Around here, some of us really love dual-clutch transmissions and see then as the the future. Others of us (ahem) are row ‘em if you got ‘em types; backwards but happy. One thing we can agree on is that plain old regular manumatics suck. Save for Mercedes’ 7-speed and the crazy-fast 8-speed Lexus stick in the IS-F. But the rest are all bad. The point to my rambling? One of the worst offenders, Audi’s Tiptronic S, is about to go the way of the dodo. Audi was in fact a pioneer in the dual-clutch world when their version (DSG) first showed up on an A3 (and the GTI) a few years back. Only problem was, that DSG system couldn’t handle the mega-power produced by the bulk of Audi’s engines. No more. Meet the 7-speed S Tronic dual-clutch that can swallow 406 lb-ft of torque. Meaning it can go in every car Audi makes, save for the crazy V12 TDI. Yes sir, an R8 with a dual-clutch. That could be epic. Sadly, we’re going to need to travel to Europe to find the new tranny in the Q5 and S5, as Audi will not be offering the uber-DSG in the States. Yet. Boo. [Autoblog]