On my way to work this morning a Prius pulled out from a side street and I followed it for about a mile before we parted ways. I just got my 2005 silver pkg #6 on Monday - but was still driving my Tercel because I have not yet finished reading all of the manuals. (Will take it out on Saturday.) There are not many Prius in my neck of the woods and the only other ones I have seen were parked when I spotted them - so I was excited at my "sighting" of one on the road. Now I know a Prius when I see one, but, could not tell you if it was an 04,05 or 06. This one with it's distinctive hatchback looked like it had just been spit polished and driven off the dealer's lot in the last few days. I figured it might be an 06. I kept looking at the color and thinking what's wrong with this picture and then I realized it was the metalic gray paint. Real pretty color but that color is not available yet - or is it???? Did they offer a gray color on earlier models? Could this have been an 04? Did the guy have it painted gray? This is driving me crazy I know from this board the gray will not be available until May. I guess I am just going to have to keep a lookout on my drive to work each morning and see if I can spot this car again. Springtime
Hint... if it's an '06, and you get up close (at a stoplight for instance), look for a backup camera... chances are it would have one since they're available with some of the low-end packages. There's is a Magnetic gray that's available in a few months, but maybe it's an '05 Millenium Silver? I'm sure dealers had plenty of '05's in stock to get rid of..
No, I have the 05 in Millenium silver sitting in my garage and the one I saw on the road this morning was definately a much darker gray. Springtime
Tideland Pearl -- '04 or '05 can look gray in the right light. Did it have a slight greenish cast to it?
I have not seen the Tideland Pearl - but, it did not look like it had a greenish tint. I followed the car for about a mile and as we came up to a light it pulled over to make a left turn and I passed it on the right. I got a good look at it and it was definately gray. Since I travel to work at the same time each day perhaps I will see it again next week. Springtime
Well that solves the mystery. I too like the color. It was probably a new 2005 the guy bought this week. There were several 2005 in Tideland Pearl listed on the on line inventory of a dealer about 30 miles from me. For some reason I thought Tideland Pearl would be a dark blue color. As far as local inventory goes, based upon online inventories there are at least 70 cars sitting on various dealer lots within 50 miles of my location post 1/2/06 pickups. Maybe 20 of those are 2005's. It is a buyers market here for the 2005's and a little bit of wiggle room on the 2006 prices. The inventories change daily - but I do notice that the cars seem to arrive by color! Last week everyone was adding the Barsolona red to their inventories and this week's flavor seems to be the green pine mica color. Springtime
The Tideland Pearl is the Chameleon of Prii. Dave has one and there are a few more that I see from day to day and they are constantly changing, depending on the light. The green comes and goes. It is a great color.
Oftentimes you cannot see any hint of green in the Tideland Pearl; every time I've seen one except for once, it has looked purely greyish. Gorgeous color, so different. It would've been my #1 color choice for a 2006 if they hadn't discontinued it. Instead they replace it with Silver Pine Mica aka Pistachio, bleh.<_<
No big deal, but Tideland's "replacement" is actually Magnetic Grey, available in May as noted above. It's darker than Tideland, minus the green pigment. I suspect Silver Pine will prove to be the replacement for Driftwood, which will probably be dropped for '07.
we were driving our new prius in richmond, ca today (costco run) we saw what i swear is a grey prius. it was a little dirty and my wife thought maybe it was a black one that just needed washing. but then we happened to see a dirty black prius and it was definitely different. i guess i've never seen the tideland color except in pictures, but this thing really did not seem to have even the slightest hint of green. it didnt have the stock wheels, so i guess there's some chance this guy had it painted. weird.
i'm not... that will make my Prius a classic that much sooner!! and yes i have to agree that it looks gray most of the time. i'm fairly sure i live near the place the color was named for. if you have ever seen a foggy Washington day, you will realize that the color name is right on. Grays Harbor County, Washington fog is nearly an identical match. from a distance, it looks like smoke. (the hint of green is the ever-present Fir tree in the background ) as you get closer, the color changes... just like my Prius
Well, if you're ever driving through Wallingford (urban neighborhood within Seattle city limits), and you see a house with one '05 Tideland Pearl Prius parked next to an '06 Silver Pine Mica Prius -- that's us. I've had a lot of time to compare the two, and while I no longer dislike the Silver Pine, I'm very happy I stuck out the 8 months to get the Tideland Pearl. It's as Dave and others have said -- the perfect chameleon for the ever-changing Washington weather.
I have a great eye for color, and I SWEAR my Tideland sometimes has a bluish cast as well as green. Anyone else see this? Even though Bend is in the PNW, we still see the sun sometimes
You probably have seen one on a sunny day when the green comes out. It's a great color and truely looks like a different car under different cloud covers. On overcast days it just looks dark gray to me. I followed one yesterday during a dark cloud cover and I swear it was charcoal gray. I doubt that the one you saw had been repainted.
