I've owned three VW's and three Audi's over the past 25 years, however I must say that based on my unscientific survey of the parking lot at work, most aerospace engineers are C-H-E-A-P and revere consumer reports and buy "safe" cars like 4 cylinder Camrys, Accords, and Nissan Altimas. These tend to be the married, white shirt/black tie, risk averse types whos' idea of gambling is a $3.00 bet in Vegas or Tunica...
They married their HS sweetheart right after graduation and never inhaled, or even had the opportunity to.
They may think they live longer, but my theory is it just SEEMS longer....
VW/Audi products are great for folks who really love to drive and have a certain degree of mechanical ability. I've kept my 230k mile, 1990 Audi 100 on the road for a reasonable # of money by doing most of the normal maintenance and minor to medium repairs myself. I also sought out a good independent garage to handle the major stuff at reasonable labor rates.
If you are looking at VW;s, the made in Europe vehicles seem to be screwed together better than the Golfs/Jettas made in Mexico. I know that VW has sent legions of engineers south of th border, but they're never been able to get the quality up to snuff.
My advice would also be to buy the comparable Audi over the VW as they are made significantly better and have fewer squeaks/rattles as they age. For example, I'd go with the new A3 over the Golf GTI, a basic 2WD, Audi A4 over the new Jetta and the new A6 over the Passat. Audi customers also get free maintenance for the first 50k miles, they get free loaner cars when their vehicles are in for service and they just plain get treated better by VW/Audi dealers.
Tooslick
1979 Dasher
1985 Jetta GL
1985 Audi 5000 - I have to admit, this one would do everything but fetch a stick...
1990 Audi 100
1997 Jetta GL
2002 Audi TT quattro roadster