I work on Asian and European cars primarily and some domestic cars. The Toyota. Lexus, Honda, Acura, later Hyundias, some Nissans tend to be ultra reliable and low maintenance costs. Subaru cost a little more to service/own but customers who have them love them, American cars are getting very good reliability wise and tend to be relatively cheaper to own. I love driving European cars but BMW, Audi, Mercedes Volvo and even VW in my view are just a little more costly to maintain. If you are buying a VW, get a pre-purchase check done by a repair shop in your area that specialize in VW products. My brother has a 2.8 L the timing belt was a costly repair/maintenance.