I was told by a salesman that the 1998 gen 5 VFR800 suffered from some fuel injection problems, which were fixed in the 1999 models. (See my other thread on shopping for a gen 5 VFR). Now, I'm certainly not prone to believe everything a salesman tells me, particularly when he's trying to get me into a 2001, instead of letting me buy a cheaper 1998. I also know that it's possible for the first year of a new model to have some bugs that get worked out in following years. Is there anything that would make a 1999 preferable over a 1998 with similar mileage and equipment?
I haven't had any problems with the fuel injection on my bike, but it's had a couple previous owners. I do believe that they put catalytic converters on the 2000 and on bikes if I remember right...something to note is all.
I remember reading in Motorcyclist that the '98 was a bit "unrefined" in the lower RPM range, which was smoothed out by '99, but it hardly seemed like much of a concern.