i suspect if I was buying an R on lease I would have had to think about. However I bought it with cash purchase and fairly good return (Part Ex) on my GTI PP so I took the plunge while the going was good. At slower speeds there is not much to tell the difference between a GTI and R except for the lack of tramping etc, in wet conditions. However when you get a chance to get in to the higher rev range the car starts to show how much more it can do. I still miss my GTI PP it was a really awesome car. It's just my R seems to be almost the same except it has resolved the minor niggles one might have with the GTI, which to be honest there are not really that many if at all as it was such a cracking car.
However I am glad I got the R, as where the GTI is 8/10ths of being perfect in my opinion the R provides the other 2 to be the full 10/10ths perfect.

Enjoy your car mate when you get it.