What i think the op is asking is in physical difference.

To answer that i will upload two pictures of the same car with a red circle and an arrow pointing to what i have always noticed as a difference between the American and the European Golf models.

Notice the side amber reflectors/lights in the first pix which is the American model. The same difference exist in all Golf models i have seen.

Personally, i prefer the European model to the American.

erico2k2:

Ok what % of Golf would U say is automatic in thr US?

I've presented the data from eBay and CarMax showing actual numbers.

CityNG:

I cannot compare US to Europe as I don't live there and I'm not in tune with their offerings.
Of this I know, manual transmission Golf are more common here in the states than automatics.
Again, as you cling the food chain in the VW brand then you'll be seeing more automatics than manuals.
It took me 3 months to finally find a manual 2009 Jetta for a coworker but I kept running into manual Golf.
HARD DATA:
I went on CarMax.Com, a premier online car sales site and searched for VW Golf. Out of all the Golf they had for sale in the United States (43), 32 were automatics and the rest were manuals - 11.

CityNG:


I've presented the data from eBay and CarMax showing actual numbers.

ermm well you said the ratio of Auto to manual is 32 to 11, that still mean 32 auto was found while manual was 11.i will check on Ebay Uk and see brb
Right I just did
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Volkswagen-/9873/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=vw+golf&_dcat=9873&Model=Golf&rt=nc
on there Auto=797
Manual=4816
so you see where my Data are coming from.

adanny01:
What i think the op is asking is in physical difference.

To answer that i will upload two pictures of the same car with a red circle and an arrow pointing to what i have always noticed as a difference between the American and the European Golf models.

Notice the side amber reflectors/lights in the first pix which is the American model. The same difference exist in all Golf models i have seen.

Personally, i prefer the European model to the American.

thanx

erico2k2:

ermm well you said the ratio of Auto to manual is 32 to 11, that still mean 32 auto was found while manual was 11.i will check on Ebay Uk and see brb
Right I just did
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Volkswagen-/9873/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=vw+golf&_dcat=9873&Model=Golf&rt=nc
on there Auto=797
Manual=4816
so you see where my Data are coming from.

I never used the word ratio and I never commented on Europe (I don't care about that).

I'm specifically talking about the U.S. market solely

Again, I never questioned your Europe data. Your US data however is faulty and has been proven as such with hard data.

This that you wrote "erico2k2: you are more likely to get the manual transmission from Europe, the American spec would be Auto" is THE ONLY thing I'm questioning.

Thanks,

CircleOfWilis:
thanx

Welcome.

The pix by billy187 is also a valid difference between the American and European.

Thirdly, in the instrument cluster, the American will definately have speedometer calibrations in miles and in bold with smaller case kilometers but European will only be in Kilometers with no presence of miles.

Just an FYI to you guys.

One of the "cutsie" thing that is done here int he USA is to make US spec cars looks like the European market car. Even I was guilty of this shenanigan by replacing the headlight on my 190e with European headlights.

You can change headlights, clusters, bumper covers, etc fairly easily. There's even a cottage industry in changing cars from LHD to RHD and I myself have always done that to all my British cars.

The best and solid way of verification is still by the VIN after it's passed the visual look.

adanny01:


Welcome.

The pix by billy187 is also a valid difference between the American and European.

Thirdly, in the instrument cluster, the American will definately have speedometer calibrations in miles and in bold with smaller case kilometers but European will only be in Kilometers with no presence of miles.

i. Rily appreciate