VW Transmission

Have you checked the gear oil level?

Could it be from the wheels, a bad wheel bearing? If it is from the transmission, noise should go away or lessens when the clutch is depressed or shifting to neutral. Wheel bearings noise would be related to vehicle speed and would not be affected by any gears.

Thanks so much for the reply! I'm embarrassed to say that I just had a wheel bearing replaced--which allowed the mechanic and me to notice how loud the transmission (?) had gotten. The shop didn't work on transmissions so it's quite possible it's something else. I'll double-check to see if the noise is less when I shift/am in neutral but I don't think it is. I haven't had the gear oil level checked yet--I heard it's difficult to get to so I'll need to take it to a shop which I've been putting off due to my current brokeness. Do you think it might be the driveshaft, final drive or an engine mount problem? Thanks again for your response!

It definitely is not from the engine mounts. They would not produce the symptoms described.

For transmission, driveshafts or finaldrives, noise level woud changed when accelerator is released or coasting in neutral.

If above does not change the noise level, you need to get the wheel bearings and tires checked. Tires that are unevenly worn would produce coarse noise as well.

A simple check of the wheel bearings is to jack up the wheels and manually spin it while checking for coarseness, feeling for vibrations on the struts.