[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by oldtamiyaphile

What's a Gen 1 worth over there anyway? As cars get more complex, more and more people will buy new over used, taking a gamble on a used car isn't what it used to be. After $25K worth of bills on a used VW (~30,000miles, FSH etc), I doubt I'll ever buy used again. As more people get stung for repairs on ever more complex cars, I foresee a lot of cars consigned to scrap yards at much lower miles than ever before (my VW was worth more as scrap at 30k!). It only takes a very minor issue to take $1000 to repair on a new car, so the $1000 cars will soon be a thing of the past.

I'm sorry to hear about your bad luck with your VW. but what has that to do with complexity?
Was it a very complex car?
Was it a hybrid?

I once have owned a VW too - a '86 Diesel Rabbit.
It was as basic as it could be.
It had more breakdowns in 50,000 miles than my 5 Hondas had in 400,000 miles (cars and bikes combined).
The score in non-breakdown failing parts was similar.
Particularly, anything plastic in the VW started to crumble. I was always fixing, glueing, replacing or just deleting stuff on the VW.
On the Hondas - mainly light bulbs and rust treatment (when 10+ years in).
All cars and bikes were/are second hand btw.

Your reliability problem is not typical for used or complex cars.
It is typical for VWs. (NB. Not all VWs are bad, but some definitely are)

If you want a reliabe car go to a reliable car shop.
It is as easy as that.

First find out which manufacturers make reliable cars.
You'll find there are 2 that stand out: Toyota and Honda.

Then buy the model they offer that gets best FE.
It will be a complex car, but also reliable.
And you'll love the smoothness of their hybrid drive train.