I had the plastic panels. I liked the look better because otherwise they were similar to everything else. IIRC even though yours was all one color (and there were all one color besides black of course), the panels were still there. They were painted, but they were plastic. I’m not clear why they used them. Weight savings? Didn’t need painting if they scratched? IDK.
Yeah, ugh.
Rather than further hijack this thread, I’ll start a new one.