My 1.9 glx tdi has started occasionally being tricky to select 5th. The mrs mentioned it and I didn't believe it until I tried myself. Before getting to deep into it, is there anything obvious to check?

gear linkage bush's considering it's a glx it's over 14 years old, corrosion wear and tear, ect...

 

doubt it'll be the gear it'self worn, as the others seem to be fine, so that would be my suggestion

I just had this problem with my vrs, the breather pipe on my air box was snapped off and it was jamming the selector for 5th

I had this with mine, have a look at the bushes and linkages at the gear stick end. I replaced mine with ones that I made myself to remove the play. I should think you could buy some from the dealer if you don't fancy making them.