Firstly, as the owner of a Sportline in Meteor Grey, there's nothing wrong with it as a colour choice! I can see how it's a bit of a 'Marmite' choice and I was always very rude about my mate's RS3 in the Audi equivalent - I always said it would look even better once they'd applied the topcoat of paint over the primer...
I never intended to end up in a Meteor Grey car, but saw mine sitting unregistered in the dealer's showroom when I went to test drive a Sportline. I'd already driven an Edition and didn't really like the shiny bits on the dash or the quality of the leather seats coming from a top-spec Land Rover Discovery Sport. The test drive I had in a Sportline was in a car that was in Quartz Grey, which was my initial preferred colour, but once I saw it thought it looked really boring. Sadly Race Blue wasn't an option on the Sportline when I got my car and my wife had a red car and I didn't want another red car on the drive (silly, I know!) I've also vowed never to have another black car as they're impossible to keep clean - same reasoning for white. That only left Meteor Grey or Brilliant Silver when I was choosing my car.
Big advantage of the Meteor Grey is that it hides the dirt really well, especially with a decent paint sealant on it.
As for options, the list price of the Sportline 2.0TSi 4x4 DSG is £38,880k without any options, so it doesn't take much to tip you over the £40k and therefore incur the additional road tax from year 2 onwards. My initial intention was to try to stay under the limit, but when it came to actually buying a car, every one already in the UK network that had a towbar fitted also had other options that put them all over £40k. I also couldn't wait for a factory built car as the lead time was about 3 months longer than the remaining time on my PCP deal on the Disco Sport (and I couldn't wait to get out of that car!)
My car came with loads of options, but sadly not the vitual cockpit or heated steering wheel, but I've managed to live without them. Maybe next time. That said, the discount/deal offered by the dealer on my particular car was just too good to pass up, so I ended up buying it there and then.
If cost is no problem, then panoramic roof is a must for me - really lightens the interior which is all black on a Sportline otherwise. I needed a towbar and the electrically deployable one is far better than the manually removable one on my old Disco Sport. It's also not really worth bothering with a dealer-fit or after market one as you need to add the tow bar prep from build, which then makes going that little bit further (admittedly £700 further!) for the actual towbar a no-brainer. It will probably cost more and not be as good to get your dealer to fit one. Only if that is the final straw that tips you over the £40k limit would I consider the dealer fit option - dealer fit options aren't counted for the road tax.
Drive select is also a good (and inexpensive) option, so worth adding and whilst I can't comment on the standard sound system, the Canton is pretty decent, so worth adding. Rear view camera is essential in such a long car. Adaptive cruise control is also excellent, but does take a little getting used to when it slows you down unexpectedly. If you bother to learn how to use it (and trust what it's doing) then it's actually really good.
Options on my car that I could live without would be the rough road package (never been more off road that a grassy field), high beam assist (it's rubbish) and traffic sign recognition (it's really rubbish!)
I also have the virtual pedal, which I thought I'd hardly use, but find I use it all the time and it's really useful and actually works (unlike the Land Rover version, which was again, rubbish!). I also have the heated windscreen, which is definitely worth considering as it beats the heck out of scraping the windscreen in the winter if you don't have a garage to keep your car in.
I don't have park assist, but wouldn't bother as I had it on my Disco Sport and my wife has it on her Merc C Class and neither of us ever use it - it's just too much hassle and easier to just park it yourself.
Finally, not options from build, but get an after-market rubber boot liner (Skoda don't make one for the 7 seater afaik), if you have kids with associated muddy feet get the rubber mats and tunnel cover for the middle row seats and finally if you do intend to put kids into the rear 3rd row seats, get a carpet mat (Skoda don't make a rubber one, but do have a carpet one).
Hope that all helps!