Audi's service model is interval-based, not symptom-based. The difference matters: by the time a DSG shudders, the mechatronic is already stressed. By the time carbon buildup causes rough idle, the deposits are thick and the engine has been breathing restricted air for tens of thousands of miles. The service intervals exist to prevent those conditions, not to respond to them.
The most expensive Audi repairs we see are almost always preceded by multiple missed service opportunities. A $250 DSG fluid service that was skipped twice becomes a $2,400 mechatronic replacement. A $450 walnut blast deferred for 40,000 miles becomes a $650 walnut blast plus a diagnosis workup for misfire codes. The math is consistent and the pattern repeats across every make and model we service.