My Passat is a beast. It just passed 315,000 miles and still trucking. The engine is strong enough to pass on highways, cruise up mountains and plow (not literally) through snow. Maintenance is perfect for a first car, most everything is accessible and easy to work on. Doing routine maintenance is a great learning experience for new car owners. Lots of space both in back seat and trunk. Moved across country just in this car, sans furniture. Great sound system and comfy seats, makes for a great road trip car. Manual transmission is a workhorse, same transmission that came with the car and again 315,000 miles.

My silver VW Passat is a cute, compact car that runs super smooth. I've only ever had minor issues with it like burnt out lights and problems with a window. It's reliable, as I used it every day to commute to campus in good weather and in bad. I've had no issues with the stereo system, and the cassette aux cords allow for this car to have an aux cord still. I would commute to school everyday, and I would only need to fuel up once or twice a week. I have driven this car for thousands of miles, and it still runs as smooth as when I got it a couple years ago. Also, this car has accommodated my cello perfectly as I would take my cello with me also to school and back, and I've never had a problem doing so.