May go look at one. It has an "R Line" badge on it,  owner doesn't know what that means.
122xxx miles. $6500
Opinions?
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I guess go for it so long as you like seeing the inside of a repair shop and an empty wallet

Wife had a '13 diesel. less than two years of ownership = three heater cores, DEF heater replacement, and a 7 month wait for a replacement turbocharger. Thankfully all under warranty and a loaner was provided the entire time as part of the emissions scandal lawsuit settlement.
Throughout the entire experience I talked to no less than 5 "customer care" reps and my request for them to buy it back was met with enough paperwork required to burn a barn down.

Oh, did I mention the rear window defroster would cut out the radio and the entire time we owned the car the damn thing never would put warm air at the foot level.
We had a Land Rover LR3 with twice the mileage and never had a single problem other than routine maintenance. I'd buy a Land Rover again before I'd sit in another VW.


I'd sooner ride a damn mule than own another one.

Volkswagen/Audi's are garbage. Even if you do your own work, know where to buy better parts and have all the tools and VAGCOM, they are still shit. I had to learn the hard way.

Just for fun I would drive by the back of the local VW dealer Monday morning. To see how many vehicles, especially out of state rigs sitting waiting for repairs from the weekend wreckers.

I bought a 2012 Beetle 2.0 Turbo 6 speed manual with 119K miles for a good price (~$6K) to teach my son how to drive a manual... so far all I had to do was replace coils/plugs and a new fuel pump, total repairs about $350, it's been great and a hoot to drive (put about 6k miles on it since purchase). Most things are pretty easy to service (Fuel Filter is not one of them..I let the dealer service dept do that - hard to get to without a lift).  Overall I like the Volkswagen TSI engines. Parts are about the same as Jap cars if you order online or from Autozone. Most of the 2012 Passats will have the TSI 2.5 or the TSI 2.0 Turbo, same engine as the Beetle - solid engine if you do your maintenance. Lots of Youtube videos on how to service, didn't even need a service manual. I would recommend the stick shift.

Haters gonna hate but all cars have their quirks, even jap cars, you just gotta know what you're getting into.

I am a second owner of a '13 3.6L SEL Passat. Not one problem. Just do the maint. when it say do the maint. Only 54K on it. Six cylinder that hauls ass for the weight. They don't make that engine anymore from what my car kid says. ymmv

I had a Jetta and a Tiguan of that vintage.  I have found them fairly reliable and cheap and easy to work on.  For example, The traction control acted up on the Tiguan, but was easily fixed, by swapping out a couple hall effect sensors.  $20-30 bucks each. Oil and brake changes are simple.  The 2.0T is ubiquitous.  You can find lots of Youtube repair videos.
That’s a high mileage example, but If you have to buy a car in that mileage and price range, it’s probably not a terrible option.  

Had several as loaners when my 2012 VW mini van was in the shop, For 3 months that year.

Liked them enough that we got the 2014 TDI.  Great family car except heater core replaced at 40k miles under warrantee.  

Funny how in the U.S. VW/Audi are thought to be unreliable but in Europe they think the opposite.

+1

I loved my ‘99 Passat wagon, but it was a money pit.

How does the owner not know what R Line means?

2012 was the first year they offered that on the Passat to go along with the model year refresh.

I assume he isn't the original owner.

I can’t speak for anyone else here, but my VW ownership experience has been stellar. I bought my ‘06 Mk5 Jetta TDI 5 speed in July of 2020 and haven’t looked back. Bought it from a meticulous, thorough previous owner with 184,000 miles and have put over 30,000 miles on it since. I replaced the alternator soon after I bought it (failed clutch and pulley), but that’s it. I adhere to the maintenance intervals with an oil change and new filters (oil, fuel and air) every 10,000 miles. The car gets 37 mi/gal city and 55 mi/gal highway no matter what. I’ve taken multiple trips in it, even a couple for work. It’s much better than driving a 3/4 ton Cummins around every day (which is what I was doing the previous 8 years) especially now with fuel prices where they are. I didn’t pay much for it, so I truly believe that I’ve gotten my money back out of it already. In short, I love the car. It has exceeded my expectations.

I had one that I took to almost 500k. Camshaft is a known issue on that engine, I swapped in a colt cams camshaft when I did the second timing belt, also swapped over a pd140 turbo when the turbo actuator went. IDParts still sells a downpipe for the BRM. I also dumped the dual mass flywheel for a single mass and stage 2 clutch around 200k.  
Drove mine from NE PA to Sarasota FL and only had to stop once for fuel. Got my moneys worth out of that car for sure.

Holy shit.

I've done that drive in an Accord.  We filled up a few more times that you did!