Apologies infernox if that makes your decision tougher! I feel your pain having been through the choice between the 2 so recently.
I only do around 8000 miles per year so personally I just found I really wasn't making use of the extra performance. Plus I really fancied going back to a manual as I don't do a lot of motorway miles, I'd have stuck with dsg if I did.
However for me it was all down to numbers, my R was around 35k new just under 2 years ago and the offer I got on this gti was just under 26k, so in my head I was seeing it as a £9000 gap between the 2 cars, and to me there was no way the gti felt like 9k less of a car, for my needs anyway.
However if the values of the 2 cars you are looking at are closer (considering varying mileage etc) then I would never advise against the R to anybody, that near super car performance is awesome when you do get to enjoy it and brings a massive grin to your face, and terrifies passengers for good measure too!
Good luck with the the decision!
Have to agree about what a great all rounder the performance golfs are as said above. (Had a mk6 gti before the R too.) I've done a lot of miles in a dozen or so hire cars for work in recent weeks and nothing ticks all the boxes for me that either the gti or R did and I couldn't wait to give the hire cars back and get back in the Golf! From performance and the ride to all the driver convenience bits, there really isn't much out there that manages just to get it all right for a daily driver in the way the Golfs do.
