>I think they should have ponied up a little money and made a true V-12.

You're potentially talking hundreds of millions of dollars in development
costs.

>with this config what are the true benefits??

It's "footprint". The VR/W configurations make the engines narrower and allows
VW/Audi to squeeze them into places were an engine that size normally would not
fit. The 2.8 Litre VR6 fitted to the Golf/GTi/Jetta is an example of this, as
is the W8 in the Passat.