You rang
For what it's worth I love my ed35 and that's after almost 5 years in an ed30 so it's high praise imo...
Why do I love it? Well i guess it's because it feels just like the 30 did but more polished in almost all areas
Drives just like my ed30 which imo is a good thing, goes just as well, in fact I'd say my 35 is slightly stronger top end compared to the 30 (running the same stage 1 Bluefin). Handling wise the 35 seems sharper as a standard car than the 30 was although I do have the XDS turned up to max which makes quite a difference,
Interior quality is a big jump up and the mk6 is a much nicer place to sit with far fewer rattles than the mk5 had lol!
To me the 35 feels just 'better' in all areas and the standard spec improvement is a nice touch, bendy xenons, front and rear LEDs, leather, Bluetooth etc makes it feel very nice indeed,
Yes I could have bought an R, but for the spec and mileage of my 35 an R would have been £5-6K more at the time! I paid £22k for my 35 as a 6k mile 9 month old car