smb1234

I think I've finally decided on a Black A4, accepting the fact that I will be waxing and cleaning the damn thing more than I'd like. So which Black to go with? I've seen both, and I think I actually like the clearcoat better, but I plan to own the car for a few years, and I want to make sure that its durable. I've heard from others on this board that standard Audi black tends to be fairly soft. Any thoughts? Also, have any of you splurged for the sunshades? It seemed like a silly option to me at first, but in Atlanta, it does get pretty hot.

wmdunn

I debated between the two when I bought my 2000 sedan. Bought brilliant black and it looked great for a while. Even with meticulous care, the scratches and road chips were impossible to cover. My new avant is white, and much easier to hide the imperfections. If I were set on another "black" car, I think I would go with ebony pearl. The metallic looks great, and tends to disperse the color just a bit.

James

The black is gorgeous. Sure it's not practical from a cleaning perspective, but if you go for the metallic, it is a much safer bet than the matt black. Matt black is suicide.
I've done 33 000 Km on South African roads of all descriptions, and my metallic black A3 looks as good as the day I bought it on 3 Jan this year...

swimmer

The Ebony Pearl will be marginally better than the clear coat because it has more metal particles in it. The bad part is that I ended up taking brilliant black, because there was not single ebony pearl on the west coast even close to the configuration I wanted. I would have to wait till January for one to get of the boat.