All cars suffer from this.
To be honest I haven't really heard of blocked pick up pipes on any other cars apart from the VAGs.
Sure it happens with serious neglect on other cars, But its something I am constantly hearing about with 1.8s,
My friends S3 went the other day as well.
What is the main cause of this with these cars,
Wrong oil?
Lack of oil changes?
Bad design of pick up pipes?
or a combination of all of the above?