When it's really cold (ie at least 1 or 2 degrees below freezing) my Passat splutters and revs a bit for the first few seconds after startup, then settles down to idle OK. The
Ibiza used to do it as well, but seemed to only do it at even lower temps (maybe the Passat is worse because of it's high miles and the glowplugs aren't what they used to be).
But if I'm not careful for the first few minutes it'll stall really easily when pulling away, just pulling up our sloping drive needs some revs - whereas in warmer weather it'll easily chug uphill at idle with no accelerator.