My wife drives a 2001 VW Passat wagon (1.8T, tiptronic), which is the benchmark against which I judge all other cars. The exterior size, interior size, turning radius, and interior and topside cargo space are spot-on perfect, and it is going to be very difficult to replace it. It is trivial to remove the rear seat cushions and to fold the seatbacks completely flat, for cavernous storage, such as when moving a sofabed. This is one extremely well-designed car, with the safety, fuel economy, and handling of a good sports sedan, and my artist wife loves the timeless Bauhaus-clean styling. Fortunately, we don't drive much, and I do most of my own car work, so we hope to keep it for another 10 years and 50k miles. (No, it is NOT for sale. ) The weak spots have been rubber parts, including vacuum hoses and CV boots, and of course it needs Tier 1 premium gas (Shell, Chevron, Union), a one-quart(!) Purolator L40316 filter, and [Spoiled] European Car Formula Mobil 1 0W-40 synthetic oil, which our local Pep Boys fortunately blows out for $4/qt. on Black Friday every year.

I inherited my younger son's first car, a 1996 Audi A4 (12V V6, 5-spd. non-tip automatic, quattro) when he moved up to a 2000 S4 6-speed biturbo quattro. He recently bought a 2000 Honda Civic to use as a daily beater, to slow the mileage accumulation on the S4. My A4 is showing its age, and I am considering the Jetta Sportwagen and the Acura TSX Sport Wagon, but the back seats do not fold flat on either, and the Acura is pretty narrow between the wheel wells.

When son #1 graduated w/ honors from UCSD with a BS in Physics, I bought him a creampuff used 2002 A4 1.8T quattro, which had been owned by a rich kid in La Jolla who had been away at college much of the time. His wife drives a 2005 4-cylinder Camry, which is their answer to son #2's Civic.