Muffinpox posted:

Coming out of the corner is where the AWD really shines, the car doesn't one tire fire out of the corner despite a good amount of torque being put down, and it doesn't push the way fwd would with a diff, but that's really the only note about the AWD and then it hits me. Marketing. Marketing made this car.

Turbo and AWD will never get away from the evo8/9 and early STis in America. The big, stupid loving park bench spoiler. The hood vents and scoops. The stare and drive. They are amazing cars to this day, but they are performance cars. They handle and perform well first, AWD and turbo second, and comfortable third. They were compromise cars based off of a base model but livability was the compromise. The golf r was built in the reverse order. It's a hotted up GTi that still handles like a GTi, but is just the answer to a focus groups "Well this car is great but what if it was more money and all wheel drive?" The extra 100hp and AWD don't really add anything to the GTI that wasn't there before. You don't need Daniel Day Lewis as the main lead in a third grade play, sometimes you just need to be proud you did something great with what you had.