I’d go the leather, as I think one of the best things to come out of the facelift was the introduction of the perforated leather on the sears, which elevates it from plain dull leather to something befitting of a performance Golf. With the red showing through the perforations on the GTI, it perfectly balances the cabin and gives just the right hint of ‘performance’ or ‘sportiness’.
I’ve had leather in last few Golfs (with heated seats which I’d never give up), and have simply never experienced the extremes of it being really hot in summer and freezing in winter. Maybe that’s true of some leather interiors but I’ve yet to experience it in a Golf with a leather interior, and we’ve just had a pretty hot summer and at no point were the leather seats boiling, and that’s with a car parked all day in direct sunlight in works car park. The leather steering wheel gets hot but the seats seem to escape it. And if you’re driving around the aircon is your friend anyway. Similarly, been through many winters with leather and seats have never been really cold at all.
As JB’s pics show, it’s a beautiful interior.