Reviews of VALEO heater core

Although Valeo states it's a Tier1 oem part supplier, it does say on the fpc site that it's made in china.

I replaced the heater core in my 1991 mk2 8-valve RV coded engine in May 2022. I replaced it with a new Valeo unit I got off FCP Euro and the install went just fine. Every year I do a mid-winter start-up since I live in Minnesota and after running it last night for about 20 minutes the heater core popped and dumped a ton of hot coolant in my driver and passenger footwells...

Spend the extra couple of bucks and get a Valeo heater core. It is a pain in the butt job but not actually hard.

Nissens for the radiator and Valeo for the heater core - $120-ish for both. Both have proven reliable for me after 6 years, and Valeo is VW's supplier for heater cores.