When I bought my GTI just over 3 years ago I didn't really do much research into the potential of an Ed30 compared to a GTI in power terms - at that point I told myself I was done with the modding game and 200bhp standard would more than suffice...
Predictably, the modding bug bit again and my GTI is pretty much at its potential on the K03 with all the bolt-ons. Knowing now that an Ed30 with the same mods would be making a solid 350bhp does make me wish I'd held out for one (I've naturally been toying with a k04 conversion for a while), but hindsight ey.
In all honesty it's only the power potential I'm personally missing. For other people it's the exclusivity, or both, which is fair enough. Perhaps if VW released the Ed30 on proper boost like the S3 it'd maybe have caught my attention more at the time, but as we all know VW were never going to release a GTI with more power than the 'flagship' R32.
But anyway, bottom line is all you guys with an Ed30 or Pirelli own the best iteration of arguably the best Golf GTI for decades