Andy
No issue with your view - each to their own. I drove all the cars back to back and while the RS3 is a great car no way I would pay 50k for one..
I can honestly say the 330d left me gob smacked when I drove it hard.. It's far from a rep mobile and tbh I like the fact most people don't have any idea of the performance on offer. For 34k the deal I got, I didn't, in the end, come close to ordering an S3 or anything else because the refinement was way ahead of all the others..
Running costs are a small but real consideration and the bmw delivered 42 mpg on my very hard test drive.. The golf gti 28, the S3 and R about 25-26.. And I would wager over most roads the bmw would easily keep up with the others..
In vanilla spec the 3 series is dull, but with the 3 liter engine, M sport plus pack with bigger brakes etc it's a very compelling package.. You should at least drive one.. I live the golf gti but ultimately they are all 4 cyl hatches..