THE Optima's instruments are housed in a heavily hooded recess with two major three-quarter dials dominating, the speedo on the right and the tachometer on the left. White needles and numerals on a black background are standard fare, as is the speedo increasing in 20km/h increments, with the odd numbers marked off as lines in between. The gearchange indicator and tripmeter/odometer are housed in a box at the bottom of the instrument recess. Because the (optional)automatic gearbox has a semi-manual mode it means the digital readout shows what gear you're in at all times - whether you're self-shifting or not. There are also several blanks scattered about on the dash - which makes you wonder what features you're missing out on.