I spotted a Winter Gray Metallic PiP Sunday. I hadn't realized that all of the PiPs have that same silver accent color on the middle of the rear hatch, door handles, etc. It looked really odd to me, sort of like the 1982-83 Toyota Celica Supras: Toyota made all of the hatchbacks black, regardless of the body color, so they all looked goofy except for the black ones. (which is why I had a black one!) The color blends in pretty well with the silver body, but I found it jarring on the darker color. YMMV?
Trade offs. Obviously, the silver accents on the PIP (door handles, front and rear strips) are more prominent on a darker color, while almost invisible on a silver. When I lowered my front license plate months ago, I though the silver strip on the front bumper cover would look better, blacked out. I used wide black tape just to get an idea. After one day, I decided, I liked the silver best. I have a Winter Gray Metallic PIP. The silver accents are just that. One BIG plus for me with a Winter Gray Metallic, all the black accents (window trim, spoiler, rear lower glass, side mirror bases, front grill, antenna, etc.) blend in well. OK, how about perfect? As I was driving to work yesterday morning, I saw another WGM Prius approaching in my rear view mirror. Ironically, I noticed the silver strip on the front bumper, and realized he was "friend, not foe", before he passed. I drive a PIP for a reason. I could care less if anyone can distinguish my Prius as a PIP. In my opinion, the silver accents are a subtle distinction for those in the know.
I think the far easier way to determine if a Prius is a PiP is to simply look at the side logo. If there are two lines there reading Plug In Hybrid vs just one line reading Hybrid, then you know what you are dealing with.
In order to get a temp tag the TN Department of Revenue insisted a notary on my Carson Toyota paperwork. Since it was on the way to my bank, I decided to try a Toyota dealer. When I drove up there was a salesman and his first question was "What trim level is that?"
This dealership seemed to know more about the PiP, though this was the first they saw, than my usual dealership who did not know that it even existed!
haha...they ought to lose their right to sell Toyota's if they don't even know it existed...so pathetic
