Doesn’t the initial reliability survey count “problems reported per car”? With insignificant issues with infotainment systems counted the same as the engine blowing up.
This favors barebones cars with old and oudated electronics. CR’s long term reliability report is much more useful.
Which VW specifically?
It’s a Tiguan. Honestly though, I like how comfortable it is. And after having leased a Spark EV for 3 years, it’s like driving a Cadillac. So I’m also used to little quirks. Occasionally, the Spark EV wouldn’t go backwards. It would just sit there for like 3 to 5 seconds like the parking brakes were on, and then start rolling backwards. I got used to using celsius because the temperature would always reset to metric when I started the car, and I was just too lazy to change it every time I got into the vehicle. And the battery meter was never reliable so I had to keep track of how much I drove since the last charge.
My wife wouldn’t put up with that crap though. I showed her the self parking video of a VW Atlas SEL premium on youtube, but after my second trip to the VW dealership, she didn’t even want to talk about it.
This is about as worthless as rankings come. JD powers is a paid for marketing firm. With that said, if you are a “badge humper” the listing doesn’t matter. If you are not, you can use it to tell all your friends how smart you are for buying a KIA. 
Useless in either sense…
It is comfortable for sure, but my biggest problem with the Tiguan was the engine. It just felt like it was REALLY taxed to do just regular driving. Also you can either get the base model with almost nothing and fabric seats, which are fine, or have to go all the way up to the top SEL model to get actual leather seats that actually breathe.
It’s a great car for the money, but damn I wish they could figure out how to make it a complete package because the engine and the seats (on the SE) are my only major complaints. Interior is also SUPER austere with just an expanse of black and more black with some black accents, but I could live with that.
how is this possible when every 3.5 turbo Ford engines are having problems. Maybe because they sell so many of them?
“Brands such as Tesla, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Maserati, Smart, Ferrari, Bentley and Rolls Royce were not included in the results because of a limited number of customers or small sample size.”
My Maserati has been bulletproof so far. I know that is a rather odd phrase to use.