The 24v vr6 are very nice out of the box; smooth power and a nice v6 exhaust note. The 1.8t are not as much power in stock form(180 for the 1.8t, 200 for the vr6).
Really It depends on how you do most of your driving, the 1.8t has ALOT of midrange power but it does fall on it's face around 5500 because, simply, the turbo is too small. The VR6s I've drove were a very linear pull that just didn't stop. But I did miss the ~245ftlbs kick in the pants my chipped 1.8t delivered around 3k...
I don't think you can go wrong with either motor.
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Ill say i go by His and Al's thoery of "Your getting sprayed" Doesnt matter what it is. Grandma in the 1982 LTD is gettin the bottle.