marks

When someone purchases a vw new or used where in God's world does something or someone inform him or her what mark number their car is? How are we supposed to know this going in to the forums? Especially for the gti. I know there are vw geeks in this world who like to talk inclusive, but honestly we are not all Germans out here. They would categorize everything in life if they could which is OK if you are an obsessive organizer. Please remember I am just a freeborn man who did not grow up in Wolfsburg.

I learned that my 1990 VW Jetta is a MK-II, from seeing a listing on one of the Jetta or VW forums on the internet. Nothing in the car's literature said that, the big thick Bentley published Service Manual doesnt say it. I -think- the Jetta and other similar models were MK-I's up through 1987, and became mark-III's about 1992 or so. Keep doing google searches until a chart shows up. Here is result from my brief search:
http://www.dieselgeek.com/What_generation_chassis_do_I_have_s/1876.htm

Note that folks commonly say MK-1 or MK-I, rather than spelling out the word Mark.