I owned a Mk 4 R32 before buying the Edition 30. It was highly modified - Full Milltek with sports cats, K & N Typhoon, Schrick cams, Revo map and I probably only gained 25bhp so as VC said, not much gain but lots of ££££.
I miss the noise, the handling and the traction. It handled a lot better than the Ed30 does, sticks to the road better, no wheel spin and sounded
It also looks nicer IMO.
Part of me regrets selling it, but part of me doesn't. The Edition 30 is superior in some ways - it's more nimble, huge power gains for not much £££ and more comfortable on long journeys.
Would I own another? Well no, because I have been there, done that. Not because I didn't like the car but just because I would want something different. I nearly replaced it with a Mk 5 R32 - had specced one up, test drove one and went into the dealers to place my order. Thought I would try the Edition 30 to satisfy myself that I didn't want one, and ended up ordering one instead of an R32. The Edition 30 won it due to tuneability, cheaper tax, cheaper to buy and the fact that I'd done the V6 thing and had never had a turbo'd car.
Running costs are cheaper on the Edition 30, but not hugely cheaper. It was getting to the point where the R32 was coming up to 5 years old and little things were starting to go wrong with it and seeing as parts aren't cheap for them I decided a newer car was necessary to have 3 years of warantied, stress free driving.
It depends what you want from the car. If you're not into modifying
then you're on the wrong forum then I'd say go for the R32. It's a better package in standard form. However, if increases in power is what you want then get an Edition 30.