2023 Jetta GLI Interior
The VW Jetta GLI has a classy and sophisticated interior design. Besides a few harder plastics in certain areas, it feels solidly screwed together. A couple of improvements were made last year, such as the fitment of a new leather-wrapped steering wheel, a standard eight-inch touchscreen interface, and a standard 10.25-inch digital gauge cluster. It's all easy to use and understand, and the displays are crisp. Because the high-spec Autobahn trim is the only one on offer, the GLI comes standard with features like a 10-color ambient lighting system, leather upholstery, heated and ventilated front seats, forward collision warning, and blind-spot monitoring.
2023 Jetta GLI Interior Photos
Seating and Interior Space
We loved the GLI's seats, which are upholstered in perforated leather with just the right amount of cushion and middling-to-good bolsters. Under the black leather is some red material that shows through the little perforations to give the seats a modern, artsy look. Both front seats are power-adjustable and include lumbar support.
The latest generation Jetta is bigger than those that came before it, which means plenty of space for people and stuff. The driver's seat provides great visibility and the cockpit as a whole feels spacious with the sunroof equipped. We'd put three adults in the backseat and expect minimal complaints unless they are basketball players who need more than 37.4 inches of legroom.
Like most cars in its class, the Jetta GLI gets a lot of hard and textured plastic on the dash and doors, but the touchpoints are soft and we do appreciate the red stitching to match the seats.
2023 Volkswagen Jetta GLI Interior Dimensions:
| Volkswagen Jetta GLI Trims | Autobahn |
|---|---|
| Seating | 5 |
| Headroom Front Seat | 38.5 in. |
| Headroom Back Seat | 37.2 in. |
| Legroom Front Seat | 41.1 in. |
| Legroom Back Seat | 37.4 in. |
| Shoulder Room Front | 55.9 in. |
| Shoulder Room Rear | 54 in. |
| Hip Room, Front | 53 in. |
| Hip Room, Rear | 51.4 in. |
Interior Colors and Materials
Leather upholstery in Titan Black with a red underlay, along with a leather-wrapped steering wheel, is standard on the Jetta GLI. It also gets attractive red contrast stitching, and the effect of the 10-color ambient lighting system looks good at night. The manual model has a leather gearshift knob while the DSG-equipped model gets an aluminum gearshift knob. Both variants have stainless steel pedal caps. A black headliner is standard on the GLI.
2023 Jetta GLI Trunk and Cargo Space
The Jetta GLI has a reasonably sized trunk offering 14.1 cubic feet of capacity. That's exactly the same as what's on offer in the new Honda Civic Si. For daily needs, the GLI offers enough space. The 60/40-split-folding rear seatback can be dropped for when you need to accommodate larger items.
Interior storage includes the usual door pockets, a well-sized glovebox, a center console storage area, and cupholders front and rear. The rear cupholders are found in the fold-down center armrest.
2023 Volkswagen Jetta GLI Trunk and Cargo Space Photos
2023 Volkswagen Jetta GLI Cargo Dimensions:
| Volkswagen Jetta GLI Trims | Autobahn |
|---|---|
| Trunk Volume | 14.1 cu. ft. |
2023 Jetta GLI Infotainment and Features
Features
As standard, the GLI gets an eight-way power-adjustable driver's seat linked to a memory system. Both front seats are heated and ventilated. Keeping the cabin cool in summer and toasty in winter is a dual-zone automatic climate control system. The Jetta also has a 10-color ambient lighting system, an auto-dimming interior rearview mirror, keyless access with push-button ignition, wireless phone charging, rain-sensing windshield wipers, and a power panoramic tilt-and-slide sunroof. The DSG model gets remote start as well.
The safety specification is equally generous. Included as standard are a rearview camera, forward collision warning, blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, rear traffic alert, lane assist, and IQ.Drive. The latter system allows for semi-autonomous hands-on driving. VW's Digital Cockpit Pro with 10.25-inch display is standard.
Infotainment
The Jetta GLI comes standard with the company's new digital gauge cluster along with its MIB3 interface and an eight-inch touchscreen. The setup includes navigation, SiriusXM, wireless charging, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a bunch of USB-C ports (with improved 45W power this year), which are illuminated making them visible at night. Over-the-air updates for the navigation system are included. The GLI comes standard with a BeatsAudio stereo system too, with a 12-channel, 400-watt amplifier along with eight speakers and a subwoofer.
The key to the infotainment system is the knobs, which it has for volume and tuning. That's in opposition to the new Golf GTI setup, which has no knobs and only buttons and took us a long time to get used to for basic functions. In practice, the GLI's setup is way easier to use than the newer version on the GTI. The volume and tuning knobs are easy to find when not looking and it's simple to swap in and out of Apple CarPlay. Like most of these systems, it features a bunch of icons on the main screen, that drop into deeper menus for settings and the like. Hard buttons feature quick access to the map, media, and phone functions.