I thought the mk6 rides a little bit softer and more refined but for that reason I preferred the 7. Coming straight from only ever having had a mk5 it was good to do a "first drive" of both back to back.
You can see the mk6 was aimed at a slightly softer audience but no joke within 25 meters I could tell the mk7 was a totally different animal. I did also love the sound of the 7 at top of the rev range, sounds way better than the 6. One of the roads I drove had some very sharp corners and long twisty curves and frankly I was amazed at the grip and feel of the 7, for what is essentially a tallish hatchback. No torque steer at all either.
It's a shame no dealers seem to have a perf pack option car to try out the e diff but for me it's the must tick option box, a total no brainer.
Agree with you to a point about the spec, you do get more goodies than the 6, but they have pulled a bit of a fast one with some options - like the basic nav which is std on the gt model and yet a 700+ option on the gti yet the offer the perf pack for more or less same price- they clearly now which options boxes most people will tick and have subsidized some options with others !
I did a check on drive the deal and a3 door with metallic, pan roof, perf pack and basic nav came in at just over 25k I think which isn't bad.