The GTI's 6-speed manual — the 02Q on Mk5-onward, the earlier 02M/02J on Mk4-era cars — is a tough, long-lived box, but it's got its own wear items: synchros, bearings and shift feel. Most "gearbox problems" on a manual GTI are actually the clutch, shifter linkage or fluid, not the gears, so I diagnose before I fear a rebuild
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