In a word, no, the 32 is not by any means slow.
Too much onus is placed 0-60 times, as they don't tell the whole story.
The golf is an admittedly heavy car, and the car has the inertia of a 4 wheel drive system to overcome, none of which blights the Type R.
Love him or hate, Jeremy Clarkson knows his cars, and he gets to drive plenty of machinery that we all dream about - the R32 is his favourite hot hatch, and I'm sure that's not without reason.