Rear suspension for 200 Quattro Avant

[mark schofield]

Can anyone tell me what is so special about the rear shock absorbers on a
1987 200 Quattro Turbo Wagon that hardly anyone seems able to reference a
replacement? Is the shocker different dimensionally or does it just have
different damping characteristics? I've checked with a number of aftermarket
manufacturers, suspension specialists and Q-Listed parts houses and seem to
be getting different stories about what fits what.
Any recommendations?

Also, can anyone explain the significance of the last character in Audi Part
nos., usually a letter e.g. 123 456 789 D? In some cases on the ETKA CD
there is more than one item where the first 9 nos. are the same and only the
letter code is different but it isn't always clear which part fits which
model.

TIA

Mark