If you are worried about buying a car too close to what you currently have why not try a Bora 4mo, 12k would get you a pretty nice one and it will have all the extras that a GTI will have plus a few more, like leather, traction control, heated seats, 4 wheel drive, more power, 6 speed gearbox, better looking shape etc.

...not that I'm biased towards Boras or anything