I am stuck between silver, phantom black and Quartz grey.

The silver seems to show off the lines well. I am concerned the phantom black will be a pain to keep clean and the quartz grey looks great in some lights but dull in others.

Opinions? Anyone owned a phantom black? Is it easier to keep clean and show less swirls than regular black?

Other option would be to order a custom color.

Current order is silver, black interior, auto fully loaded.

Anyone ordered lava grey?

show off the car well at all.

Ordering now you are going to have to wait anyway, so why not go for a custom color...Daytona Grey.

There is a fairly recent thread with a pic...see link.<ul><li><a href="http://forums.audiworld.com/a5/msgs/16022.phtml">http://forums.audiworld.com/a5/msgs/16022.phtml</a</li></ul>

Dealer I bought from had a Flat Black and a Phantom Black. I had them park the cars next to each other and it was a sinple choice. Phantom Black is in my garage!! Flat black showed every single hand that touched the car.

its called brilliant black.....looks great when flawlessly clean....which is not very often...I have Phantom....fireglazed (paint protection) it...and its awesome....silver napa interior.

Still torturing between Brilliant Black and Avus Silver (A5 S-Line - so no Phantom option - have Brilliant Black on order), and these comments are making it even harder! What if you fireglaze/protect the Brilliant Black? I do go garage to garage, so that should help SOME.

is just the toughest color to care for on ANY car. At least the Phantom Black is metallic and is clearcoated. It's still an unforgiving color. I love Avus Silver and it's easier to hide every flaw with it than black - one of the reasons I went with Northern Blue on my car - very forgiving color. As beautiful as black cars are when they're perfectly clean, I would never buy one. Just too much work.

Thanks, Phil. So, why don't they clearcoat the Brilliant Black? I wasn't sure whether this was true, but you're not the first person to say that. The car I owned before my current silver A4 was a '97 non-metallic black Jetta. It wasn't clear coated and definitely showed swirls. I thought they had started clear coating their basic blacks. Same company obviously, and if you're telling me that I'd get that same non clearcoated black with this A5, I really do need to switch to Avus Silver.

agree....had avus silver on my b6s4....loved it-but am convinced ( for me) that the S5 prefers a darker colour.....although Daytona Grey is a common Audi colour here is Australia....I was very tempted to pay the extra for the custom paint option!

Brilliant black is a clear coated black. It does show the dirt quickly but is definitely the best looking color when clean. Problem is how you clean and protect a black car. If you do it right it's easy and the car will look amazing. First thing is how you wash the car. Always use two buckets, one for dirty water and the other for clean water and wash agent. Always use 100% cotton towels made in the US and wipe only in the direction of airflow over the car never in a circular motion. Protect the car with Zaino products once or twice every six months and you will be happy. Phantom black looks great, especially when a little dirty but when clean, Brilliant black looks very wet and deep. I kept a black NSX for 14 years and when I sold it, people still thought it looked like a new car!

Whew - thanks, Deak. Non clear coated would be a NON-starter for me. Will definitely look into Zaino's sealing products from the start.

You've posted this mantra before and I really need to save it somewhere so that I have it when I get my car! Problem is, I'd need to find a hand wash detailer (there is one at my office garage) who I can trust to do this. I have to be honest with myself and know that I won't be washing the car myself. I'll have to take a CLOSE look at my partner's BMW 6, which is black and cleaned regularly by the guy in our garage.

The descriptions of the black cherry are what I'm looking for, but every picture I've seen, it looks purple. Is the black cherry a new color, or has it been around for awhile?

Definitely different colors and, no doubt, black cherry looks like a very deep purple. Saw it the other day on an older model S4.

Sorry, not up on my B's ;-) It looked like a '98 or so. The reason I think it is black cherry is that someone else posted a black cherry photo (I guess they could have been wrong) and it was the color I had just seen that day on the S4 in question.

yellow cause i want it to be noticed and it be unique color on the road.

Color is almost black, with just a hint of very dark red in it. I thought it was Phantom Black when I first saw it. It's beautiful, but VERY dark. Very unlike Garnet or the old Hibiscus.

I wasn't sure if non-metallic colors were clearcoated or not. Sorry.

... how noticeable the swirl marks will be when compared to something like Brilliant Black. So yeah, it's easier to take care of than a non-metallic/pearlescent black. But it is inevitable that Phantom will swirl (mine already has, and I think this is from the body shop washing the car). I'm pretty fastidious with the detailing, so I assume that I'll have to use swirl filler 2-3x per year.

I'm trying to decide between Deep Sea Blue and Sprint Blue Pearl Effect. Anyone seen either? My order is currently Sprint Blue. The color chip for Sprint Blue at the dealer looked good, about the same as my former M3. The Deep Sea Blue was too dark for me. But on the website Sprint Blue looks more like a Subaru blue, which is not what I'm looking for.

Interior is spec'ed as black with grey alcantra inserts and stainless. Nav + B&amp;O, no tech package.

Check out the thread at the link below. This owner was very surprised at how Sprint Blue looked compared to the color chip. There are photos as well.<ul><li><a href="http://www.a5oc.com/forums/showthread.php/its-here-928/index.html">A5_OC thread</a></li></ul>

Thanks. I'm going to change to the Deep Sea Blue Pearl. Sprint Blue is too attention getting for me.

Subjective of course, but I absolutely think you're making the right choice between the two.

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/432/dscf0024.jpg"></center><p>on my new S4 - it's a custom color currently available on the A8. I just didn't like any of the standard S4 colors enough. Had it on my B6 S4 as well. I think it looks great on this car - and would be awesome on an S5. Invoice is around $2300 for the color option.