i test drove the STI one more time before purchased the R32. It is a wicked machine. I have no doubts an STI will hand me my arse all day long. But speed is not everything to me. Not anymore. Heck, today Michael dyno'ed his GTI (my old one), it put more torque than I can ever dream of on my .:R (238whp/279tq). Do you guys think I am an idiot? Or an impulse buyer? No. I looked at my options, and R32 came first. Do I regret it? Absolutely not, I don't look back a single time. It fits me perfect. It suits my driving skills perfect. It has class, image, luxury, quality, uniqueness.
Does it have shortcomings? Yes! It is considerably heavy, but on highend where modded GTIs choke the R pulls and pulls and pulls. Not to mention the handling. Honestly, it is not slow at all. You can trust me.
To me, it is more imprtant if I AM fast, not the car. Maybe older I get, more rational I become. There are guys here like Alf, Dan, Sco (not here anymore, we banned him), we see such slow cars taking over faster ones because of driver skills.
So, Mr. Alf, knowing you enough, if you buy an R, you wont regret it. However, I still would like to be the only one in the family man.
Cheers.