I like VW's. I used to own a Golf GTI when I was in school. All leather interior, nice sound system and it did haul on the highway also. I've never had any problems with that car and all the VW service I got from the dealship was nothing short of ourstanding. I'm sorry your sis had to go through what she went through Dildozer. Although it's true that I've never had an experience with the particular model she drives.
The VW R32 is really the only VW I would consider to be a sports car. Its lean, its mean and it's definately not just a grocery getter:
http://www.europeancarweb.com/features/0311ec_hpagolf/
The S2000 looks like it might be a fun car too. It has power, awesome torque at high rev (the redline starts at 10,000 rpm in that car !), convertable and it would be the perfect beach car. The downside is that I'm not too crazy about the interior. It's a tad bit in the sparse side. When you look inside it's just plastic all over and the stearing wheel. Plus I'm 6"2' so I'm not sure if I could fit comfortable in it.