Lets see,
I've owned the following, all manuals:
A few 70's beetles
95 Jetta GLX
02 Jetta 1.8T
04 Jetta GLI
12 Golf TDI
All have been great to me. I did have to change the heater core in the 95, but the car was 14 years old when I bought it. Even at that age, it ran like a dream...