[earlfocht]

We're trying to order a 335 GT for my wife. (Finally got to see and drive a 3GT — regardless of the controversial appearance, they're going to sell a ton of these things because they're a fantastic balance of space and practicality vs. size. And in person, it looks much smaller and more tasteful than a Crosstour or 5GT.)

We're trying to get the exterior as Deep Sea Blue, which isn't available on the 3GT (but it's still offered on the 1, 6, X1, X6, Z4). I had also inquired earlier about whether we could get any "line" exceptions, such as Sport with all-black seats (no red stitching) or M-Sport in a color that's not officially offered in M-Sport (such as Midnight Blue or Imperial Blue).

One salesman told me none of these were possible.

One salesman told me we could get "custom paint", from any color BMW has, for $5,000.

One salesman told me this was done through Individual, but I can't find anything supporting that.

Lots of cars posted on forums like this (the botched Atlantic/Atlantis M3 last month, the trio of all-Sakhir M5/M6's the other day) seem to have individual customization. But on BMW's site, "Individual" seems to just be a small number of pre-selected additional colors on each model. (Another salesman told me that's all Individual could do, too.)

Who's right? What does Individual actually do, and what are my options here?

(And yes, my wife's happiness with her color choice is actually worth $5,000. Because that means I won't have to drive a Lexus marshmallow or a rented SUV this winter instead. Trust me, it's worth it.)

[///jbeck]

Originally Posted by earlfocht

We're trying to order a 335 GT for my wife. (Finally got to see and drive a 3GT — regardless of the controversial appearance, they're going to sell a ton of these things because they're a fantastic balance of space and practicality vs. size. And in person, it looks much smaller and more tasteful than a Crosstour or 5GT.)

We're trying to get the exterior as Deep Sea Blue, which isn't available on the 3GT (but it's still offered on the 1, 6, X1, X6, Z4). I had also inquired earlier about whether we could get any "line" exceptions, such as Sport with all-black seats (no red stitching) or M-Sport in a color that's not officially offered in M-Sport (such as Midnight Blue or Imperial Blue).

One salesman told me none of these were possible.

One salesman told me we could get "custom paint", from any color BMW has, for $5,000.

One salesman told me this was done through Individual, but I can't find anything supporting that.

Lots of cars posted on forums like this (the botched Atlantic/Atlantis M3 last month, the trio of all-Sakhir M5/M6's the other day) seem to have individual customization. But on BMW's site, "Individual" seems to just be a small number of pre-selected additional colors on each model. (Another salesman told me that's all Individual could do, too.)

Who's right? What does Individual actually do, and what are my options here?

(And yes, my wife's happiness with her color choice is actually worth $5,000. Because that means I won't have to drive a Lexus marshmallow or a rented SUV this winter instead. Trust me, it's worth it.)

Salesman #2. It is not a normal process and I would bet 99% of salespeople wouldn't know about custom ordering. Individual has a specific set of 'individual' colors (that are not available on the 3 series anyway). Truly custom paint typically adds around a month to a build.

The cost to do the interior and exterior could be signifigant, but it is certainly possible. There is no set price, we email BMW, and a few days later they email a cost depending on the color you choose, how much of it they need to use, and how busy the line is (the lost production time as they shut everything down to load your color).

You are not just limited to the colors BMW has on other cars. You can send a color sample and say "make it close to this" although this would add to the cost. You could add frost.

[bavarianboar]

Originally Posted by ///jbeck

Salesman #2. It is not a normal process and I would bet 99% of salespeople wouldn't know about custom ordering. Individual has a specific set of 'individual' colors (that are not available on the 3 series anyway). Truly custom paint typically adds around a month to a build.

The cost to do the interior and exterior could be signifigant, but it is certainly possible. There is no set price, we email BMW, and a few days later they email a cost depending on the color you choose, how much of it they need to use, and how busy the line is (the lost production time as they shut everything down to load your color).

You are not just limited to the colors BMW has on other cars. You can send a color sample and say "make it close to this" although this would add to the cost. You could add frost.

Out of curiosity and with no intention to jack the thread, Doesn't the manufacturing facility have individual paint lines based on the colors available. I can't imagine all jumbled up colors from one car to next in line and then paint being loaded again and again. Or, in a given day, cars with same color are batched and painted in some order. All MG first, then all AW, etc.

I was watching the video from SA factory and looked like all cars came out same color from a paint shop.

Just wondering how uneconomical it would be shut down everything in the paint shop and assembly for individual editions.

OP,

you may want to look into Tanzanite Blue Metallic (way better and extremely close to Deep Sea Blue), there is someone from UK (i think), who got one with Merino Beige Leather Interior, Individual edition M-sport.

I love Deep Sea blue and I am bummed they do not make any color close to it anymore without Individual ordering. I ended up ordering mineral gray on my F30. DSB is what I will sorely miss about my outgoing E90 lease.

I hear when you say about the extra money spent on color. Alternatively, if DSB is not an option for ordering, Tanzanite Blue is definitely worth considering, only much more brilliant from what I have heard. Tanzanite would honestly be my first choice. Good luck!

[Poohbore]

PM Captain Cow Pat, he has an orange F31 which if I remember correctly is a 1 series colour. He has the experience of the custom colour option although he is in the UK

[kyleb350]

My understanding was that the Individual paint was the $5000 option.

[kyleb350]

I came across this page regarding Individual configuration. I don't see anything on the GT; however, there's a chance it could be outdated.

http://www.bmw.com/com/en/insights/e...delfinder.html

[Kyokio]

you can order any bmw in any color scheme (ext and int) thru their individual program.. you just pay extra for it.

http://www.bmw.com/com/en/insights/c...ndividual.html

[jmh]

Originally Posted by bavarianboar

Out of curiosity and with no intention to jack the thread, Doesn't the manufacturing facility have individual paint lines based on the colors available. I can't imagine all jumbled up colors from one car to next in line and then paint being loaded again and again. Or, in a given day, cars with same color are batched and painted in some order. All MG first, then all AW, etc.

I was watching the video from SA factory and looked like all cars came out same color from a paint shop.

Just wondering how uneconomical it would be shut down everything in the paint shop and assembly for individual editions.

OP,

you may want to look into Tanzanite Blue Metallic (way better and extremely close to Deep Sea Blue), there is someone from UK (i think), who got one with Merino Beige Leather Interior, Individual edition M-sport.

I love Deep Sea blue and I am bummed they do not make any color close to it anymore without Individual ordering. I ended up ordering mineral gray on my F30. DSB is what I will sorely miss about my outgoing E90 lease.

I hear when you say about the extra money spent on color. Alternatively, if DSB is not an option for ordering, Tanzanite Blue is definitely worth considering, only much more brilliant from what I have heard. Tanzanite would honestly be my first choice. Good luck!

It takes appr 30 minutes to change the color in the paint line.
Hence they batch up cars for a given color.
For Individual colors this can take longer as fewer cars are being painted, for example I ordered Brilliant White and it took almost 4 weeks to get enough cars to make it feasible for them to have enough cars to run through paint
The price for Individual paints depends on the color , it usually ranges from ~1800$ to 5000$ (or more for a paint based on a sample)

[earlfocht]

Thanks, everyone. Very helpful.

I went back to my main salesman, he went up the boss chain until he found someone who had done Individual before, and they submitted an order request to "the port".

"The port" guy came back and said that they're not taking any custom orders on the 3GT.

Seems like the 3GTs are coming in short enough supply with high enough demand that nobody's willing to slow anything down for a custom order, and it's so new that it's not even listed as an official "Individual" model on BMW's Individual site yet.

Safe to assume that we're out of luck at this point?