Today I passed 1000 miles on my Golf. If I remember correctly it had 8 on it when I bought it. I've had the car one week. In general I love the Golf and overall would rather drive it than any other car I have driven thus far in my life. Including the BMW I took on a road trip last year. I look forward to driving my Golf every morning to work and every evening home.
That said, there are several things I believe prevent it from being perfect:
1) The steering wheel column dips down too far. I guess I like my wheel a little unusually low, or my seat unusually high, because in the most comfortable position I easily hit my knees. Getting in and out of the car is worse but it also happens while driving, unless I keep both legs stretched out. I'm currently trying to get used to it being a little higher than I would normally like because I hate hitting my knees.
1a) Related to this is the center arm rest. To put it bluntly, it sucks in almost every way. My biggest issue with it is that it is placed too far back in the car and/or is too short to really be useful, even extended to its maximum length. Just an inch or so further would improve the arm rest 75% for me. The lid on it is bizarre as well, it has two settings, one of which makes the second center cup holder useless. Speaking of which, if you place a drink with a straw in that cup holder you will hit it with your fingers if you grip the front of the arm rest. You can still do it but don't be surprised if you poke your hand on the straw. I found that one out while holding onto it through a very tight turn, not the time I like to be distracted by things poking into me. Maybe I just need to turn slower
Also, you can't access the tiny storage in the arm rest while driving. At least not safely.
1b) As mentioned above, the cup holders in the middle suck. It's an awkward location to store drinks and if used they interfere with the arm rest. To me it seems like VW designed the car and at the very end realized they had forgot the cup holders.
2) The drivers side door leaks sound. Everywhere else in the car is impressively dampened except for a little spot right near my left ear. I always drive with the stereo on so it's easy enough to tune out. What's weird is the sounds are distorted when they leak through, driving next to another car it's engine sounds almost like if you hold your ear up to an open carbonated beverage in a can. It's like a fizzing noise with a slight metallic quality, very strange.
3) The cruise control is awkward to use. I really prefer cruise control to be accessible on the steering wheel itself. It makes it easy to do minute adjustments to your speed. If I could, I would replace the volume adjuster on the steering wheel with the cruise control speed adjuster. I don't need to change volume nearly as often as I need to change speed. I do most of my driving on cruise control and adjust my cruise control speed very often.
4) The touchscreens have no place in a car. I can't feel what buttons I'm pressing, without tactile feedback I have to look if I want to be sure I'm hitting the right button. I usually have much more important things to look at than my stereo while I'm driving. If it had actual buttons it wouldn't require so much attention to. It's not a huge issue since the major controls like volume and switching between radio and disk can be done with buttons. If you want to do something as simple as change to another CD though, the touchscreen requires your attention. It may be that I will memorize where each button in the primary menus of the UI are located after a longer period with the car, right now though I don't feel safe doing anything with the touchscreen unless I'm stopped.
5) The texture of the seat fabric is a little rough. I've found that if I wear a t-shirt it can sometimes slide up a little on my lower back and expose my skin directly to the seat fabric. This a very minor issue to me but I can easily imagine a girl in shorts or a mini skirt (and/or bikini) being irritated by it. Or a nudist... You get the idea.
That said, there are several things I believe prevent it from being perfect:
1) The steering wheel column dips down too far. I guess I like my wheel a little unusually low, or my seat unusually high, because in the most comfortable position I easily hit my knees. Getting in and out of the car is worse but it also happens while driving, unless I keep both legs stretched out. I'm currently trying to get used to it being a little higher than I would normally like because I hate hitting my knees.
1a) Related to this is the center arm rest. To put it bluntly, it sucks in almost every way. My biggest issue with it is that it is placed too far back in the car and/or is too short to really be useful, even extended to its maximum length. Just an inch or so further would improve the arm rest 75% for me. The lid on it is bizarre as well, it has two settings, one of which makes the second center cup holder useless. Speaking of which, if you place a drink with a straw in that cup holder you will hit it with your fingers if you grip the front of the arm rest. You can still do it but don't be surprised if you poke your hand on the straw. I found that one out while holding onto it through a very tight turn, not the time I like to be distracted by things poking into me. Maybe I just need to turn slower
Also, you can't access the tiny storage in the arm rest while driving. At least not safely.
1b) As mentioned above, the cup holders in the middle suck. It's an awkward location to store drinks and if used they interfere with the arm rest. To me it seems like VW designed the car and at the very end realized they had forgot the cup holders.
2) The drivers side door leaks sound. Everywhere else in the car is impressively dampened except for a little spot right near my left ear. I always drive with the stereo on so it's easy enough to tune out. What's weird is the sounds are distorted when they leak through, driving next to another car it's engine sounds almost like if you hold your ear up to an open carbonated beverage in a can. It's like a fizzing noise with a slight metallic quality, very strange.
3) The cruise control is awkward to use. I really prefer cruise control to be accessible on the steering wheel itself. It makes it easy to do minute adjustments to your speed. If I could, I would replace the volume adjuster on the steering wheel with the cruise control speed adjuster. I don't need to change volume nearly as often as I need to change speed. I do most of my driving on cruise control and adjust my cruise control speed very often.
4) The touchscreens have no place in a car. I can't feel what buttons I'm pressing, without tactile feedback I have to look if I want to be sure I'm hitting the right button. I usually have much more important things to look at than my stereo while I'm driving. If it had actual buttons it wouldn't require so much attention to. It's not a huge issue since the major controls like volume and switching between radio and disk can be done with buttons. If you want to do something as simple as change to another CD though, the touchscreen requires your attention. It may be that I will memorize where each button in the primary menus of the UI are located after a longer period with the car, right now though I don't feel safe doing anything with the touchscreen unless I'm stopped.
5) The texture of the seat fabric is a little rough. I've found that if I wear a t-shirt it can sometimes slide up a little on my lower back and expose my skin directly to the seat fabric. This a very minor issue to me but I can easily imagine a girl in shorts or a mini skirt (and/or bikini) being irritated by it. Or a nudist... You get the idea.
