Don't listen to these people. Everytime someone asks about VW, people that know nothing about them chime in with there uneducated comments. Go talk to people that actually own them. I have a 97 GTI VR and beat the crap out of it since the day I bought it. I have had no major repairs other than minor maintainence (clutch, brakes). I'll even let you test drive mine to prove these other idiots wrong. "Repaired every couple of weeks", you have to be kidding me, right? Go search all the post where people ask about VW's, people that do not own them post the same typical responses. It gets old.