Yes, quite a rare beast!
Rare or just unpopular due to poor value and lack of 4wd next to an almost identically priced R?
Are unpopular and rare synonymous terms? In some instances they are - VW Black Rubin paint colour being a case in point;
Purple Black Rubin isn’t a popular colour choice
, so not many of these purple Golfs around, making them pretty rare.
As for the Clubsport; I’d say the relatively low volume of Clubsports produced is a factor in its rarity. Agree, some might consider it to represent poor value next to a similarly priced R, but I can remember when the Clubsport was announced, some forum members were happy to pay the premium to have a car that was still a Golf, but one that was a little different. And, if you bought one new, built to your spec, you could have those rather nice bucket seats
; now, they are rare
.