I love German engineering.  VW's drive great.  They run forever.  My issue with VW ... is the cost to repair and maintain them.  If VW drops their maintenance fees to be more in line with Honda & Toyota, I will gladly sell both my Hondas and switch to VW!

We have been VW drivers for a long time.  The main problem I have is the lack of option assortments.  For example, on the $30,000+ Passat, they dropped memory seats, bi-xenon headlights and other items found in upscale vehicles.  Fortunatly, we ordered one before the stripped them.  

How soon Diesel Passat?  Two older models are superb..great milage and ride.

I'm a huge fan of German cars...they have more spirit than other cars. Hopefully they can keep that while still helping the company survive. I agree they would be better off reducing repair/maintenance costs than sticker price...that being said i will never give up my 04 Touareg or 88 Scirocco - both rediculously expensive to repair - if you can find parts (Scirocco)!

I agree with Sparky... the issue is the cost to repair and maintain them.  I have a 99 Jetta with over 166 k miles... I am currently experiencing some electrical problems, but nothing major so I can hold off on repairs.  My first repair was to replace a turning signal lightbulb... the bulb itself was $8 but the labor... just a little over $100.00. Not happy!

"More American Flavor" probably means bland appliance mobiles like the Corolla and Camry. Sorry, no sale. I hope if they do start selling marshmallows that they at least continue to sell excellent cars like the GTI. BTW VW if you want to sell more cars how about having more cars to buy. A lady friend of mine has a new Scirocco which is awesome but you don't sell them Stateside.Why?

A VW like most German cars is maintenance intensive. It pays to learn how to do minor repairs and maintenance or you will find it rather expensive.Of course for the driving experience it's worth it!!

I had a 2001 Jetta TDI that had so many problems that I will never buy one of their cars again. I'm a mechanic and took great care of this car but it didn't seem to matter much. Like everyone mentions they cost a lot to maintain especially if the dealer is doing the work. The car was solid and drove nice, too bad it was such a bear to maintain.

VW With more "American Flavor?" You mean they will break down more often, rattle, and get horrible gas mileage? My favorite most reliable car was a 95 passat wagon and I loved it more then anything American that I have owned. Its just put together a lot better than anything we manufacture here.

I noticed that most car companies work in waves. The wave of good quality where they make excellent cars and then the seccond wave of poor quality where their ego and reputation tells them that customers will buy whatever junk they make. Before they turn this around to improve quality, they loose a lot of customers. Early to late 90's was an era of excellent quality for VW. Their reputation was well established as a reliable car company. The 2000's cars were of lesser quality after they moved manufacturing to Mexico and started to make junk. But they still got customers who went after the reputation they formed in the 90s. Ford did the same thing. Early 90s had poor quality and in the the late 90s they really cleaned up and made solid cars. GM had an era of bad cars in the early 2000's and by like 06 really turned around and finally started making good cars again.