I remember back in my youth, driving a Mustang SVT with snow tires on in the snow.. and getting stuck in a ditch a few times. When I decided to go front wheel drive and downsized to an Accord V6 coupe I still got stuck, even with the right tires.
When I finally, years and years later, started driving AWD cars, even with worse tires I stopped getting stuck.
AWD might not be worth 10k more but having driven both the GTI and the Golf R I think they are different cars. They may looks similar but the R is just better.
If I could not have afforded the R I would have instead just purchased another WRX Limited with a CVT.
If I was forced to just have a front wheel drive car it would not be the GTI.. like the WRX, too many stories of engine issues. The hardened internals in the R seem to avoid this issue.