Well, I have the exact car you are talking about. A 61 reg Polo GTI.
Cars from August 2011 had uprated injectors, pistons/ rings and a few other minor modifications. VAG have been very good with dealing with any issues under warranty. DSG issues have basically stemmed from the mechatronics units and again these are sorted via warranty.
The car itself is very sprightly as stock, the suspension is capable and is as fast as a MKVI GTI to 62mph. Give the car some extra mods and the car is a little bombshell.
The bonus is that the fuel consumption is better than most performance cars should have the right to be and the tax is half that of what you'd expect. The stock brakes are poorer than I thought they would be and the boot space with the rear seats in place isn't big ( very good when down though), apart from that I cannot think of any negatives. Even the oil consumption hasn't been a worry, 1/2 a litre in 3k miles is all I've had to put in mine.
A great little car and I'm more than happy with ownership to date.