My car hasnt been lightened at all?! My car has full leathers! When I went home for Christmas, rolling along the A303 at 70 I averaged 39.2mph on the way back, and got just over 365 miles from the tank. My highest MPG average was 53.2 from Basingstoke to Plymouth at 58mph.
And how can you possibly compare a modified soot chucker to a standard 1.8t? The modified soot chucker wouldnt be any better on fuel than a modified 1.8t.
You say the Haldex works better than FWD but not in any context. Yes, Haldex works better than FWD for a hard launch, if you can't drive, or in the mud and snow, but IMO for daily driving it is in FWD mode 90% of the time dragging its **** along behind it! If the OP lives in a town, or does a lot of motorway driving then FWD is by far his best choice. If he doesn't it is still debatable, bearing in mind we arent talking about an S3 here, we are talking about two cars with the same power and engine, one with Haldex and one without.
Lets please not turn this into another "FWD is ****, well Haldex is for gays" thread, because I would hate to embarass anybody in front of a newbie and it just isnt relevent to the question asked.