Which one has faster acceleration? If sport shift is your choice, at what rpm do you up shift?

 

I believe SS is faster. I shit at redline w.e. RPM that is.

I do this rarely in the RL

 

Using a g-tech, no difference in overall time for my RL.

 

Interesting...
I think it depends on whether you are accelerating from a dead stop or not. If you are, it doesn't seem to make any difference... but if the car is already moving and you downshift in SS mode, the ECU retards the ignition timing for about 4 seconds to limit the shock to the AWD system.
I drive with the transmission in SS mode about 90% of the time these days simply because I can't stand the way it's always trying to shift into 5th gear. When the time comes to make a pull to redline, that's when I put it in full auto.

 

I am in D 99.5% of the time. The other 0.5% of the time, I'm in stop-and-go rush hour traffic, and the SS works best then. The shifts are so slow with the SS that it's not worth my effort. It is no substitute for a real manual, which is why I own a car with one in addition to the RL.

To directly answer the question, I've measured acceleration and it's no different between the two. I just let the tranny do its own shifting.

 

I thought it accelerated better while in D mode for the reasons given above. Plus I used to bang off the rev limiter frequently in SS mode.

 

The ss mode is too slow, I can't find any difference with that and the D5, the only good thing about it, it is the ability for me to manually down shift to the second gear (without pressing a button) to generate more torques for tight corners. I find the sport shift is MUCH faster on the Audi then the one in our RL (it takes 2 seconds to respond). However, I still love everything else in my RL!