Have any of you guys with the clubsport 40 also owned the Mk7 golf R? I'm currently in a spot where the facelift Golf R and Clubsport 40 are around the same price. I prefer the clubsport looks but how does the fwd compare to awd? How does the pre-facelift interior compare to the facelift one?
Since you ask, here's my story:
I haven't owned an R but I test drove it when I thought I was set on it as my next car (had no clue about the Clubsport at the time). I had a good offer and was very close on ordering it, still something didn't feel 100% right. Then I asked for a second test-drive just to be sure of my initial feelings which in short were: "doesn't feel or drive as special as I'd like my next car to be" and that didn't change. I forgot all about a Golf until only a month later that I found out VW had made something more special which seemed to be ticking all my boxes. I was sold on the Clubsport's looks at first site but I took a bet and ordered it without having even been inside one (let alone drive it), only with the faith that if SEAT can use VW parts to make an excellent FWD car like the Cupra which I had driven and knew well, certainly VW should be able to match that and more. 8 months later all I can say is that the car exceeded all my expectations.
I have written (very) long posts about how the two cars compared in my eyes in several forums so I'd rather not go through that again in detail. The bottom line is that the R is definitely a very capable all-rounder, but is let down by conservative styling (the times I have taken ordinary 1.4 TSI's in R-line trim for R's and had to take a look at the tailpipes to be sure...) and the fact that you can't "abuse" it as you might want to do with a performance car close to the limit. It's a point-and-shoot car that will put its power down in almost every scenario but there isn't much in the way you can choose to take a corner, the car basically drives itself, no drama (not necessarily a bad thing for everyone out there mind you).
The Clubsport on the other hand is a tighter and sharper machine that you feel from the very first tight corners without even doing crazy speeds. It's quite civilised when you want it but at the same time the harder you push the more you seem to get back from the car in terms of feed-back and grip, that you usually end up discovering you could have pushed even more despite the fact it seemed impossible. It will lose from a drag-race (if that's your thing) and it will spin its wheels if your foot only operates in On/Off modes or if you can't/won't bother planning your steering and throttle inputs but it is a much more rewarding drive when you want to go that extra mile.
The thing is that it is more rewarding even when you don't feel like committing that much. The meaner looks, the sportier interior and exterior and the louder pops and crackles during lift-off and gear-changes can put you in the right mood in no time even during the most boring commute and that is a big win over the R for me. Personally, I had had sleepers in the past but just knowing what your car can do is often not enough. This time I wanted to go to the parking lot and see something more shameless looking, something that would excite me to go drive it hard because of what I saw in the flesh, not because of 0-60 and bhp figures that I have in my mind.
