oh yes it's worth every penny spending £24k+ on a very cool and very nice shopping trolly.
Mr. Clarkeson said something very true about the GTI (mkV) along the lines of drop the kids off at school and then if you wish drive home like you've been stung like a wasp.
He was bang on! Our Mk5 has been fantastic including about town during the week for short commutes, but then come weekends or days out in wales on some lovely roads it's outstanding.
Does everything brilliantly! I've just looked at an S3 (interior is horrid!) \ S4 \ 335i \ M3 \ 550i \ CLS \ even a Q5 sline petrol turbo (same engine as GTI), but have ended up going with Golf GTI again, but got to say the M3 V8 saloon was a dam nice car, but they all didn't put a smile on my face like the GTI does.
It's like having a Q5-ish practicallity coupled with the fun of a R8 all wrapped into a fairly economical hatch back.
Only gotcha is I'm a little tightfisted, so I looked at ACC and thought hmmm is it worth it, can I tell the difference? is it a must have button that will affect the car's resaleability in the future? I've gone with out AAC, my thinking is that the Mk5 set up for me was just the right ballance for sporty \ comfy about town or motorway (thanks to the excellent seats I think also!)