GBFC

I have the current model TTS (and owned the previous model too) and have never used the paddle shifts despite years of driving hot manuals. What i don't understand (and can't find on any website) is do you have to sequentially **** up or down (i.e. 5-4-3-2 etc ) or can you go straight to a different gear as you can with a manual (i.e. 5-4-2) to suit the driving condition such as a tightening curve?

superswiss

Yes, you have to shift sequential. These transmissions are called sequential gearboxes. They are conceptually the same as a motorcycle gearbox. You can downshift 2 or 3 gears at once if you pull the downshift paddle multiple times in rapid succession, like a double click on a mouse. The other option is to use the kickdown switch. If you need to accelerate fast, push the throttle pedal all the way to the floor until you engage the physical switch at the end of the throttle pedal. This will immediately downshift into the lowest possible gear for maximum acceleration. The transmission will also downshift automatically if the revs fall too low and you don't manually downshift, so going into a tight curve, you can either proactively downshift while you are braking into the turn, or you can just let it downshift on its own. It all depends on how fast you are coming in and how fast you want to power back out of it.

I've driven manual transmissions for most of my life and to be honest, the most gears I ever skipped was one or two. Like going from 6 straight to fourth, or fourth straight to second. It's equally easy to do that with the DSG by "double-clicking" the downshift paddle. The transmission may occasionally fight you as the programming in the S models is not as aggressive as in the RS models. My experience is with the RS5, which generally obeys my commands w/o trying to be smarter than me.