Call me a stick in the mud but I'm a little annoyed with the direction VW has taken with their product lines. Having owned a myriad of GTIs, Jettas and Passats I am disappointed that VW has chosen to make their products MUCH more expensive and MUCH more finicky in terms of repair and maintenance. Because I'm cheap I choose to maintain and repair my cars myself whenver possible and I guess I got spoiled by the longevity of my previous VWs.
My wife's 2000 Passat, for example, is the most picky, finicky vehicle I've ever owned. The vacuum hoses are crap, literally rotting away, necessitating replacement well before they should normally. I continually have to clean out the screen in the airbox or face a jumping idle and a CEL. And although I use VW approved Mobil 1 in the crankcase I still get tapping as the oil gets beat to hell by the turbo. An while I'm on the subject of oil - oil changes are an exercise in frustration because of that stupid underbody panel with the fasteners that are a PITA to re-attach.
I've slowly watched a car company that once manufactured cars for the self-starter gear-head as well as the the economy-minded transition to one that offers only expensive and pretentious cars (that are harder to maintain and repair) to those who have little understanding of what it once meant to be a VW owner. The flood of $15,000 + GTIs and Jettas and "luxury" Touaregs and Phaetons just perpetuates that trend.
Call me a whiner, call me jealous of those who have the funds to afford these cars, call me an anachronism. I miss the days of being able to buy a GTI for less than $12,000 (less than $10,000 for my first) and being able to drive 50,000 miles without something stupid breaking. I loved getting 30 + MPG in car that would out-handle most of the cars on the road in stock form and would be a real rip-snorter lightly modified.
Unfortunately I am either too dated or too stupid to acknowledge that times have changed and the world of cheap, easy to maintain cars has all but disappeared.... OK I'll stop complaining now.