[ddbach]

You made me go look for rust on the 99 Passat. I'm just shy of 150K and will have had the car 11 years in Feb. Drove it daily until acquired the Porsche in August. I've got some stone chips and one possibly deep enough to rust (this weekend project) had a commercial ladder fall against the passenger side door and leave 2 dents (small) that have not rusted in 3 years (down to primer) underside looks good. I'm on second muffler which still looks good too. Curiosity made me price check the Passat when I got the 944 and it seemed about 5K or less for comparable.
The Jetta should do well too unless they've changed their rustproofing for the poorer. I have 12yr rust through warranty (caveat fix visible rust when found)