I got myself a dd last week 1998 A4 1.8T Quattro, Automatic.
It has 160K miles, got it for cheap so it is not perfect.

The car seems to space out right after starting, no torque at 3000-4000 rpm the needle just jumps up, very slow to down shift, if I keep pushing hard on gas pedal pass 4500rpm it will kick down to 2000rpm at around 40mph and goes smoothly after that, runs very well on freeway.

Is it normal, I am not familiar with the turbo, any advise on what might be wrong.

Thanks.