“Non-diesel VW’s are excellent cars generally and built to last.”
Hasn’t been the case for almost 20 years now. I say that as someone who’s been around VWs for years and as someone who does consulting work for import specialist shops that service out of warranty VWs. No, no, they aren’t built to last.
As an aside, I dislike VW’s switches, controls and ergonomics. I’ll take a Honda any day.