I'm no VW defender. My wife's 2000 Beetle has been a grade-A piece of isht since it was only a few years old. Electrical problems left and right.
But I will say, it seems VW is more reliable in many respects than they were in the 1990s and 2000s. They still have a big image problem, though. Many people still believe they're unreliable, but stupid VW has a short warranty like Toyota and Honda, which have the perception (right or wrong) of reliability. VW needs to increase their warranty as a way of saying "really, we fixed the reliability issues."
VW still does some stupid stuff and refuses to fix certain problems, like failing door latch mechanisms that affected VWs for years and years.
Other than the decontented Passat and Jetta sold in the U.S., VWs generally have very nice interiors and very good driving dynamics compared to other vehicles in their class. In some cases they're more like a semi-premium make in their class.
My 2010 Jetta is the last year of the MKV and it has a really nice quality interior and very good driving dynamics compared to other small-ish cars.
