I'm not a big fan of the A3 interior. I like the new A4 and the A6 inside though. I'm sure they are no better or worse than the 5 series or Merc, I just prefer the styling. People have often commented that the inside of various VW's I've had are bland but they work well and I the Mk6 is the best so far. VW still seems to be the worst of the Germans for trim rattles though.
i test drove a new A4 sline top spec the other day, the plastic around the center console and stereo etc is very cheap looking and spoils the interior and the car itself well it was only a tdi 140 bhp sline but it looked a 35k+ car, i thought how can they charge us 23k+ for a golf when i can get a brand new A4 sline for 25k , then drove it quite a few rattles inside with 1k on the clock, very boring and taxi like .P.s not keen on those handbrakes. Thats when i realised why they can charge us 23k+ for a Golf cause they are so bloody good at everything and hard to find anything that compares, hence the reason why i will be more than likely coming back to a golf in either R or GTI form