The VW Rabbit, imo, was better built than a ford escort (excepting electrical); but much worse design. They didnt do thinks like "oops we forgot to bolt in the transmission" (my favorite ford trick); they did things like "when the clutch needs adjusting the entire car has to come apart to reach a retaining screw" and iirc there was something about a crankshaft that was destined to break in half at 30k miles...

I’m mid 30s in the US, and I always had the impression that Japanese cars were the best quality:price ratio, American cars were cheaper quality, but also cheaper overall, and German cars were for showing off that you could spend money.

I agree. I'm baffled as to why German cars are held in such high regard with some people. Long term reliability doesn't match assembly quality and initial impressions.

In the case of VW and Audi? Marketing and build tolerances. Especially those customers see, famously those between skin panels.

I remember reading a book about the auto industry in the late 80s, and it described the typical German car factory: There was a large re-work area at the end of the assembly line, where skilled technicians discovered and repaired defects. This was better than sending out defective cars, but it did not catch latent defects or correct those defects through better design.

I think different countries acquired their own stereotypes early in the industrial age: German perfectionism, Swiss precision, Italian style, American ingenuity, etc. Those ideas continue to be marketed after they have ceased to be relevant, at least to the original degree.

And granted, I know nothing about luxury / sports cars.

One of my sons just bought an '88 Celica GT and I am impressed with how much better it is than same year VW Cabrio and my first car a Caprice from same time frame.

Nice one, the Celica!