As an enthusiast, I have an obligation to encourage you to get it in the good color. And if you’re really going for it, I must insist you get it in the goodest color. Buying an E46 M3? All colors are acceptable, but Laguna Seca Blue is the goodest color. If it’s an E36, then it’s Dakar Yellow. I don’t make the rules, nor do I enforce them.
Seriously, get any car in any color you want. That is your prerogative as a car buyer, and as someone who fiercely believes in automotive pluralism, that is your right. But there are good colors, and then there are goodest colors (David is driving the Mustang GTD today on the race track, giving me the ability to futz with grammar that would make his head explode if he was here).
If you’re buying a Nissan GT-R, the goodest color is obviously Midnight Purple. First debuting on the R33, it’s the one everyone wants. It’s the high-dollar one, and it’s probably because it feels perfect for that car. I think this is due to it having an extremely ’90s Japanese Bubble Era sheen to it. There’s something about the way it shifts from an ultra-aubergine to a rich black that really does it for me.
The Nissan Z has changed a lot over the years, and the current one is not bad. Even better, the high-performance Nismo version should be getting the manual transmission it’s long needed. Until that blessed day comes, Nissan has created a Heritage Edition for the 38th annual Z Car Convention.
Curiously, the company says it’s inspired by the 300ZX, which you can see in a few places:
From this profile, it’s not super obvious. At first, I thought it was a Black Gold tribute. The 19-inch Rays wheels do sort of mimic the five-spoke wheels that were popular on the Z32 generation 300ZX, but it’s only an echo of the original.
The little graphic on the side is somewhat better. The Z32–my favorite of all the Zs–had the TWIN TURBO graphics everywhere, because having a twin-turbo V6 was a big deal back then.
It’s a little more obvious from the rear as you get the TWIN TURBO badge on the black spoiler, which feels very Z32. The taillights themselves already have a bit of that, as you can see in this older press photo:
So why Midnight Purple? It’s an interesting choice. The best color on the 300ZX, and also the goodest color on the 300ZX, was obviously Ultra Red, as seen in the famous Super Bowl Ad:
But Midnight Purple is the best Nissan color, maybe ever. It is, for now, the goodest color you can get on a 2026 Nissan Z, and the color will cost you about $2,940 on top of the 2026 Nissan Z Performance grade base price, meaning the total cost for a car with the Heritage Edition package comes to $55,910.
People have paid a lot more for a good color, so $3,000 for the goodest color doesn’t seem outrageous to me. What are some other examples of cars with obviously goodest colors?
Top Photo: Nissan
The Rosewood Metallic is nothing to sneeze at.
Think Mazda nailed it with their Soul Red… similar to the Alfa 8c’s Rosso Competizione. Both stunning in the sunlight and “transform” in all other lights. But, if no reds, then perhaps Coniston Green on old Defenders or Techno Violet on e36 M3’s?
OMG, this is my favorite car color of all time. I wish I could have gotten my integra in the color.
The goodest color for a Z is Safari Gold. Yes, I WILL die on that hill.
If they had priced this car 7-10k lower, it would have sold so well. That is enough to get over the stale refresh. I don’t mind as I never had the older one, so it would be all new to someone like me. But I cannot pay this amount for this car knowing its really 20 years old. The color makes me want to, but deep down some part of me knows better.
I know there were other issues at launch that killed its steam but its really the price for what you get on the “update”.
At what point does a car having 20-year-old bones become a feature, not a bug? In an enthusiast car, the only thing I really need from 2025 is apple car play. Take the new BMW M5 for example, that car is belligerently 2025, and I doubt many people would argue it is better because of it. Whereas the MX-5, BRZ, Si, WRX, and others are better due to their simplicity and maturity. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a luddite yelling at the clouds. My next daily will almost certainly be a hybrid. But the new GTI was hated not because it was old, but because they forced nonsense interior controls for the sake of modernity (and cheapness).
This. The Z is one of the few new cars that appeals to me—and I’m not a traditional sports car person by any means—precisely because its bones are old enough that it’s not drowning in “tech,” but still retains a lot of tactility.
I AM a luddite who yells at clouds ha! I 100% get what you are saying. The integrated dash on the Nissan puts it above any other option style wise in its class. I still think its a little too much price wise though. But I do agree with your point and think it has real merit.
I think that lower price would solve its problems. Could they make money, IDK, but I’m sure they’d sell a good deal more of them.
Sorry, but as much as I’m fan of red cars, the best color on the 300ZX was that pale yellow (“Yellow Pearlglow” according to the Google).
Kinda similar to the pale yellow on the Previa. A yellow minivan van, how cool was that!
Yellow for the 850 t5r is way up there in the goodest ever. I guess Bayside blue on the R34 seems pretty obvious too. Purple for the early nineties impalla ss, maybe EBP on the EM1, although I kind of like the red better.
Yes indeed to the yellow T5R
I bought my Maverick in Cyber Orange Metallic, which turned out to be pretty much school bus yellow rather than the metallic orange that it was in pictures. I almost thought it was a mistake when it arrived, but now I’ve seen others that are the same as mine. I think it’s still better than black, white, or grey.
To ALL automakers: Give consumers more color options, both inside and out.
I have owned one silver car, but after seeing how many other silver and grey cars were out there, I vowed to never own another silver car. And I absolutely refuse to even look at white or black cars. No way, no how.
I also despise black interiors.
Not every car needs to have some crazy weird colors, but give us more than just some 3 different shades of grey and maybe 2 colors. With all of its problems, I think Nissan has some of the coolest colors out there – that aqua blue-green on the new Leaf is great. This flip-flop purple on the Z is cool too. Nissan has some great exterior colors. Genesis has some very interesting interior colors and so do the newer EV Cadillacs. A recent review of the Vistiq was navy with white and aluminum and walnut accents. Absolutely gorgeous colorway.
Also, don’t lock the good interior colors behind boring exterior colors! Looking at Nissan here, because the Z’s excellent blue interior is only available with white or black paint.
Jeep wranglers have come in great colors for a long time, Even Tuscadero Pink, mojito green, and Purple Reign.
Dont forget Bikini Pearl, or the one I bought that was super under rated- Ocean Blue Metallic.
And the new Joose orange.
Dodge, Ram and Jeep actually have some nice colors. They might have shit quality and be overpriced, but I’ll give it to them on the color availability.
I have gotten so many complements on my Moss Yellow EX30. Random people have stopped to tell me how much they like the color.
Love it. Looks similar to the Nitro Yellow (basically Mtn Dew color) that my Colorado could have come in. Unfortunately I bought used, so I didn’t get that color.
I rant about this shit all the time. Though the black interior thing I don’t care as much about. The fact that 80 percent of cars on the road are some form of white, black or grey is sad.
YES.
Volvo Rebel Blue on a V60 Polestar
Does this mean your neighbor who bought a Grand Highlander not only should’ve bought a Sienna, but specifically a Cypress Green one?
Yes. Without question.
Definitely the gooderest color for a Sienna.
I remember looking at a factory brown Audi R8 Years and Years ago and liking the color but gasping at the cost for that color. It was a lot.
What an odd color – in that first picture of the spoiler, it looks dark green, but in the rest it’s obviously a purple kind of like BMW Techno Violet but not as “in your face”. The gold wheels and stripes are Chef’s Kiss too. I like it, but I wouldn’t buy it, too shouty for my taste.
Just about anything that isn’t a shade of gray is a good color at this point. I am partial to a good blue or green. I also really like some of the burnt oranges out there to look at, but I probably wouldn’t actually choose a car in that color. Sadly, as most of my cars have come under the heading of “beggars don’t get to be choosers having bought them used or as leftover new, or in the case of my 500 Abarth and GTI, not really any good colors, most of my cars have been fairly boring. But my two ordered BMWs are/were Tasman Green (perfection) and Estoril Blue (shouty, but I love it). My otherwise delightful BMW 128i convertible I bought used is boring Space Gray, though metal colors do suit the lines of that Bangle-mangle better than actual colors do. But if I had ordered it, it would have been LeMans Blue with Saddle leather. Though I just missed buying one that was LeMans with Lemon. Lemon is actually a tannish off-white, and very similar to the Oyster that I had in my Estoril Blue M235i. LeMans Blue is darker than Estoril Blue.
Pretty car (even on it’s winter shoes), even if I didn’t really love it:
https://flic.kr/p/B9k8En
Boring 128i, especially next to the Tasman wagon:
https://flic.kr/p/2jSnavL
Every Geo Metro should be royal blue.
My mom’s Geo Prism was baby blue. Which matched the baby blue of our 2nd gen dodge caravan (which is the correct color for that. The first gen being brown + wood, the third being teal (but shoutout to eggplant), and the subsequent generations not mattering)
So would that purple and gold work for Vikings tailgating?
I would totally go for that color. I have a crush orange Wrangler. I love the purple, orange, pink, greens and all the other goodest colors Jeeps have come in over the years. I am so fond of any car colors that are not white, black, dark blue, red and whatever grey/silver the rental car companies and resale value fetishists demand.
Wait, when did red become a boring color? Asking for myself, as I’ll be buying a red or blue sports sedan next spring. I want to make sure that I don’t get one that will be frowned upon by the commentariat.
It is not boring just that it is often the only non greyscale color offered by manufactures. Nowhere did I say it was boring in my post, just not for me.
It’s not! I love my red cars! Although I did only end up with them because they were the only non-grey, black, or white options at the time I was looking.
I have some good news/bad news about the current Z. The good news is that when I saw one in the wild it looked really good. Certainly better than it does in pictures.
The bad news is that they’ve been selling them for 3 years and I didn’t see one in the wild until last week…
I saw a new Nismo Z last weekend and couldn’t believe my eyes. I’ve seen exactly the same amount of McLaren Sennas on the road.
My number for both of those is 0.
I’ve seen exactly three, which is sort of crazy since I live in an urbanized region. And one of those three I saw was in a driveway in Cape Cod.
I also hadn’t saw one in the wild until earlier this year when I was in Chicago. It was a chance encounter as I had to park way down the street from where I was going. It was also in a boring black.
Just bought a used Highlander in a wonderful mettalic olive green.
I’m sure the dealer markups will also only be $60k on top of the MSRP
That is a nice purple. And when a nice purple is on the menu its always the goodest color for sure. I really like that and hope I see one out in the wild soon. I rarely see these in the wild at all however.
Good thing that expensive option is Purple, cause I Grimaced when I saw the price.
Would that price make you feel robble-robbled?
If you think the price is bad, just wait until you see the total after dealer market adjustments. It will be plum-crazy. Maybe it’s just sour grapes though.
I typically say green is best color, but no, this is bestest goodest paint for the Z, no question. Graphics and wheels in Bronze with the red calipers is just perfection.
How is this a story? You could already get it in yellow…
Purple is always the most good color. Second is orange.
Oh my … *bites finger*
I’ve only seen a few of the current Z on the road, and they look REALLY good!
This indeed is gooderer.
Anybody want to spot me $60k? Please!?!?!?