Bit of a grandad car, but the passat has to be the best bang for your buck on that list.
The early PD Vag engines, are pretty bullet proof, give great MPG no matter how you drive it and has nice driving characteristics with a really punchy power delivery...
Something like my golf would have been nice
But also the skoda's are good bang for your buck. Must be pretty good if 80% of taxi drivers use them.