Interior styling
Overall fit and finish is very nice, very Volkswagen. The plastics used are generally of good quality and well put together. Dash ergonomics are functional and well thought out. Only the fuel door and trunk release buttons are difficult to reach when the door is closed because they are at the rear end of the door panel. Ingress and egress are very easy for front passengers. The same can be said for rear occupants thanks to the flip sliding front seats and a tall roofline. Once back there though, space is tight and long trips should be kept to a minimum. Room for the front passengers is plentiful and the sport seats (also discontinued for 2005) are great. They are Recaro style and offer plenty of lumbar and lateral support. With all of the multiple adjustments and a standard tilt and telescopic steering column, finding a comfortable driving position is child's play. The cup-holders located under the centre dash console swing out towards the passenger to permit large drinks to fit.
The Monsoon radio is very powerful but the quality of the sound is average at best and reception is quite poor. An annoyance is the volume control: the lowest position remains relatively loud while the last turn mutes the sound completely.
Roof operation is a one-handed affair: push the little release button in the middle of the handle, pull down, twist and push the handle back in and hit the power roof switch. It actually sounds worse than it really is. Not surprisingly, the trunk of this car is really miniscule; its total volume is of only 100 litres. I recently drove a Honda S2000 and at 152 litres of volume, I thought its trunk was a sad affair. It's not unusual for roadsters to have small luggage capacity but 4 and 5-seater convertible typically have something more usable.
A few pet peeves that are un-becoming of a 40 000$ car are: a standard tape deck (for 2005, VW adds a standard CD/MP3 player), the lack of a real temperature gauge (acceptable in a Toyota Echo maybe) and recycled plastic door cards. What seems to have happened is that Volkswagen realized that the asking price was going to be high so they had to cut some corners.
Overall fit and finish is very nice, very Volkswagen. The plastics used are generally of good quality and well put together. Dash ergonomics are functional and well thought out. Only the fuel door and trunk release buttons are difficult to reach when the door is closed because they are at the rear end of the door panel. Ingress and egress are very easy for front passengers. The same can be said for rear occupants thanks to the flip sliding front seats and a tall roofline. Once back there though, space is tight and long trips should be kept to a minimum. Room for the front passengers is plentiful and the sport seats (also discontinued for 2005) are great. They are Recaro style and offer plenty of lumbar and lateral support. With all of the multiple adjustments and a standard tilt and telescopic steering column, finding a comfortable driving position is child's play. The cup-holders located under the centre dash console swing out towards the passenger to permit large drinks to fit.
The Monsoon radio is very powerful but the quality of the sound is average at best and reception is quite poor. An annoyance is the volume control: the lowest position remains relatively loud while the last turn mutes the sound completely.Roof operation is a one-handed affair: push the little release button in the middle of the handle, pull down, twist and push the handle back in and hit the power roof switch. It actually sounds worse than it really is. Not surprisingly, the trunk of this car is really miniscule; its total volume is of only 100 litres. I recently drove a Honda S2000 and at 152 litres of volume, I thought its trunk was a sad affair. It's not unusual for roadsters to have small luggage capacity but 4 and 5-seater convertible typically have something more usable.
A few pet peeves that are un-becoming of a 40 000$ car are: a standard tape deck (for 2005, VW adds a standard CD/MP3 player), the lack of a real temperature gauge (acceptable in a Toyota Echo maybe) and recycled plastic door cards. What seems to have happened is that Volkswagen realized that the asking price was going to be high so they had to cut some corners.