....
Been out very early this morning (5:30am) and tried kick-down. I got wheelspin and lit up the TC which was very quickly brought under control with the help of the Quaife, WALK, suspension, and without any juddering, but I must say I prefer the smoother driving style of better anticipation and using the paddles to make fast acceleration without the drama of kick-down.
Then you need to ditch those Goodyears, and get some decent grippy french rubber! 
Seriously, though, I generally get very little wheelspin with my PS2s. But then I do tend to turn off the TC and let my right foot control the wheelspin. Can I ask what gear you were originally in, and what gear did it kick down to? And what kind of speed were you doing just before the kickdown.
Perhaps you could actually try it again with the TC turned off. 
Oh, and at a slightly warmer time of day, to give your tyres a fair chance of getting warm! 
....I'm afraid that I never turn off the TC (ESP button) on public roads. The TC light only momentarily flickered before all was under control - Really smooth and doubtless helped by my
VWR Quaife!
Yes, my tyres had only done about 6 miles and have just under 4mm on the fronts.
I was in 5th (expecting a kick-down to 3rd) at about 50 mph - All in D-mode.
I'll have to do more kick-down testing but it's not my normal style of driving.
In the past I've sometimes double clicked the paddles to drop 2 gears, probably not as fast etc as kick-down but I feel I've now learnt to be more constantly in the optimum gear (from driver training) and don't need to do this anymore. Only in emergency perhaps.
You have sort of hit the nail on the head. Under ideal driving situations, then you are correct in that you should be paddling down, before you actually need to accelerate - and this should normally not be a problem for any delay in say going from 6th to 5th, 5th to 4th, and 4th to 3rd - etc. And if it is only one cog you need to drop, then the paddles are a perfect answer, and probably better than the kickdown.
But on the flipside, there are a few valid reasons why kickdown is preffered (rightly or wrongly) to using the paddles. The first, and most obvious is simply someone who has come from a conventional auto, and has never actually had any kind of 'tiptronic' function (be that paddles, or the floor mounted shift lever). If my grey matter recalls correctly, didn't you come from an auto beemer, and never used the GTI paddles for the first 30k miles?
Another reason to use the kickdown - maybe you are trundling along at 40mph in a long queue of traffic, with a pesky caravan up front, and you have sort of given up trying to get by - so just leave the DSG 6th gear (be that in manual or auto mode). And suddenly, just like someone parting the sea, a gap appears, you really haven't got time to be paddling down 3 or 4 cogs, so nailing the loud pedal instantly gives you the lowest possible gear for max acceleration. So this instance of using kickdown would be way quicker than paddling down. 
So, all I am trying to say, is that both paddle shifting down, and using the kickdown each have their own advantages and disadvantages - and just one particular method isn't always 100% the correct one to use at all times.
....I understand your point and the caravan example scenario, and I agree. My driving style nowadays is that I would never follow a vehicle in 6th - It's my habit to always pop down into 5th or 4th on my approach to a slower vehicle, even when overtaking on dual carriageway. I'll pop down a cog on just the slightest hint in anticipation of something ahead - Then if it doesn't materialise I can often be back up a gear within only a few seconds - All very easy with paddles. No wonder I only get 28 mpg!
It certainly was thousands of miles before I started using the paddles but not as many as 30k! (IIRC) But this doesn't invalidate your point. I used to use S-mode for all overtakes - Odd, eh?
Obviously we all drive slightly differently and DSG offers us even
more options.
Presumably this new Regal DSG software doesn't have any effect on such actions - Or does it?
But I really can't understand what particular 'issue' with the kickdown you don't like - or would like Regal to 'solve'! 
....Slight misunderstanding - I was only wondering if Regal's offering included any effect on kick-down but not thinking there was a problem it could solve - Mostly because I never use it except in a percieved emergency in which I thought it could help.
