Hate to say it but I chopped in my 65 plate (facelift) Evoque, it was a total rattle bucket and numerous trips to different dealers was to no avail, friend at work had one too and had did the same thing but went for an X5 instead of a Golf. Drove alright the 9speed as you say is good, the raised driving position is nice n all but I always looked at RR/Sports and though "Oh, maybe I'm not so high".