ukdn

For me as an old aircraft/racecar engine mechanic there is never a question of what's best of these two alternatives. It's always DRAIN FROM PAN BOTTOM PLUG! Why? The plug is there for two reasons, one to drain the oil and two to be able to see if any slug or metal shavings. if you don't have a magnetic pan plug install one and make sure you always drain from the pan plug and, as another member answered below, make use all oil is drained so let it stand draining/dripping for a while and then use an extra quart to flush with, some of this oil will come out darker in the beginning but if all comes out very dark do another quart for additional flush. Always use a new washer for the plug, make sure it's tightened to spec and always clean residual oil from bottom of pan to inspect for leak after engine run test.

gk1

As started above almost 10 years ago...I have only drained only once on the first oil change. Zero issues.
For a racecar or an airplane, then maybe it makes sense to check for any damaged caused by extreme environments and use, but for a regular modern street car with synthetic oils...not so much.
It is proven for many many years and many makes that suction oil changes work just fine. Pouring an extra quart through to "flush" is also a bit silly. Anything it could possibly flush would also be caught in the new filter.
With the filter on top a suction change is a no-brainer. I suspect if Audi wasn't going all EVs the next thing to disappear after the dipstick would indeed be the oil drain plug.

JohnEnglish

You're replying to a 10 year old post. The person who posted it hasn't logged in for the last 6 years.

Yeah, as long as the oil is up to temperature and you're performing regular oil changes then using an extractor is fine. The engine was designed for that and it's how Audi specifies that oil changes be done. If the state of the engine is unknown, or if it's in really rough shape then yes, I'd drop the pan and flush it out.