Are volkswagen passat good cars?

Currently looking for a new car. I found a 2002 volkwagen passat at 115k miles. I'm wondering if maintenance high, costly repairs? My family is a toyota/honda family. Its between a 2002 passat or 1999 camry. The only thing is my dad knows how to fix/keep up maintenance on honda/toyotas. Family has never had a car other than those. Should i take the risk? Or stick to what i know? Based on reviews on kelley blue book, they are mixed. Some say the passat is great but some say it is costly and a money hole.

Passat = Pass at by. I have seen many of these cars sold privately with the car stuck on the front lawn with a 4 sale sign on it. Not even worth putting in the newspaper classifieds. If you did see one, it said "ready to be towed away"

I personally would stick with Toyota, though the older Camry was the cheapest of their line… Would look for a Corolla or Celica instead. A friend recently got rid of her 1974 Toyota Corolla rust bucket for a 2010 Honda. The Toyota ran perfectly, no smoke, just looked like hell so nobody was gonna steal it. It spent a lot of time on bush roads.
. Also the bolt sizes are different V.W. 10,13,15,17 is common and 10,12,14. Is common for Asian cars.
. As for costs, you are paying more for the badge V.W. Than what it is worth. Unfortunately, due to the popularity of Asian cars you end up paying about the same as for a V.W.
V.W. Is only good as standard transmission -their automatics suck. That never was their strong suit.
. Asian auto transmissions are better than V.W. Automatics.

Don't.
First of all - forget about diesel in passat, thats a bottomless money pit. If you decide for this car anyway - go for petrol V5. Thats quite decent engine. Do not get petrol 1.8T - thats trouble.
Prepare yourself for many many electrical problems, mainly with windows and locks.
Overal mechanics of the car are quite reliable and easy to fix (german engineering)

But all and all - i would go for japanese car. Thats higher league of reliability, ugly design thou. But i don't play car prestige game.

A 2002 passat, won't be much of a problem as far as costs go. It is a decent car and will be etter than a 99 camry. So, i would go for the passat over the camry.