Hill decent control is one of the three amigos, it only works when you are in 4 low. Other than that method you will need to power bleed, either with the proper tool by by jumping the ABS relay in the fuse box. Otherwise without those two methods you will not get proper pedal by just regular bleeding.

 

The D1 does not have the advanced ABS/Traction system the D2 does.

Are your brake lines new? If they are old rubber, that could be contributing to the pedal feel.

Alternatively, I struggled to get mine up to snuff in my D1 as well after I overhauled all the hydraulics and bled it everyway I knew how. The method that worked was an old school slow, non-pressure manual bleed. One person is in the car and one person at the bleeder. Have the person in the car SLOWLY press the brake as the the other opens the bleeder, and SLOWLY push it to the floor. Close the bleeder at the bottom of travel, and repeat. DO NOT mash the pedal multiple times to build pressure.

 

Yes the brake lines are not the rubber ones, so I guess previous owner did that. Just did the old fashion bleed again, but we did the pump up the pressure version......will try the slow pump version tomorrow. Thank you.