I think the gap is closing between european cars need for maintenance and American cars needs - a major reason is the demise of the big V8 engines - which were really under-stressed - so you could do damm near nothing in the way of periodic maintenance and they'd live forever (or at least until the cars rotted away from them) -
With European cars, having smaller engines that are under a bit more stress, they've traditionally needed periodic maintenance to stay in top form (and keep running) -
I don't think Euro cars are any less demanding - I just think that domestic cars are more demanding from a maintenance point of view.
As for "problems" - well - VW's have been (in)famous for electrical gremlins since the later 1980's - but I believe that a LOT of this is myth - or has been caused by home-mechanics messing around with the electrical systems .... I could be wrong ... but it's rare to see a bone stock VW with problems - typically the car in question has been modified.
4cyl verus V6 - with gas at 3 bucks a gallon I'd go with the 4 - but then I'm an old fart who has to drive 130 miles a day to/from work - it seems a lot easier to buy the VR6 and NOT supercharge it than to buy the 4 and modify it right away - probably end up with a more reliable vehicle in the long run (just watch for cracked insulation on the coil packs of a VR6) -
My 2cents -
|