I've only had mine for 6 months, so take this with a grain of salt.
I came from an '05 Impreza RS, no turbo, only 165 hp, but AWD. The Impreza was a really fun car to drive. Since it didn't have a ton of power, or turbo lag of any sort, you could use all of the power, and the Impreza was happy to do it.
I'm really enjoying the GTI, it's put together much better than the Impreza, the interior is much nicer, it's quieter, and obviously much faster. However, I really miss the Impreza, as slow and rattly as it was. Subaru's AWD is great, not just in bad weather, but in dry weather it will pull you around a corner in a way that the GTI just can't do (I'm not saying it's necessarily faster around corners, but cornering is more fun). The problem with the the GTI is the the power and the front wheel drive, you really need to be almost all the way out of a corner before even thinking about getting on the throttle. The power from the GTI is more 'all or nothing" it's tough to go quickly without going too quickly and spinning the tires. The line between "come on!" and looking like an asshole is fine one. Another issue is that since the Subaru was "rally inspired" you didn't need perfectly smooth blacktop. I could drive that car hard, everywhere. The GTI feels like it's going to break with every pothole or manhole cover. As well built as it is, bumps in the road really make it feel delicate compared to the Impreza.
So, after only 6 months and not having driven the GTI through a Colorado winter yet, I would have to think really hard about another GTI. Time will tell, there are some things I love about this car, but a WRX is beginning to look even more appealing that it was when I was shopping in June.
Once you've driven an AWD vehicle, pretty much anything other than that will have a hard time measuring up performance~wise. Based on what you've said, IMO, if you bought an R, you wouldn't be giving the Impreza a second look. Unfortunately, there's the little matter of the price difference between the GTI and the R...which is also why I didn't go for the R too.
Oh, and just a warning, if you're in Colorado, I suggest you hop on a set of winters. You definitely won't be happy with the GTI trying to navigate a Colorado winter coming from an AWD ride. Winters mitigate that a bit.
As to the question presented by the OP, even considering everything I've dealt with on this car, I would definitely do it again. One of my favorite cars that I've owned and I've had around a dozen of them.
The Subaru went anywhere, in any weather with just good all seasons. I've already got some good winter tires for the GTI, but the weather is being strange so it looks like I put them on too early. We'll see how a GTI with good snow tires compares to a Subaru with all seasons pretty soon ( I expect to be safe, but not impressed). This winter will have a lot to say about weather or not I keep the VW.
Also, a properly setup FWD car can be just as fast around a track as RWD/AWD (as the new Type R perfectly demonstrated).
Happy here. I bought my mk6 for a steal. Even after dumping tons of money into mods ($4k into the DSG alone), I still am not anywhere close to a new MK7R (or even a MK7 GTI). And at this point in my build, the MK7 GTI wouldn't provide any real benefit since my motor is being built, I have bigger brakes, LSD, etc etc.
Though it would've been nice to have started off with an all around better platform, it was hard to justify spending another 15K on just the price of the car alone. I'd rather build and tailor it to how I want.
Also, a properly setup FWD car can be just as fast around a track as RWD/AWD (as the new Type R perfectly demonstrated).
I must be the only one that is very happy I started on a gti platform instead of the R.
I had a good budget when choosing and chose a new GTI over anything else specifically because I knew I wanted to dump money into it. S0 many reasons.
Among them:
- its a great stock car
- its not a collectible or anything so I can go wild and not feel bad at all about driving it to the fullest
- track expenditures are not expensive in comparison to other vehicles
- with simple, easy bolt ons, a GTI is faster than a Golf R while still being easier and cheaper to maintain
- fwd makes no difference really on a road course compared to rwd or awd for me
- fwd is much more practical on the street in daily situations
I had a good budget when choosing and chose a new GTI over anything else specifically because I knew I wanted to dump money into it. S0 many reasons.
Among them:
- its a great stock car
- its not a collectible or anything so I can go wild and not feel bad at all about driving it to the fullest
- track expenditures are not expensive in comparison to other vehicles
- with simple, easy bolt ons, a GTI is faster than a Golf R while still being easier and cheaper to maintain
- fwd makes no difference really on a road course compared to rwd or awd for me
- fwd is much more practical on the street in daily situations
Well with the amount of money I have in suspension mods, it prolly cost like an R now lolI must be the only one that is very happy I started on a gti platform instead of the R.