Putting it in reverse and moving forward

Has anyone had trouble putting stick in reverse
and have the car act like it is in first and
move forward? This happens periodically with
my 96 Passat TDI. I am now always cautious
when I put it in reverse.

The only time I ever had that was when I thought I put it in reverse...but didn't. Did you know the car doesn't back up when in first? Please note...I'm not saying that to give you a hard time, but rather to raise the question...are you sure it was really in reverse?

While I'm not really sure it was in reverse,
in fact it probably was in first and maybe
I'm careless putting it in reverse but it has
happened a few times and I thought I read
something about this somewhere.

The old A1 cars would get very touchy about reverse when the shift linkage bushings and PLASTIC spherical rod ends got bagged out. Usually at 100K or more. I used to shift into first and then reverse to cover for it until I fixed it. Just a thought, maybe some wear/adjustment issue?

your shift linkage has gone sloppy. change busings, and other sacrificial wearing components.Happened to me in an old Mercedes