Well, resurrecting an age-old thread from back in the mists of time...
I checked mine this afternoon by flooring it in 3rd gear whilst in Tiptronic aka manual mode. Nothing. Not a sniff. Pulled over to the side of the road, turned my knob clockwise (ooo-errr) about an eighth of a turn. I pulled back into a line of traffic and waited a bit before sinking my right foot to the floor. All I can say is that my silver QEII left her berth at a very rude rate of knots and that's probably

an understatement. I will admit to being a little bit scared when the gearbox lumped it into first gear (from third gear at 30mph) as it pretty much red-lined straight away.
I am sure that I won't be using this facility on a regular basis but will leave it enabled. It has always struck me how lethargic the auto box can be, especially when you want to get a move on. If I ever have a situation where I can safely 'boot' it in order to avoid a possible accident, it is now possible to extricate one's self out of harm's way. Thank you for this beautiful nugget of old information. It was certainly news to me.
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2010 B8 S5 Sportback quattro 3.0 Supercharged in Sprint Blue (current girlfriend)
2000 D2 A8L quattro 4.2 in Audi silver (my ex-girlfriend)