Looked like GS had no chrome bezel and GT had chrome. Could be US/world pictures though.
Is it odd I would’ve preferred the GS shift knob? Not a fan of chrome bits that can catch sun just the right way. I guess I could shift gears if it bothered me that much in that particular moment lol.
Nice find Dkaz. Must getting hard to find a good MT car these days. Congrats! 
Trailer hitch assemblies start to rust the day they go on. 
They do. Must be the same steel they used on the some of the nuts and bolts I see. Thanks!
I'm all torso so I fit fine, but it was obvious the seat travel was pretty limited.
By comparison the seats in the Golf go so much further back.
I always like the 5. It's just too small for taller drivers. Test drove one many years ago with my dad and he simply didn't fit because the seat wouldn't go back far enough. I'm a couple inches shorter than he is and it was still quite tight for me. Too bad because it's a practical, nice driving vehicle.
I also rented one once. Dropped off the rental, flew to Montreal, picked up a Ford Escape (this would have been around 2011). Drove the Escape as I had been driving the 5 and I thought it was going to roll over. 
It’s a common complaint as well as the short bottom cushion. I often prefer sitting as close as possible to the steering wheel/pedals, so it’s perfect for me. In many of the cars my 157cm ex and 185cm shared, we used the same driving position. Oddly, the 5 was one of those vehicles where we couldn’t do so. I can see for taller drivers with a more relaxed driving position would see an issue. I’ll let everyone know if they somehow improved this in the 2nd gen.
On long highway stretches where my use of pedals are limited, I like stretching out. It’s been a very long time since I had a 5 with a baby seat behind me so we’ll see. But still, ergonomically the 5 has always felt very comfortable to me. I had some cars that were terrible for me ergonomically like the 08 Corolla I only had for a year.
If it’s the boxy Escape, I too recall almost rolling one over trying to take a right turn as usual.
