I was looking at the m3. It was more like 7k under msrp, so I supposed bmw isn't holding as much value currently.

Getting an autotrader instant cash offer also helps for your negotiations if you haven't done that already.

 

[egxflash]

LCM looks great in person! Good luck with the deal! I baked in lots of extras and had them price match + give labor discounts. Worked out to the best deal this way. Technically I got 1700 below msrp (57.6k$) and on the middle end of kbb values for my trade. Reasonable deal for both parties with minimal fuss. BMW dealer had a lot more discounts, options, and value for my trade when I was looking at the m3. It was more like 7k under msrp, so I supposed bmw isn't holding as much value currently.

Getting an autotrader instant cash offer also helps for your negotiations if you haven't done that already.

Curious why you decided against the M3. The M3 (non-comp) was a consideration for me with the manual.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Curious why you decided against the M3. The M3 (non-comp) was a consideration for me with the manual.

A few reasons. As stupid as it may seem, a bit thing for me was cup holder placement because my wife and child have a tendency to bring things or drop them in there. In the m3 I was constantly hitting my 20z yeti mug, and that was an immediate problem.

The rest of the car was awesome. Performance and sound kill the its. The fit and finish quality is very BMW and exterior wise it's miles better fitment. It's still a fugly car though. The whole front-end is just baaaad. Nothing about it felt truly special either. Having driven an e46 m3 i expected the g80 to be an elevated experience, but the g80 is more similar to an x7 than it is an e46. Everything just felt big, fat, lazy, and surprisingly powerful. It didn't feel direct, but it did feel connected. It's an awesome car, but it's not 25k more awesome than an its. If I'm being very honest, it's about -10k vs the its in terms of driving experience, but more like 50k+ when it comes to sound, fit, finish, and general "shock and awe" exposure. Everyone fucking sees the g80 m3 making it's way down the road, and every ahole in a tesla, mustang, or x drive 3 or 4 series will try to race you. Like driving a subaru sti... All the wrong attention.

 

[KevCarver]

I'm at 12k miles and I'm just now hearing like rattles from panels I was thinking to fix it with like the stuff people use for subwoofers for dynamat also starting to get passenger window problems thT it won't go up it comes back down but all in all this is a damn bad ass car . I get compliments every where I go . It's fun and enjoyable and has lots of potential

From my days in the mid 20teens extensively reading Merc W220 forum posts I came across issues with auto up windows stopping short and lowering. They can get overly sensitive to friction in the window tracks and the safety systems preventing crushing fingers/hands/necks, whathaveyou, stop it and lower it. A light spray of silicone lube seems to solve. Just before I sold my ‘22 Si I had this happen a couple times and tried the silicone trick which seemed to work. I even tested the window by pushing it down as it was going up to simulate a hand getting caught and it did reverse course.

 

[KevCarver]

Let me throw another question in this post...color scheme if you had the choice liquid carbon/ebony or apex blue pearl/orchid? Liquid carbon looks amazing to me, but I am wondering if the apex blue/orchid would be more unique and hold better value?

Oh man, Blue/Orchid was my dream A Spec combo! Not to be unfortunately. Dealer had Black/Black, White/Black, or White Orchid. I went with W/O since I see the interior more than the exterior and Orchid was at least half of my original choice. They were expecting a LIquid Carbon as their next 6MT to arrive, but weren’t sure when and it was going to be a ‘25 so no discounts. When I posted here my new ‘24 A Spec in White/Orchid I was surprised how many said they hadn’t seen one before!
They had 2 or 3 Black ITS on the lot. I think one was a red Interior.

 

[optronix]

ITS is not available in blue with red interior for MY24. Maybe that changes for MY25.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

ITS is not available in blue with red interior for MY24. Maybe that changes for MY25.

For 25, only black, white, and grey have the red interior.

My suspicion is that white is generally more rare because it's "more different" (ugly English, yes). With black or red you have the same insert, same thread, same steering wheel, same shift knob, but just some different leather. White has the grey stitching everywhere and that's a lot of things to be different in the assembly line.

 

[Bandit_333]

For 25, only black, white, and grey have the red interior.

My suspicion is that white is generally more rare because it's "more different" (ugly English, yes). With black or red you have the same insert, same thread, same steering wheel, same shift knob, but just some different leather. White has the grey stitching everywhere and that's a lot of things to be different in the assembly line.

I like the ebony with the LCM. Batmobile vibe. The red is nice except for the entire back seat being red. Just my opinion. We all like what we like.

Love all the feedback!

 

[Victorofhavoc]

I like the ebony with the LCM. Batmobile vibe. The red is nice except for the entire back seat being red. Just my opinion. We all like what we like.

Love all the feedback!

"batmobile vibe" is literally what I thought when I test drove an LCM. My second thought was "I might have to murder it out for full batman vibe"

 

[Bandit_333]

I'm at 12k miles and I'm just now hearing like rattles from panels I was thinking to fix it with like the stuff people use for subwoofers for dynamat also starting to get passenger window problems thT it won't go up it comes back down but all in all this is a damn bad ass car . I get compliments every where I go . It's fun and enjoyable and has lots of potential

Well, I didn't get an Integra. Ended up getting a Civic Type R in CW. So far I absolutely love it! Steering, brakes, transmission, looks are just amazing. $1,500 over invoice. Still breaking her in, but I can tell this car is going to be a riot. In Comfort damping, I don't find it bad. Sporty, firm, but compliant. Type R unusable unless on track. Too stiff. Anyway, thanks for all your help and happy to be a part of the Honda family!

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