could be an inner cv on its way out, i had a mk3 vr6 on coilovers years back and when dropped low it would eat the inner cvs... hated changing them aswell. could the noise be from the diff if the wheels spinning it would be working hard, dont/didnt the fwd golf turbos have problems ripping all those rivets out around the diff housing.. do the a3's suffer that?
sorry op, not trying ta put the fear of god in ya, probably just something loose and rattling...