You know, I've thought about that kind of mod for a long time. "Maybe I ought to buy the Pearl Chrome shifter like the 07s". The black plastic is kind of cheap looking on the '04s. But two reasons I left mine as just black plastic:

1. My mother's 325i has the Pearl Chrome shifter and I don't like the way it feels. That shiny plastic just doesn't please me.

2. It's easier to mistake the black shifter for a manual gearbox when folks look in the window or get in the car. I've had folks think I was driving a manual gearbox until I mentioned it was an automatic.