welcome to the forum and VW's mate
as gibby said above you cant really go wrong with a nice Mark 3 VR6, the ones with the leather interior etc are the VR6 highlines so keep ur eye out for one of those. Plus they sound awesome with it being a V6
But as you say the 1.8 turbo is always a temptation for the amount of tuneability they have! Tis a tough choice in my eyes! Depends what your budget is and how soon you want to get a golf.