We all know most car colors are simply dreadful. For the most part, they’re a faded pastel of blacks, whites, grays and silvers. Sometimes, though, an automaker will come out with a color that is so lovely I’ve got to give it a shoutout. That’s exactly what Lexus did with its Copper Crest color that debuted on the latest generation of RX. It’s a sort of mix between copper, rose gold and pink, and dammit, it’s absolutely gorgeous.
Earlier this year, I had a Lexus LC 500 in the Copper Crest. It was a very lovely thing, but because the rest of the LC is so great, the fact it was finished off in this brilliant color was sort of lost in the shuffle. Sometimes, a car is so gorgeous that it doesn’t make a difference what color it’s in. Then, a few weeks ago I got behind the wheel of an RX 500h F Sport Performance — a run-of-the-mill midsize luxury crossover. It also just happened to be finished in Copper Crest, and that’s when the color seriously shined.
Wherever I went, folks would ask me about the color, describing it as either pink or copper or something like that. More often than not they’d ask me why you don’t see this color very often, because it’s just so much nicer than the usual colors you find a Lexus RX painted in.
I know the why, and it sucks. It’s because people are cowards. They’re chickenshit. They’re babies. Everyone who buys a mid-level luxury car like this is more worried about resale value than owning a car painted in the best color on sale today. Think about how many grayscale Lexus RXs you’ve seen versus how many Copper Crest or even Nori Green Pearl (the second-best color option) RXs you’ve seen. I even reached out to Lexus about this, and a spokesperson said that the Copper Crest take rate is just two to three percent, depending on the mode. That’s a damn shame. It’s unacceptable. I couldn’t even tell you where a color like Copper Crest shows up on overall paint choices. A survey from iSeeCars doesn’t even list colors like pink or copper on its list of most popular colors. The closest thing I can find is maybe gold, even though it isn’t really gold, which represents just 0.2 percent of all new car colors.
I’m not jerking you around when I say it elevates the whole car, no matter what it’s painted on. I’m a fan of Lexus’ design language. It just speaks to me, and adding a color like Copper Crest to it really takes it up a notch. I especially appreciate the way the color changes depending on lighting. It’s super dynamic, and a great refresher from the boring, non-metallic colors offered on so many cars these days.
I implore you — if you’re buying a Lexus, please buy one in Copper Crest. It’s not like it’s paywalled behind super high-end models either. Right now, Lexus offers the color on the UX, NX, RZ (where you can add a two-tone black to it), RX and LC. If you’re a really weird person who cares about the color more than anything else, you can get yourself into a base-model UX 300h, add only the $595 Copper Crest paint and be out the door for $38,110 including destination. Not too bad. Unfortunately, it’s not available on the TX, GX, IS, ES and LS. That’s just too damn bad.
I know not everyone will agree with this, and the less secure men in the comments will talk about how Copper Crest is a color for women and people with pronouns or whatever, but it’s really so fabulous to me. They’re just jealous they didn’t have the confidence to get the best color on sale today, bar none.
