Golf comes with an unusually high level of standard equipment, including anti-lock disc brakes and side-impact airbags. There's an unexpected level of refinement. Forget the grained plastic wood found in many cars. This trim is the real thing. Stylish instruments look like aircraft components at night with vibrant red needles over backlighted indigo gauges. Power windows with auto-up and auto-down are normally not found in this class.Golf's cupholders are well placed and adequate for most container sizes. There's plenty of storage space, with a large glove box, deep door pockets and a center tray that's useful for stowing cellular telephones. Driver and passenger doors use different inside handles that make them easy to close. Seats in the 1.8T are firm and supportive. More side bolstering would help brace driver and passenger in tight corners, however. Seating adjustments are trademark Volkswagen with its unique jack to adjust seat height; they are a bit difficult to use at first with an awkward knob for adjusting rake, but familiarity improves this. Rear seats seem surprisingly roomy with plenty of headroom for all but the tallest passengers. There isn't much stretch-out legroom, but sliding your feet under the front seats makes for a quite comfortable place for short trips. Three-point seat belts are used in all three positions in the rear - an excellent safety feature normally found on expensive luxury cars. The optional Monsoon Sound System ($295) is one of the best factory stereos I've heard, with crisp highs and snappy bass response.
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