I've had 4 VWs and all of them except the one I'm driving now (it's not old enough) made it to 200,000 plus while I had them.  Same with the two Hondas and the Mercedes I had.Durability is there for all of those brands but it all depends on the previous owners.  Hondas are not picky at all when it comes to the fluids you put in them.  Give them cheap gas, cheap fluids, cheap parts, and they just don't care.  They last forever.  German engines are built to much tighter specs, so you have to treat them right if you want them to last.  Synthetic oil, good parts, even dealer spec coolant is an absolute must.  That said, they will last well over 200k miles as well.Maintenance cost - it all depends on the model and trim level.  If you're talking about a 6 cylinder Passat with all the options, you're dealing with more expensive engine and transmission parts than say a base model Jetta with a manual transmission.  VW also has turbo models and no one should really buy a car with a turbo unless they know how to take care of it.  Buying a GTI and having to re-build the turbo right away is not something you want to do.Another important thing to consider is how much do you know about cars and how willing are you to fix them yourself?  I love working on my own cars, whether repairing or upgrading.  Because of that, I imagine that my cost of maintenance with even an expensive VW would be less than someone with a cheap Honda that pays someone else to do the work.For me, nothing compares to a German car.  The fit and finish are impeccable and there is just something extraordinary about the way they feel when you drive them.  If a car is nothing more than a means to go from point A to point B, then the difference will be lost on you.  And I don't mean that in a critical way.  For most people, they don't care what kind of car they drive as long as it works.I hope that answered your question.
@mgw300e:
I don't know that much about cars, but everything you said sounds so good I think I could change my oil myself.
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