If it helps, ive had my 197 for 3 months now and 2.5k. In 2002 I bought a brand new 172 which was a big hike up from a Pug 306 diesel, and I thinks its fair to say it suffered from faults over the whole car bar the engine which was faultless. In crude speed tests it would do 0-60 in 6.5 or so and on a slight down hill would do 145mph. Loved the car but by 2006 it was knackered. 40K on the clock, rattles, electric faults etc. The car had had maybe 25% of his life being driven hard but the rest was .....legal?! I sold up and bought a 225 Audi TT, I had the build qaulity that I wanted,but the car was off the pace, show it a corner and it went straight on, so come 2007 the order went in and my 197 arrived. What a mistake! I kept 80% of the build quality of the Audi, but only 50% of the performance and "grin factor" of the 172. These crude test again gave 0-60 of around 7.5 and I got fed up of crawling past 125 mph. I know it might not be fully run in, but you can just tell theres not much more it can give. I havent driven a corsa vxr so cant comment, but I can give quite informed advice..... Dont buy 197, if the 182 makes you smile half as much as my 172 did then keep it, and look after it. If you want the more grown up approach like in the 197, get something with the VAG 2.0 turbo engine in, giving you the excellant build quality,performance and economy to match.
Now i'll wait to get bood of the stage as Im the new boy............