Just to bring you up to speed on Passats, my Mom's 1996 still has the aire of a new car as far as paint and interior, zero repairs except the odo, replaced under factory exchange for $150.
You have to remember that the B5.5 Passats fell into the hands of a lot of car novices, inc my female cousin. Before that she had Rabitt, Fox and Jetta, all to 200k+ in Maine winters with minimal repairs except struts and maybe a starter or alt. Extreme low maintenance and low performance to match. Now with the Passat, she let the engine go to sludge, timing belt snap, destroying the valves. Although the control arms are bad, her and the husband think they are ok and they never replaced a wheel bearing yet at 260k.
Now, I know there are weak points in the car, but take someone like Quattro Pete, he had both Accord and A4 same/similar year and swears the Accord had more problems. Bottom line is that many of the owners were not "qualified" (I know I'll catch heck for this) to own a turbo Euro car. People coming from TOYOTAs bring a drive it till it breaks mentality, and we know how Domestic owners are....they rarely even ever wax their car, opting for the "Tru-Coat" for $1k at the dealer to alleve their responsability. Your avaid "magazine reading" will leave you short on facts and long on gross opinions of the unwashed masses.
So, my case is not so much for buying a Passat, but rather an A4 (same car) that offers quattro AWD and basicly makes it worthwhile to keep up with maintenance. Going back to the guy w/the new Passat, that is ONE HECK of a car for $20k. Would you prefer a Sonota over it? They are clumsy dolts with poor quality....but they run. It's like comparing a dirty donky to a quarter horse. They both get to the same place, but are quite different in upkeep and performance.
Here's a peek at my last B5 A4, same as a B5.5 Passat. It took pennies a mile to maintain, everything worked fine and performance was awesome for a station wagon.
We still have my 1987 Audi Coupe, still original clutch, WP rad, alt, timing belt etc. Interior and paint are pretty nice for it's age. 30 mpg Heck, even the digidash w/ trip computer works fine.