Thermastat
The thermostat in a 1996 VW Golf is located by following the lower large hose of the radiator. Before removing the thermostat be sure to drain the cooling system.
at the rear of the vehicle
In the thermostat housing
You can find the thermostat in your VW on the front of the engine. You can follow the bottom radiator hose directly to the thermostat housing.
Depends what you broke. Volkswagens are generally cheap to fix though.
The thermostat for this car is located in the water pump housing from the lower radiator hose.
I just paid 600$ after taxes to get mine replaced.
5k-7k for a 100,000 mile VW Golf so expect a 30,000-60,000 mile VW Golf to be around 8k-10k
The thermostat on all water-cooled cars is in the same place: inside the fitting where the upper radiator hose connects to the engine.
should be at the end of the lower radiator hose under the power steering pump
Yes, it is a Golf but VW stopped calling it the "VW Golf... GTI". Just as VW didn't call the R32 a Golf (although it is based on the VW Golf and has the same shape and many common components).