I don't think he's that far off basis. I have a few friends who have VW's and have ran pretty problem free, one of them has an old Passat 4motion with 150k miles and is just now running into some electrical problems. I'm just having crappy luck with it, which hopefully will be resolved with my next appointment.

The ride and feel of the VW is stellar though

 

The OP already said he had a water pump issue at 12k. i have 135k on my g35 on the original water pump with no issues.

Also my mother had a 2003 camry and the original water pump finally died after 266k.

Also the cost of fixing a VW is about the same as fixing a audi. Except the audi has a nicer interior.

I had a c32 AMG and the mechanics on that car was perfect. The stock block and tranny can basically take 500whp. The only thing that failed that car was all the electronics, like the electronic throttle body, seat control modules and infared iginition system.

German electrics are horrible. German mechanics are usually perfect at least least when it comes to BMW and Mercedes.