You really have to seat in both and find out which one you are more comfortable in
I thought I was going to get the Golf wagon until I sat in one , did not enjoy it at all
Where the Passat wagon
i used to love VW seats, but either I've changed or the seats have, and now i frequently encounter back pain in the new VWs (the Tiguan most recently, and the Jetta as well), while recent Toyotas I've found very comfortable (Highlander, Sienna)... and the Lexus IS seats were superb, but i think those were F-Sport upgrades.
Would the Passat wagon, have different seats?
John, I get back pain quite easily too, I suspect the Golf might have better seats (especially leather) because it's been around the longer the newer Jetta (where VW did some cost cutting) I have only driven VW Golf for about 25km, not long enough to fully evaluate the seats, the seemed good for me.
But then again, maybe my frame (5'7 140lbs) makes it easy. Some complain about bad seating position in the Tacoma, the Matrix, bad seats in the Mazda5. For the most part, doesn't really affect me. I can last 7 hours from Burlington to Montreal, in the Mazda5 leather seats, versus 7 hours in the Nissan Sentra....when back starts to hurt after 3-4 hours.