First page I went on,first car was a vw
third car was a Passat 
(Issues raised from a warranty company were axle/suspension problems).But then the only mention I could find was one comment saying 'Passat turbo diesel,manual,reliability better than most'.
There were issues with so many other makes of car that it proves Passats do not stand out above anything else.French cars yes,(first list,5/10 cars were French)Land Rover yes.There are lots of BMW's driving about but I have heard so many horror stories about them that I would be wary of buying a newish one.
We really like our Passat and it does have some minor issues but for me the pros outweigh the cons.