Preference for leather or cloth is very much a personal thing, although the choice has been removed for buyers of new GTI's, GTD's and R's.
Personally, I prefer cloth, which holds its shape much better than the VW leather. I've seen some very 'saggy' examples of leather seats on nearly new Golfs and I don't like the saggy look.
Agree that the leather looks good when new and wipes clean more easily than cloth. Heated seats also gets around the problem of cold seats in the winter, but the hot, sticky problem in summer remains, as does the susceptibility to scuffs and scratches from zips, and other fastenings on clothes.
Interesting to see that the Golf GTI convertible has the traditional Jakara cloth as standard, and not leather.