The Last Volkswagen GTI With A Stick Went To Missoula, Montana

Volkswagen didn’t make much mention or provide any fanfare for the announcement that the legendary GTI would be shifting to dual-clutch only. The company was likely hoping that enthusiasts wouldn’t notice and it could be swept under the rug of history. But one particularly fervent Volkswagen fan went above and beyond to track down the last GTI with a shift-it-yourself three-pedal package so he could buy it and add it to his collection. This operation included calls to Volkswagen directly in an attempt to figure out when the final manual GTI would be built, what its VIN would be, where it would be shipped, and how he could become the new owner. Once he tracked it down, he loaded up his Atlas and trailer to truck out to Montana from Pennsylvania to pick it up. 

This is the last six-speed manual gearbox GTI produced in the world. So how did it end up in Missoula Volkswagen in Missoula, Montana?… This was not a special car. This is one of many. But when I asked about four months ago, ‘Hey, where is the last manual GTI going?’ Well, nothing really happened. Then I asked about a month ago and said ‘Really! Where’s the last? When’s it happening? It must have been built.’ and we traced it down to here. It was allocated as a normal GTI allocation to Missoula Volkswagen, which is where I’ve come to get it.

If you aren’t familiar with Volkswagen super fan Jamie Orr by now, click on that video above and you can watch him road-trip his wild Harlequin-style Volkswagen Atlas and matching Polo out to SEMA a few years ago. He’s an old-school VW-head and knows more about the brand than you do, maybe more than anyone does. It’ll be interesting to see what he does with his new GTI purchase. Surely he won’t just preserve the car and keep it showroom fresh. He’s got a propensity for custom wheels and big eye-catching builds. I wait with bated breath. 

According to Volkswagen around 41% of all GTI sold in 2024 were manuals, up from 38% in 2023. As it stands, you can’t buy a manual Volkswagen of any flavor in the U.S. as the Golf R manual has also been killed off. The non-sporty versions of Golf, which aren’t sold in the U.S. market, are still available with a stick in Europe.