I dig the instrument surround in leather... kinda gives it an elegant look especially considering the steering wheel and column are already leather.

 

Agreed that it's not too noticeable, even less noticeable than Alcantara visors probably, but the close-up photos I posted in comparison to the standard surround in this thread I think shows it's more distinct than others may believe. Some people seem to think that if the leather option doesn't come with deviating stitching then it'll never be noticed in a black interior. That said, it's not as if I stare at my instrument surround marveling at the leather there either. There is definitely a "mental" aspect (no pun intended ) to having it as I alluded to above describing my desire to eliminate a sole piece of plastic surrounded everywhere by leather. It also means the entire dash and console areas are now covered in premium (non-plastic) materials, with the only exception being the PCM surround, which I didn't get because a) it was way too expensive, b) I thought it would somehow be weird to have electronics with their myriad buttons enveloped in leather, and c) even if I did get this option, the button area below the shifter would still be plastic, so at least by keeping the PCM surround standard, the plastic is consistent in that "lane" of the car.

The only other way to complete the dash look in leather would be the extended dash option. I didn't even consider it while ordering, but since taking delivery, I've realized that this car's seating position allows me to see the very front of the dash much more than I'd expected I'd be able to, so I have occasionally thought that the leather and stitching this option adds there would look nice, but I'm still glad I didn't get it because in the photos of this option, I didn't like the way the standard trapezoid speaker grille was replaced with a puny round grille that had deviating stitching to draw your attention to it even more, and sitting in the car now I think that would have been even more bothersome than the photos suggested. So I figure that if some aspect of that area is going to bug me aesthetically no matter what, I may as well save the $1545 that this option costs. But it really doesn't bug me very much in the grand scheme of things, and anyhow I've also read that the leather in that area can prematurely shrink due to being so close to the windshield, and in the hot Texas summers that this car will see, I thought that might be a risk. Technically being around the defroster vents could also be a cause of heat-induced shrinkage, but I doubt many GT4s will be driven in weather that demands use of the defroster.

All that said, as you say, some of these options aren't very noticeable, but how far do you want to take that logic? When I'm driving this car in the manner in which it's intended, the car could have pink polka dot trim and I wouldn't care or possibly even notice.

 

This will be an agonizing 6 months until my car arrives...