Interesting read. I have had a ed30 for the last three years and was due a change. After ruling out m135i due to space and toying with a few others i drove the manual mk7 gti. It was surprisingly bland, i was expecting more after reading the reviews which have been extremely positive but i just couldn't see it or indeed feel it in the way the car drove. To put it in perspective my ed30 is stage one so i wasn't expecting it to match it for throttle response and grunt but it was no where near it for those but also steering feel on the mk5 was far better. So went hunting for a edition 35 as the next contender. Drove one today and bought it, nuff said. A great crossover over the engine character of the ed30 with some extra mk6 refinement. When this thing is stage one i really think it will be the great all rounder i need.
