Different things for different people. It's all relative to your circumstances and criteria.
Personally for me, the S3 is the sensible choice, and one that only used my head, here's why;
Safety stats, AWD, 5 door, reasonable size boot, economic (lower cost, fuel, tax, insurance, depreciation and servicing compared to previous cars), plus still has the minimum level of performance I wanted.
Nothing about my choice for the S3 was made by the heart - it was largely a functional decision so we could expand our family and have two cars that we can use as a family, instead of just one. Yes I wanted minimum levels of performance, but had my heart led my decision I would have ended up in something far less family friendly.