I have been messing with the vag com and even though they say that 99's cant use the recode since they are not dbw (and already hold 1st to redline) I decided to try some anyway. None of the codes listed worked and i figured it was because the stock settings were diferent.
It wouldn't hold any of the codes i found online like 12, and 32 but since my stock setting was 0 and not 2 I just added 10 and it held code 10 which I am hoping is the equivalent of sport mode. Ill report back whether or not this changed anything.
But Im wondering if anyone else has tried this.

 

Yup, same story. I think I tested everything from 00001 to 00100 and only 00010 worked which is the so called "sport mode" which i've been in for some 7 months now. I really don't remember what it was like before, can't say which is better - mostly just different feeling.

Most of the online stuff about the tranny recoding is for the 2000+ I believe, at least that's what I figured when mine didn't work the same. Curious if it's just a newer flash of the transmission chip or if they changed hardware around...

 

Wheh, I was expecting to get flamed to death on this one. Glad to hear it is actually "sport mode" and someone else has done it. They say it is because the 2000+ models are drive by wire and we have a cable throttle.