2004 Volkswagen Golf Owner’s Manual

2004 marks the first model year for the Mk5 Golf in the USA, although Europe had it available to buy in 2003.

It saw a drastic change from the Mk4 that was previously on sale in the continents.

The old Golf was wider and had a "bubble" aesthetic going on, this new version was a lot more "grown-up".

This new one was built on a new A5 platform that was shared among many other lines across the VW brands.

You could find the same chassis at work under the Touran as well as the Eos, in varying setups.

In the USA this new 2004 model year Golf was sold as the Rabbit, with the GTI version coming soon not bearing the "Rabbit" or "Golf" name at all.

Although this new version of the compact car was smaller on the outside it actually boasted an increase in storage space over the last model.

This was because of a clever design that saw the space taken up by the suspension decreased, leaving more room inside the cabin.

All of the American models sold in the 2004 model year bore a 2.5-liter gasoline engine, the same that was sold there in the Jetta and New Beetle.