I ended up going for the cut above and picked up a Golf R to join my BRZ

Congrats! TR is such an underrated color for the GTI/R.

Thanks! Yeah TR, especially for an R, is a very rare sight :)

I loved the MKVII GTI that I test drove in the summer for 2014. The DSG is a great gearbox (and I'm sure the 6MT is as well... it was on my MKV GTI), the interior is great, and the car is fun to bomb around on secondary roads and the interstate. That said, they are two totally different cars. If you really work out a GTI on a country road, you'll feel the extra weight, the forward bias in weight distribution, and the high CG. The GTI is a great jack of all trades car. The FR-S will often feel out of its element on the interstate, but dammit if it isn't amazing on a back road. I drove mine for 150 miles of WV back roads a few weeks back and it was phenomenal. The car is so quick when it gets really twisty.