I know, most readers here already know the stats (more or less) for the TCH--I just wanted to make the comparison more clear. When you mention the power and so forth of the GTI and talk about how that's a significant part of your decision-making, and don't mention the numbers for the TCH, it sounds like somehow TCH just can't compete with those stats, when in reality it's quite close on all the specs of the GTI you mentioned. And, obviously, has a lot of features and benefits the GTI can't compete with. Plus as someone said, you can always sport your TCH up if you want a sportier look--but the base TCH is still a good-looking, very comfortable, and well set-up car.