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additional performance
Again someone call me out on this, but can't you easily and comparatively cheaply tune a gti to r spec? Obviously excluding the 4x4. I thought it was basically just a remap and an exhaust.
hugo7-
Yeah, the various generations of the EA888 engine (EA113 in the Mk5 to a lesser extent I think) do respond well to a re-map and Stage 1 gets you near the R power and torque figures. But, what's the point?
I had two Seat Leon Curpas over the past 5 years or so, 300bhp stock through the front wheels. You just can't use that power on the road, there's no point. Different ballgame if you're tracking it or regularly hitting the autobahn.
Disclaimer: the Curpas were cheap lease deals, significantly cheaper than GTIs would have been at the time.
ElGonzo
Both R36 and S4 have quite a high bork factor though, don't they?
If a hatchback will cut it from a carrying bikes perspective then you can go round in circles for ages but inevitably come back to a GTI. Rs are generally driven by absolute knobbers, Haldex adds cost, complexity and weight and unless you're tracking it when are you really gonna use the additional performance of the R?