Well, I just received the latest Consumer Reports Auto Issue in the mail, irregardless of your personal experience, it's not just "minor stuff". The CR ratings show the VW's various models rated below average to terrible in all the following categories: Drive System, Fuel System, Electrical, Climate System, Brakes, Body Hardware, & Power Equipment.
I had the misfortune to have one of these for a rental of about 800 miles. It was the top of the line one, loaded up with leather, etc, maybe a Passat, don't recall exactly, and had only had about 8000 miles on it. We were driving along in desolate Eastern Colorado, and suddenly every single light including the speed, warning lites, etc., on the dash went dark, and stayed that way for the remaining hours of our trip, and it was nighttime. It did the same thing on the return trip. Luckily, the motor kept running, and the headlights worked, so we didn't get stranded.
Later I spoke to my niece, who owned one of the things for a couple of years, told her what happened, and she said, "Oh yeah, ours used to do that. We took it to the dealer several times, they said it was fixed, but it kept doing it." She owned Hondas before and after her one unpleasant experience with a VW. You can have them. I wouldn't even accept one for a car rental again.
Tell ya what... talk to me when whatever it is you are driving at the present time gets past 424,000 miles... (or even 300,000 miles... every one of my last 4 VW's had over that amount when I let them go. Gave one to my son. He drove it at least another 100,000 miles and probably would still be driving it if some idiot hadn't run a stop sign and T-boned him in the passenger door...) And by the way, I just changed the (original) clutch in my current VW 2000 miles ago.. (that would be 422,000 miles on the original clutch..)
Oh, and 46 mpg and enough guts to tromp those silly Civics with that stupid muffler while leaving then in a cloud of diesel particulates is just downright fun...
Maybe my car can't read consumption reports...
Consumer Reports rates anything non-Japanese as bad. Really anything non-Toyota/Honda.
That's fine. Over half of those dings I have no clue what they could be talking about. Elictrical is probably the alternator. I know of two that have given up the ghost in cars less than 6 years old.
Drive system..early turbo models are clogging up. Should have used synthetic but I don't think VW mandated it. Fuel system...no. Climate System.. no idea. Brakes, nope. Body hardware - glove box, rear hatch lock on Beetles. Power equipment - POS window regulators.
I've purchased 6 new VWs over the past 9 years and have never had any major issues. Three have been turbo diesels, one 1.8L gasser, one 1.8Turbo and now a 2.5L gasser.