Thought i would update this thread a little. Over a year on and 26k later I've still got just under 5mm of tread left, noise wise maybe not quite as good as when they were new but still massivly better than some Conti's my Mum has on her Audi A3. I suspect i'll get another 10k out of them before i want to change (never like them getting all the way to the blocks), but will certainly be looking at these again come that time. may see if they do a none XL in my size as i think that may be the cause of the noise i'm hearing now, if not i'm not too worried.
Just had a Nexen 295/45/20 balanced and fitted for £130. The owner of the tyre bay said they're good value and it seems VW are fitting them to their stock now.