What causes the gear shifter to feel like there is no gears at all I can move the shifter all around no gears to be found

car is in two gears disengauge linkage and put back in Mistral if is a too loader you may have to pull the shift assembly and manually shift thhe gears your shift forks may be bent

Check the cable under the gear lever. Look for broken pin or missing pin joining the lever to the cable

there are clips that hold the cable at the trans and shifter so you can move cable too unhook it .

the gears my be fine need to remove the boot around your shifter make sure everything is connected still should have a cable shifter in it. if it is all hooked up there open the hood and look on top of the transmission it will have a lever the move back n forth to shift for each gear the other end of your cable attaches to the lever should have a either a plastic bushing or clip attaching it to the lever some time those wear the it pops off

have somebody move the shift around and see if it moves if it dont you need a shifter cable.

if it does then before you go any further reach down with your hand or a screw drive or pry bar if you cant get you hands to it with the clutch engaged you should be able to shift it into gear maunaly and feel it go in jus like you would if you was doin it from in the car make sure your gently so you dont bend anything if you can feel it go into each gear make sure your adjust the cable to where everything works

Sounds like the clutch friction plate was on the way out when you bought the car. The smell you mentioned was probably from the clutch plate slipping.
You need someone knowledgeable to check the linkage is correctly set up and advise if a new clutch plate is required.

broken shifter bushing. these bushing kits are sold on ebay and at parts stores for about 20 bucks. have to remove the console. how to videos on youtube.com

your teansmission is going to be overhauled. it sounds like the synchros are going bad. the shifter has forks that move the gears. sometimes the forks wear out and it can cause the gears to wear out because the gears are not going into like they are suppose to. leave comment..

sounds like the connection rod has came off on the gear box if you look or feel on the gear box you should see or feel 2 rods these connect to the shifter one of them will be stiff the other will be floppy feel waer the stiff one connects to and close to it there will be a ball you need to push the floppy rod back on to the ball it mite come back off again what i did when mine went was i but a cabe tie round it to hold it on hope this works for you to .

This can be difficult to answer properly without a bit of knowledge on operation. If you can get it into gear with the motor running then clutch should be working.With that said, on to why it doesn't move acn be several things. Axle dislodged from transmission or broken CV joint, input shaft to clutch ana pressure plate damaged in some way,differential damage, shifter broken off internaly or broken cable, < should be able to feel this >. inspect axles to confirm they are not damaged or dislodged, inspect shifter to confirm it is operating like it should, < have someone move shifter and watch arm on transmission to confirm it is operating > at this point if you haven't found anything to have failed then would suggest having it looked at by someone who can tell you what cause is. I am not implying that the clutch has no damage to it,but other reasons can be cause. There is an inspection plate on bottom side of bell housing that can be removed to inspect for damage, < where engine and transmission connect>.

Do you mean that the shifter moves normally, and no gear engages, or the shifter won't go into the 5th gear position?
If the shifter won't go there, its probably a mis-adjusted linkage.
If it will go there, but you don't "feel" it go into gear, it could be that the ball and socket linkage rod for 5th gear has popped loose(this is common on higher mileage VWs with worn shifter parts) I recommend an entire shift bushing set be installed and then the proper adjustments can be made... Hope this helps...;-)