My 06 GTI came with Contis, my 07 Ed30 came with Dunlop ShyteMax, can't remember what the 56 plate R32 came with, my present Ed30 came with Michelin Pilot Exaltos and my wife's 08 R32 has Dunlop ShyteMax. In order of preference...
1. Contis - superb grip and the best tyre out of the lot, although they wear fast. Mine lasted 13k miles on a standard GTI, while the Michelins lasted 28k miles on my present Ed30

2. Michelins - excellent grip, but not as good as the Contis. Last forever.
3. Dunlop ShyteMax - why do they put this tyre on GTI/R32s?! As the name suggests, its a seriously shyte tyre from my experience and I am sure a lot of you will agree. It was so bad that when I got my first Ed30, it was under-steering like a pig and finding it hard to keep traction. I thought it was the Ed30, but it was the Dunlops. Even my wife's R32 loses a bit of traction going round corners when slightly pushes which is ridiculous. Truly rubbish tyres.
I currently have Michelin Pilot Sports on my Ed30 and they are the dogs danglies

Way better than all the above.

Bye bye wheel spin...