Quote Originally Posted by sabloke View Post
I wouldn't know mate, to me most Golfs look the same... I'm sure there must be a few mother-in-lawas driving Rs, too

R's part time AWD is in fact 90% front wheels most of the time. I wouldn't believe the 10% sent to the rears makes any difference for normal driving. The only advantage over the GTI seems to be a more balance car due to extra weight of the AWD system. No use to bag the GTI since they're really the same car.
Got much experience with a Haldex equipped car? Or, even better, got much experience in a VAG Haldex car vs a VAG fwd? Around town, in dry conditions, sure there's not much difference.

On a twisty road, or on a wet day on any type of road, the benefits are clear in favour of 4motion/quattro/whatever you want to call it.

Yes, of course, Haldex is not "full-time" awd, but for most of us that point is the theory, whereas in practice it may as well be a full-time system. The Haldex IV setup used on the R (and my S3) is vastly improved for earlier versions and will send power to the rear wheels quicker than any human can detect.

Yes, the car will still understeer, it's not a perfect setup, but the point at which that happens in an R is beyond what a GTI can achieve.