I had an '03 GTi VR6 for about 7 months. One of my roommates took it so I could buy my bike
They are great when new. Torque MONSTERS compared to Hondas. Power band is just way bigger. The pedals that Shards was talking about is the Drive by Wire system. No cables, it's done electronically (just more shit to break later).
My roommates and friends LOVE VWs. That said, I should take a pic of my driveway for you people. It's a VW graveyard out there. We've got four, count them four, non running VWs out there.
We'll have to wait and see if the Gen 4s can hold up a little longer, but the older ones break all the time. Got another friend with an '01 Golf two point slow with about 50k on it and it's breaking to hell already so it's not lookin' good so far.
My own personal theory has always been that VWs and Hondas will last the same amount of time/miles if kept right. The difference being that VWs break earlier and more often, whereas Hondas break later and bigger. You start having your first real serious problems with VW at about 40-60k. Hondas? Pshhh, like 120k.
So you can guess where I stand.
Or can you?