my old flat mate used to own a fairly powerful (abt 180kw at the wheels) rs liberty, he lost his license so it became my daily drive for a while.. i now own an r32 with the same power, and have driven both on a daily basis... the rs seems to have a little more down low (but again this is because of turbo choice on the rs)... drivetrain is an issue with gbox strenght being a downside of the rs, but again it can be overcome. the ej's top mount cooler suffers a bit with heatsoak, esp with the hotter days, but again can be overcome...
they both seem to have a fairly high lifespan