We went for a mk3 in the end black 96, it is going to be our daily after all I will post a pic in the other car section. Pick it up Thursday
Mk3's are pretty much bomb proof. 8v GTi's get slated but if you want a mile muncher with a bit of poke for pennies it's the way to go. They do rust though. VW hadn't perfected their waterbased paint unlike their super solvent based type on the mk2.
Probs looking at a spray job in the future anyway, body is in pretty good nick, so shouldn't be too much Suspension doesn't feel to bad, although the my wife will be driving it mostly, so that's pretty hairy anyway I've put a pic in the other vehicle thread