I have owned two older ones and they have both leaked oil like crazy, the Jetta was freaken amazing but the Golf is doing a nice oil tanker impression to. Also the wiring is joke, I mean under the hood I can see exposed copper where they strip it to go into plugs...
They have a ton of ground problems. You just can't park any VW thats over 6 or 7 years old on a nice driveway, all the leaks will ruin it.
My dads friend has a 2002 Beetle TDI that blew the motor at 60k because the dealer didn't change the engine mount bolt and it broke...causing the oil pan to crack and the engine to lose oil pressure.
My dads other friend had a 1999 Passat he just junked because everything was broke, it was a VR6 so you can't work on it, and the trans was slipping.
My cousins 2005 Jetta always has some electrical problem of some sort, and it rattles like crazy. She has owned it since new so it wasn't abused, only has like 50k on it to.
The VR6 is an abortion of a motor, its so tight you can't get to anything. Parts are also Porsche expensive.
There throw away cars, like most modern cars really. I would only lease a VW for 36 months, that way the dealer can fix it when it breaks, which it will.