HELP I need a reliable used car

If you "junk" your VW, you will have a guaranteed loss of $12K, minus a few bucks for junk value. If you put 6K into it, you'll have a driveable vehicle back and not have to buy another vehicle. All bets are off if you'd have to go another 6K into debt for the repair. I personally would have a really hard time with a 12k debt to pay off on a non-existent vehicle. You at least know the overall condition of your current VW. I mean even a grampa’s 90’s Toyota with close to 300K miles on it is getting to be a gamble.

Of course, this is all assuming you’d actually pay your debts as opposed to defaulting on your car note.