Dakar Yellow! Mint Green! Behold the glory that is the BMW Individual Visualizer

It's very much a good thing that no major automotive news broke yesterday afternoon, because it's virtually certain that the Autoblog staff wouldn't have noticed. Ford could've sold the rights to produce the Bronco to Stellantis and we all would've been happily clicking away on perhaps the greatest day waster professional education exercise to come along in a very good time, possibly ever.

You see, a little bird at a dealership brought the "semi-secret" BMW Individual Manufaktur Visualizer to our attention. Basically, it's a site where customers can see all the possible special-order BMW Individual paint colors and other aesthetic options that can be added to most BMW models. It. Is. Incredible. And also quite frequently tacky, but that is absolutely part of the fun.

You can do this:

Or you can do that:

Or you can pretend you live in Europe and get that 5 Series Wagon you've been dreaming about for 15 years. And make it Imola Red like an E39 M5:

But let us be clear, this isn't just some funsy internet thing. You really can custom order any of these cars, provided the model is actually sold in the United States. So no 5 Series wagon, but that Java Green X7 is good to go. As you'll quickly discover, the possibilities are endless as well as equal parts awesome and eye-searing.

And as we spent the better part of two hours building BMWs to various degrees of taste, we figured we share what we managed to put together. To create some order, we each created two builds. One is an ideal build of car, color and option based on our own personal taste. The other is the tackiest damn thing we could come up with. The new 4 Series didn't make that hard. Enjoy! And thanks BMW Individual Manufaktur Visualizer for brightening our day.

West Coast Editor James Riswick

Ideal Configuration: BMW M5 in Venetian Violet with Aragonbraun interior
Despite all the fun, bright colors available and my general belief that loud colors are well suited to subdued automotive designs, somehow painting today's M5 Java Green or Voodoo Blue just seemed a bit tacky. But this Venetian Violet is something special. Though bold and colorful, it's also deep, rich and classy as hell. It pairs beautifully with Aragonbraun. In 25 years, everyone will be drooling over this sucker at car shows.

Tacky Configuration: BMW 730i in Verde Mantis with 17-inch wheels, blacked out grille, carbon fiber mirror caps and Fiona Red interior

And they'll be vomiting upon this one.

We love us some green cars here at Autoblog, and BMW Individual offers as many as 16 verdant shades, including on the 7 Series. Some are classics like Oxford Green and British Racing Green. And there are those like this, Verde Mantis. Yuck. Oh, but it's not just Verde Mantis carrying this ghastly display. It's the pairing of the always tacky blacked out grille and carbon fiber mirror caps juxtaposed against the rinky-dink 17-inch wheels. The orangey red interior really seals the deal. Good luck beating this one, guys.

Managing Editor Greg Rasa

Ideal Configuration: BMW M550i in Zanzibar II over Canberra Beige "Vernasca" leather

Man, so many great colors! The blues alone make it hard to choose. I always pick orange in these things, and both Sunset Orange and Fire Orange III are tempting. But Zanzibar is a bit more subdued. It might be handsome in real life — hopefully bronze, or as the name implies, the color of nutmeg or cinnamon. Plus, it's fun to say Zanzibar.

Tacky configuration: BMW M440i in Limerock Gray, and yeah, the interior's gray too

I played with some out-there colors on this configurator, like Mint Green or Velvet Orchid. But you know what: Even though this palette has a vast array of fantastic colors, it also has two dozen varieties of whites, grays and blacks. Two dozen! Why?! So here's a gray over gray car, like all the millions of other gray cars on the road. I say it's tacky to choose this. It's at least drab and bleak, when BMW is willing to sell you something cool. So come on, dealers and buyers, please stock and buy some colorful cars — live a little.

Road Test Editor Zac Palmer