@B787 it's fun what you explain because it remembers me the protagonist of the novel "Odessa" (author Frederick Forsyth). He's also a German that prefers to drive a Jaguar than a German car
and that saves it's life. Won't you be a journalist too, right?
BTW that I own a Volkswagen.
But just because I wanted specifically that car, nor for the badge or everything else. I ended pretty satisfied with the engine (those TFSI of gasoline, small, quiet, powerful, responsive and very low consume) but man... more than 10 years after and still I'm not used to the damn lights control in the lower part of the dashboard instead of being a lever behind the wheel.
And about the SEAT mentioned by plykkegaard, it's a very solid contender in its category. Very popular car in here, I've a friend who purchased the previous gen (one new was released recently, the one SCS has included in Iberia, also as a cargo for a trailer) and he's very satisfied.
At the end, ll those companies share a lot between vehicles. Starting by the platform, engines, components. A client of the company where I work manufactures parts for vehicles and at the same time I've seen side by side lines of parts for Ford, Iveco, Land Rover, Jaguar and Aston Martin. The know how of the engineering and the workers are the same in the parts suppliers (and that's more than 70% of the whole of a car); at the end the difference between "premium" and "regular" cars is very little. Mostly the finishing, that could range from basic to very snob, and the perceived quality (so, pure marketing; and we all know hot it lies to us).
That's also why so many companies are creating their "premium" brands; to separate them from the "perceived regular quality" from the main brand and sell "the same" but more expensive. SEAT itself launched not so much ago the Cupra brand and he's being very successful as far as I know.