I had to smile at your comment to RH of Worthing about the myth of Volkswagen Auto Group cars' quality and reliability. I, too, have ploughed a similar lonely furrow for many years, mainly as a result of an almost interminable succession of poor quality and reliability issues with the VAG cars owned by family/friends/colleagues/acquaintances/etc over the years and up until today. If you had an hour or two I could relate a few of the worst.

You allude to the continuing public belief in Volkswagen's reliability and status. To my mind this is due in part to the prodigious amount of advertising that they publish, all implying that they are (of course) a high quality product. And, in part, to motoring correspondents, some of whom write in the pages either side of your own, perpetuating that myth by talking in terms of "... Volkswagen’s bulletproof build quality". Perhaps, due to becoming more worldly wise and cynical with age, I might be tempted to hazard an opinion as to why that should be. Best wishes and keep slaying a dragon or two.