I'd still take the R, better looking inside and out, four wheel drive, four real seats and if the local BMW customer service is anything to go by I'd stay well clear,
A mate had a clutch replaced by them recently, they broke a drive shaft seal and it emptied oil all over his nice tarmac drive. Another friend has had a 3 series with them for two weeks, as it keeps stopping, they still don't know what's wrong with it but it looks like a Vanos problem, that should be a nice repair bill.
I probably won't be changing for another two years or so and will wait to see what the MK7 R is going to be like but likely to go in that direction.