For those who care, I just changed the oil MYSELF in my '97 1.8T, so I thought I'd post my experience in case there are any other willing fans: And-oh, I used ramps as opposed to a jack.

1. If you crawl under the front, you'll notice a plastic cover over the bottom of the engine. You will need to remove this cover. It's actually really neat -- it uses those airplane type screws that just pop right out.
   
   
2. Next, you simply remove the oil drain plug, which is towards the front of the engine. Don't remove the plug a little farther back, or you'll be draining the transmission fluid instead.
   
   
3. Finally, you will need to remove the oil-filter. This is going to be a pain, but do it anyway. Make sure the engine is really cool, or you *WILL* get burned. One of those "claw" type oil-filter wrenches that hook up to a ratchet seems to work best for me. Actually, it's the only thing that worked for me. Keep in mind that the factory put that original filter on REAL REAL REAL tight, so you will need to use all of your might to get that thing off.
   
   
4. Pre-fill your NEW oil filter with a little bit of oil. You can do this because the filter mounts nearly vertically. Then put the NEW filter on (I used Bosch) and don't forget to put the drain plug back in, or you will be driving your engine to destruction. Tighten the drain plug to 50 Nm or 36.9 ft/lb.
   
   
5. Add oil. The book says something like 4.3 quarts, but after 4 qts, my dipstick read slightly over full.
   
   
6. Run engine at IDLE to allow the new oil to circulate. Check under the front of the car to see if anything is leaking. If not, shut the car off, re-assemble the plastic cover, and you're done!