Yet another due to the box.

[Adrian E]

The way it was explained to me, the fact the car is 4wd means there's no power lost through spinning the wheels - it just grips and goes. Assuming the tyres and road surface don't break grip, then the torque converter and oil will be asked to deal with the resulting mechanical strife/heat of any power that can't be transferred quickly enough.

Factor in no oil changes by Audi and gunky oil and that'll pretty much do it over time. If a component doesn't physically fail then the valve bodies and other internal components will get gunked up until something stops working

You don't get these issues with a BMW running similar power with the same box, although they also don't appreciate ancient oil in them.

There's RS6 out there on their original boxes with 120k on them, and others on their 3rd box by 75k, so driving style or quality control probably come in to the equation somewhere too....

Personally I try to limit balls-out starts in lower gears for special occasions and rely on the torque reserves to deal with most traffic situations without giving it full beans.