VW Passat or Jetta had sludge engine issues, but never were forced to replace engines unless you could produce oil change records for the time you owned it.
LOL...About the same time as our owning the Toyota Sienna van, we bought a VW Jetta for the kids to use in high school. It burned as much oil as the Sienna! It was almost ONE QUART of oil per fill-up of gasoline! I never understood how it could have functioning spark plugs.
We have a special knack for vehicle selection!