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The 97-early 99 are A3 bodies, 99.5+ are A4.
The A4 have VGT type turbo, so in order to avoid the vanes jamming in soot from FE minded driving, you have to jump on the go pedal every once in a while to exercise your turbo. Else you'll eventually need to have the turbo disasembled and cleaned. It's a 5-6 hours job + some hardware to replace.
The A3 have wastegated turbos, those can be hapilly lugged for extended periods of time.
The A4 turbo is supposedly more efficient, but the car is heavier and bigger so it's pretty much a tie for FE.
Electrical issues are a non issue on a 200k+ miles car. All factory problems will have surfaced out and have been fixed by the previous owner(s).
The A4 is much more refined than the A3, it's quieter inside. The A4 also have glavanized body panels. A3 are pretty much all rusted around here nowadays, you'd have to get one from the south and have it rustproofed.
Whatever choice you make, just make sure you can get all the maintenance history. When you have found one, make an appointment with a TDI guru to have it inspected. Head over to TDIclub.com, there's an Ontario subforum, look for member wingnut. He's in Whitby.
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