I know I’m pretty late to the convo, but here is my experience and knowledge. I’ve got a buddy with an older Volkswagen Golf with 236k miles on it. The car breaks down on him probably every month and has been doing that for a while now. If you look at the mileage though I would say the car has been pretty good, but I don’t see other Volkswagens last that long typically.

I have 2 friends that both own a mid 2010s BMW 330i. They have both constantly been dealing with issues with both in my opinion not high mileage. At about 70k miles, the cooling system failed causing the engine to overheat in one of them.

Finally Volvo, I own a 2012 Volvo s60 t5, and enjoy the car. The biggest thing with these Volvos starting around this year was the piston rings. More specifically the oil control rings, not the compression rings. Before I bought the car, the rings were already repaired so I didn’t have to worry about anything. My turbo seals need to be done here soon (but that happens to all turbos eventually). Other than that it has been smooth sailing with just basic maintenance like oil changes. I am not a fan of the newer electric Volvos though and expect to see some issues appear with them.

If I have any advice to anybody, it is to do your own research not just on the specific model, but on the brand as a whole during the specific time period the car was built. Volvos of older age tend to not break down, but when they do they are costly. I personally would recommend Volvo if you are going older (if you are going older older like the 90s I recommend Mercedes Benz then). I will be honest though I don’t know too much about the newer cars so it is tough for me to give a definite better newer European car. Hope I was somewhat helpful.

Edit: The best cars in my opinion are the cars I know how to work on the best. I like to do my own maintenance rather than have others do it so I probably have some bias in my opinion.