On the seats, they're all black. The actual interior is black up to the bottom of the windows, then it changes color to gray (not tan, long day, I'm tired!). I guess I could have gotten the sports pkg just to get the black headliner but I have a Z3 for sport driving and don't really want to make a two and a half ton SAV a sport ride. One other point, when I parked the X5 next to my 02 Z3 I really noticed the difference in paint quality. The Z3 is smooth as glass where the X5 has some orange peel. The X5 is Space Gray and the Z3 is Sterling Gray so they're fairly similar in color. As far as brake dust, yup, you guessed it, typical BMW snowstorm of dust on the front wheels. I've learned to wax the wheels on the Z3 and that helps clean them off. And as for the dipstick, well, an electronic one is nice, but a real one is even more reassuring!