It’s hit and miss, price wise. I’ve owned my car since Jan '05 @ 57k. Now I’m at 98k…
I spend $300 on an alternator. It was brand new OEM, because a reman was $220 so it didn’t make sense. Plus $20 for new German coolant. The water pumps are known to be suspect so it’d be dumb to use anything but OEM Pentosin. Also $100 for a radiator from Skrapper after I busted the original while disassembling the entire front of the car to get at the alt, but that was my fault for following instructions and trying to disconnect the over-engineered quick-disconnect couplings on the rad.
I also spent $150 on a new OEM German clutch.
Idler pulley gave up the ghost. It cost the dealer $80 because it was still within my warranty.
RCV (rotary changeover valve, changes effective length of intake runners @ around 3800rpm) started rattling. A new one is around $100 and the only VW endorsed way to fix it, but I bought aftermarket bushings for $40 and just fixed the valve.
Brake light switch free under the recall, then $12 when it failed again.
Glove box hinge/damper assembly broke. (over-engineered BS) I fixed the hinge with a piece of aluminum and a couple of screws. Proper fix would have been a new glove box door. :cjerk:
E-Brake lines froze up, hanging up the rear calipers. $25 for Napa’s that were too thick and failed again in a year when the hanger cut through. $60 for new OEM lines from VW that fit properly.
Rear brake pads froze and chewed up the disks. IIRC I replaced them with Advanced cheapies. New pads & rotors for ~$100. Cleaned and greased everything well. Not a problem since.
My A/C stopped working at the end of last summer. The pressures look good so I’ll have to let you know how much the new ??? costs. (Probably just a relay or pressure switch. The compressor doesn’t seem to engage at all.)
I’m probably forgetting some things. Like the various heat and dirt shields that have fallen off and I never bothered fixing.
Repairs aren’t necessarily expensive, but be warned: These cars are attention whores.