for my grey interior, the dark wood as you said is too dark, kind like plastic. But the aluminium finish is even better, too bad it is only available for Europe X5. BTW, I have the glovebox-mounted CD changer and I love it, no single problem so far. AND floor mats for X5 should be free(throw in by your dealer, at least most of us did, since they make huge profit at MSRP), they should be in same color as your X5 interior, ie, I got grey floor mats.