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The Audi A5 and A4 have been made available with the company’s double-clutch gearbox, the seven-speed S-Tronic transmission.

The new gearbox, only available with the 2.0-litre TFSI petrol engine, speeds up gearshifts and cuts the cars’ acceleration times.

The Audi A5 reaches 62mph in 6.2sec, 0.3sec faster than the manual car, and emits 1g/km less of CO2.

In the Audi A4 saloon 62mph arrives in 6.5sec, 0.1sec faster than the manual, while fuel consumption and CO2 emissions a...Read the full article

So for an extra £1240 you get 0.1-3 sec faster performance, 1g/km less emissions. DSG might be the future for transmissions but the extra cost does not seem to justify it. The extra mass and complexity of the DSG system is currently more suited to higher end performance. On the other hand with the discounts you can get now, perhaps they will be throwing in DSG upgrades for free.

overboost:

So for an extra £1240 you get 0.1-3 sec faster performance, 1g/km less emissions. DSG might be the future for transmissions but the extra cost does not seem to justify it.

Don't forget it replaces the conventional automatic, which for most ordinary punters will be its main feature, that is, self-shifting gears, rather than the chance to change gear by steering wheel paddles and squeeze out extra performance. I think this is overlooked too much by performance enthusiasts who stack it up against manual boxes rather than torque converting autos.

Excellent point Horseandcart!  As a disabled driver who's been condemed to drive "slushers" for the last 30 odd years, I find the development of DSG-type gearboxes very exciting, as they open up the choice of "interesting" cars that I can drive - cannot see the point of a DSG without "flappy-paddles" to operate it though!

 

On a different point:  Back in 1976 I rolled my old AC Invacar - would be interesting to see if Steve can make it drift!  If Autocar can get hold of an Invacar, make sure it has a tiller bar not a steering wheel - they were slightly more controlable ;-}}}

 

Without meaning to be harsh - I think you've missed the point. Conventional auto's command a similar premium but sap power and response. If anything, the DSG box suits lower powered cars better as it does not impact the performance negatively.

Based on your logic - surely the advantages more than justify the cost compared to a normal auto? 

Personally, I'm not a fan of any type of automatic transmission, but my dad who has had a 3.0 TDI A4 conventional auto for the last few years and a 2.0 TDI A3 DSG for my mum has been waiting a long long time for this box to be available on the A4.

I think the primary benefit of this over a manual A4/A5 is that you no longer have to be a freak of nature with two right legs in order to drive one comfortably. 

 I like Audis, in fact I have one on order, but I would never, even for a moment dream of buying a current A4 or A5 for the simple reason that the pedals are in the car next door.  I never cease to be amazed at the road test reviews which note this horror of a driving position and then go on to award the car three or four stars - I'm sorry, but there's nothing of more fundamental importance in the average car than the need for it to attempt to interact with me in broadly the same places in which my limbs are arranged.  I find it inexcusable that Audi have brought to market such a fundamentally flawed design, I can only imagine they don't consider RHD markets to be sufficiently important to get it right, and/or they're banking on most people just mindlessly buying their badge anyway.  That's not a strategy that deserves to succeed, and I hope it doesn't - if this is the way of all future Audis, my next will be my last.