Think they definitely missed a trick by making the 2 screens separate, surely and opportunity to make one sweeping unit.
The new MB A 35 have the flat unit that sweeps across and though personally think it looks a little bolted on, the concept is good and you would think a nice sleek sweeping unit in the conventional placement would look really good - they have just bolted one next to the other and it looks like it.
Also from shots I have seen, the DSG gear lever is no more, and as someone who flicks between D > S and Manual quite often the exact action of the lever makes that action very easy - The little lever that see there is hardly going to be as tactile and satisfying, it make the dropping from D to S sterile at the point you are obviously looking to make the car more eager.
Exterior styling is not overly bothering me at the moment as the MK 7 Golf looks equally vanilla and dull in its standard guise, so reserving judgement to when see the bulked up performance versions.
The MK 7 drives so well that you doubt that difference is going to be noticeable, and so not much to get excited about really, a new screen layout and some different graphics and less buttons and some connected stuff that likely not use (Car Net)
However, a 400 BHP R with some decent kit might be where the MK 8 actually wins hearts and minds,
Maybe when the GTI and the R couple up to the 48v technology (MK 8.5?) will be the time to take real interest just to see how that tech affects performance and economy, but until then lots of argument just to stick with MK 7