not sure on the differences between the two but i did own an 8v gti for a few weeks.

I blew the heater matrix the night i got it by giving it a pasting. This was beacsue there was a recall on them and mine hadnt been done.

It was alot quicker than i thought it would be and i was on the arse of a mates vr6 when we had a little first and second gear blast. Didnt handle to bad either , bit boaty but did handle well.

I took this pic of it



and less than an hour later this happened lol