Saw the Thruxton R at the dealer today and it looks pretty awesome... can't imagine why it would be necessary to spend all that extra cash on a Norton that seems to be problematic and as yet proven. I think if you need to have a truly cool cafe racer style bike (forget the SR/CX 500 craze that the hipsters are getting all worked up over), the R is stunning!
I would put one in the lounge room and just look at it (I would get all the yellow anodised crap polished off though, maybe even strip all the paint off it and just polish and claercoat that too, it would look cool in a raw state).