MOT Risk Index.co.uk

Audi Q3 — MOT statistics 2024

The Audi Q3 failed 16.57% of 130,906 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 75.0 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 25% less often than expected for its age.

MOT risk index 75.0, 95% CI 74.1–76.0 (100 = national average) 100 75.0 0 200
Index
75.0
100 = age-normal
Raw fail rate
16.57%
n = 130,906
Dangerous /100
7
national ≈11
Diesel − petrol
+8.8 pp
fail-rate gap
Rank
214 of 761
lower index = better

Age-adjusted peer: Land Rover Range Rover Evoque (index 75.5) — the two published results are 0.5 index points apart.

Audi Q3 common problems: what actually fails the MOT

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment are well below the reference at 3.1 per 100 tests, against 7.0 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

Audi Q3 common problems: what actually fails the MOT — 2024 UK MOT data

family vs national — matched to UK vehicles of the same ages — top component groups, per 100 tests. Legend: This family · National avg. Combined labels: family / national average. A gap here reflects how these vehicles are driven, used and maintained as well as how they were built — an MOT defect is a test outcome, not a breakdown.

Component-group comparison table

Each ratio carries a 95% interval. With 6 groups compared here, roughly one apparent difference in twenty is chance alone.

GroupThis familyCases behind itUK, same agesFamily / national
Tyres7.243,3387.70.94×0.93–0.95
Suspension5.734,4936.10.94×0.93–0.95
Visibility3.923,6995.80.67×0.67–0.69
Lamps & electrical3.118,6757.00.44×0.43–0.45
Brakes2.917,7635.80.50×0.50–0.52
Emissions & leaks1.38,1321.40.91×0.92–0.96
Named defects — items per 100 initial tests, this family vs UK national average; this model measured on 604,043 tests, 2019-2024, national column 2024
What failedper 100 tests (this family)per 100 tests (UK average)ratio family / UKWhat to check
Broken or weakened suspension springA spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened2.972.861.04×Look behind each wheel at the coil springs for a snapped end, and check the car sits level from side to side.
Tyre badly cut or damagedA tyre seriously damaged2.492.540.98×Check both sidewalls of every tyre, including the inner side, for cuts, bulges and tears.
Windscreen or window damaged (minor)Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view2.012.360.85×Look for chips and cracks across the windscreen: chips spread, and larger damage in front of the driver fails.
Engine warning light onEngine MIL illuminated indicating a malfunction0.741.190.62×Check the engine light goes out after start-up and ask for a fault-code scan: codes can be cleared before a sale.
Tyre tread below the legal limitTyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements3.013.590.84×Check the tread across every tyre with a gauge; wear on one edge points to a tracking fault.
Tyre cords showing or damagedA tyre cords visible or damaged1.011.630.62×Check the inner edges of the front tyres, where cords show first, and ask whether the alignment was checked.
Brake pads or shoes dangerously thina brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm1.142.150.53×Look through the wheels at the pads and discs, listen for grinding, and ask when they were last replaced.
Windscreen washers not workingWindscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen0.551.620.34×Run the washers and check both jets hit the screen, and look under the bonnet for a cracked or leaking washer bottle.
Wiper missing or not clearing the screenWiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen0.552.220.25×Wet the screen and run the wipers: they should clear the glass in front of the driver without streaks or juddering.
Worn suspension bush or jointA suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn1.564.870.32×Listen for knocks over speed bumps, feel for the car wandering under braking, and ask which part was replaced.

Named defects ranked by how much more often they appear than the national average — not by raw rate.

Audi Q3 MOT advisories: what gets flagged

Tyres are highest at 40.8 per 100 tests; Lamps & electrical are lowest at 0.4 per 100 tests — the gap is 40.4 per 100 tests.

higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests

Audi Q3 MOT advisories: what gets flagged — 2024 UK MOT data
Advisory rates table
GroupAdvisories per 100
Tyres40.8
Brakes27.2
Suspension15.9
Non-component advisories8.8
Identification1.4
Lamps & electrical0.4

Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.

Tyres, brakes and suspension: Audi Q3 against cars of the same age

AgePartAudi Q3Same age, petrol and dieselDifference
3 yearsTyres4.334.170.16
3 yearsBrakes1.111.77-0.66
3 yearsSuspension0.290.63-0.34
4 yearsTyres4.184.54-0.36
4 yearsBrakes1.362.43-1.07
4 yearsSuspension0.831.21-0.38
5 yearsTyres4.435.06-0.63
5 yearsBrakes1.523.09-1.57
5 yearsSuspension1.842.19-0.35
6 yearsTyres4.95.54-0.64
6 yearsBrakes1.893.81-1.92
6 yearsSuspension3.473.72-0.25
7 yearsTyres5.225.95-0.73
7 yearsBrakes2.34.55-2.25
7 yearsSuspension5.445.68-0.24
8 yearsTyres5.586.31-0.73
8 yearsBrakes2.635.38-2.75
8 yearsSuspension7.47.78-0.38

Failing items per 100 initial tests, 2019-2024. The comparison group is every petrol or diesel car tested at the same age, so weight and drivetrain show up rather than fleet age.

If a car like this fails, does it fail again?

A failure rate does not say whether a failure is a one-off or the start of something. This follows the same vehicles into their next ordinary MOT a year later — retests after a repair are excluded, because they follow a failure by definition. 2019-2024.

After this year's testFails next yearVehicles followed
It failed20.4%13,062
It passed14.3%390,904

A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 6.1 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is body, chassis, structure — 22.5% of those vehicles fail again next year. Some of this is the vehicle and some is the owner: a car that was let go once tends to be let go again. One caveat: a car that fails may be sold or scrapped rather than tested again, so these figures describe the vehicles that came back.

Adjusted for how much these are actually driven

The headline index adjusts for the fleet's age. Wear, though, follows mileage: a three-year-old taxi and a three-year-old garage queen sit in the same age band. These two rows compare every car with vehicles of the same age, and then with vehicles of the same age and the same annual mileage, 2019-2024, on 599,698 tests. Both stand on the six-year corpus so they are measured on identical data — compare them with each other, not with the headline index above, which is measured on 2024 alone.

Standardised forIndexReading
Age only69.3fails less often than expected
Age and annual mileage68.2fails less often than vehicles driven as much
Share doing under 3,000 miles a year2.8%a normal spread of use

Mileage changes little here (-1.1 points): this fleet is driven about as much as the vehicles it is compared with. One limit to keep in mind: mileage is partly a result of how often a car breaks down — one that spends weeks in the workshop covers fewer miles — so the mileage-matched figure can understate a real weakness. Tests with no usable odometer reading are left out of it.

How the Audi Q3 compares with cars of its own age and size

Not against the whole fleet — against cars of the same size class tested at the same age, 2019-2024.

AgeAudi Q3Same class, same ageDifferenceTests
3 years8.27%11.78%-3.51 pp90,742
4 years9.13%13.4%-4.27 pp87,938
5 years10.93%15.16%-4.24 pp87,738
6 years13.68%17.42%-3.74 pp85,612
7 years16.32%20.24%-3.92 pp79,478
8 years18.86%23.3%-4.44 pp63,434
9 years21.77%26.82%-5.05 pp46,953
10 years24.74%30.1%-5.36 pp32,700
11 years26.9%33.5%-6.61 pp18,839
12 years28.67%36.49%-7.82 pp7,123
13 years28.81%38.89%-10.08 pp486

Raw first-time failure rates within each age, so fleet age cannot flatter either side. A positive difference means this model fails more often than its own class at that age.

How does the Audi Q3 perform as it gets older?

The Q3 at age 13 is well below the reference at 28.9%, against 38.2% for all vehicles of the same age.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

How does the Audi Q3 perform as it gets older? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–44%.

Takeaway: a 10-year-old Q3 has roughly a 24% chance of failing its MOT.

Data table
AgeAudi Q3All vehiclesGap
39.0%12.4%-3.4 pp
47.7%13.1%-5.4 pp
59.5%15.1%-5.6 pp
612.6%17.5%-4.9 pp
714.5%20.2%-5.7 pp
817.8%23.3%-5.6 pp
921.2%26.5%-5.3 pp
1024.0%30.1%-6.1 pp
1126.5%33.2%-6.7 pp
1228.6%35.7%-7.1 pp
1328.9%38.2%-9.2 pp

Is an Audi Q3 ULEZ compliant?

The share of classifiable 2024 Audi Q3 MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 75.0%.

Based on 130,888 classifiable initial MOT tests. This describes the tested fleet, not a specific car. MOT data do not record Euro class, so likely compliance is inferred from fuel and first-registration date. For the only authoritative answer, check the registration with TfL's official ULEZ checker.

higher = larger share likely compliantinferred from fuel and first-registration date; not a recorded Euro class

Age-band estimate from classifiable initial MOT tests
Vehicle age at testLikely ULEZ-compliant shareTests
Under 3 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 553
3–5 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 38,478
6–7 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 28,738
8 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 16,484
9 years58.1%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 14,182
10–14 years17.6%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 32,451
15–17 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 1
18 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
19 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
20+ yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 1

Audi Q3 petrol vs diesel: which ages best

Diesel is highest at 20.8%; Petrol is lowest at 12.0% — the gap is 8.8 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Audi Q3 petrol vs diesel: which ages best — 2024 UK MOT data
Fuel split table
FuelTests% failingGap vs best
Diesel67,95920.8%+8.8 pp
Petrol62,37112.0%+0.0 pp

Chart sample sizes: n=68k · n=62k.

How dangerous are Audi Q3 MOT failures?

Major defects are well below the reference at 15.4 per 100 tests, against 52.8 per 100 tests nationally.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

How dangerous are Audi Q3 MOT failures? — 2024 UK MOT data
Severity table
SeverityThis family /100National /100Family / national
Minor4.0214.220.28×
Major15.4252.750.29×
Dangerous6.5111.150.58×

Chart values: Minor 4.0 · Major 15.4 · Dangerous 6.5.

Per 100 tests on this family. National average: Minor 14.2 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 11.2 per 100.

Does the month of an Audi Q3 MOT matter?

Nov is highest at 15.3%; Mar is lowest at 13.5% — the gap is 1.8 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Does the month of an Audi Q3 MOT matter? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart scale: 12%–33%.

bars: Audi Q3 · dashed: all class-4 cars

Month-by-month table
MonthAudi Q3All vehiclesGap
Jan14.95%31.12%-16.2 pp
Feb13.95%29.99%-16.0 pp
Mar13.5%28.26%-14.8 pp
Apr14.67%29.78%-15.1 pp
May14.03%28.79%-14.8 pp
Jun14.35%28.15%-13.8 pp
Jul14.89%29.33%-14.4 pp
Aug14.22%29.2%-15.0 pp
Sep14.45%28.19%-13.7 pp
Oct14.91%30.34%-15.4 pp
Nov15.3%30.58%-15.3 pp
Dec14.67%29.33%-14.7 pp

Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 1.8 percentage points — booking month barely matters for this family. Seasonality partly reflects registration-date clustering, not weather.

Before reading the shape: most of it is not about cars. Britain changes its registration plates twice a year, and 18.9% of these cars were first registered in March with another17.1% in September — 36% in two months against the 17% an even spread would give. An MOT falls due three years after first registration, so the buying calendar becomes the testing calendar. That shapes how many cars are tested each month — not how often they fail: the busiest months here are not the worst ones, so read the failure line on its own and the volume behind it separately.

Audi Q3 average mileage by age

At age 8, the middle half of Q3s runs from 48,481 miles to 78,145 miles, against 62,454 miles as the median.

further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75

Bars: Audi Q3 · dashed: all class-4 cars — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–125k mi.

Does high mileage mean more Audi Q3 MOT failures at the same age?

Within the same age group, split by odometer (2024 MOTs), so this separates wear from age: at ages 6–9, 10.6% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 27.3% of those with over 140,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.

Does high mileage mean more Audi Q3 MOT failures at the same age? — 2024 UK MOT data
Audi Q3: first-time failure by mileage within each age group (2024)
AgeOdometer% failing95% intervalTests
3–5<40k miles7.9%7.6–8.2%28,747
3–540-70k miles11.3%10.7–12%8,938
3–570-100k miles12.4%10.2–15.1%692
3–5100-140k miles12.1%6.9–20.4%91 (rough estimate)
6–9<40k miles10.6%10.1–11.2%12,267
6–940-70k miles15.8%15.4–16.2%29,313
6–970-100k miles21.1%20.4–21.8%13,954
6–9100-140k miles25.4%23.9–26.8%3,412
6–9140k+ miles27.3%23.4–31.6%454 (rough estimate)
10–14<40k miles11.6%10–13.4%1,319
10–1440-70k miles20.1%19.2–21%7,467
10–1470-100k miles25.7%25–26.5%12,738
10–14100-140k miles31.1%30.1–32%8,939
10–14140k+ miles35.1%33–37.2%1,975

line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)

Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
Agep25Medianp75Tests
317,73724,54032,75611,669
422,14329,55738,60512,746
527,00935,81246,32314,063
633,77044,49756,04212,629
740,55452,70966,63716,109
848,48162,45478,14516,485
954,84270,49287,93014,182
1062,59180,14299,83113,717
1171,27290,343110,45911,614
1276,80696,415119,4546,635
1376,58395,086117,618484

A typical 8-year-old Q3 has ~62,454 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.

Where in Britain the Audi Q3 fails its MOT most

Kirkcaldy area is highest at 23.8%; Romford area is lowest at 9.1% — the gap is 14.7 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Audi Q3 line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75) — 2024 UK MOT data
Toughest areas% failingvs model overall
Kirkcaldy (KY)23.75%+9.3 pp
Aberdeen (AB)21.09%+6.6 pp
Swansea (SA)20.27%+5.8 pp
Dundee (DD)18.96%+4.5 pp
Sunderland (SR)18.48%+4.0 pp
Easiest areas% failingvs model overall
Romford (RM)9.07%-5.4 pp
Bromley (BR)9.31%-5.2 pp
London N (N)10.12%-4.4 pp
Croydon (CR)10.55%-3.9 pp
Nottingham (NG)10.63%-3.9 pp

Why do areas differ?

For each external factor we correlate the area fail rate with the factor across postcode areas that have ≥800 tests of this family, then compare the bottom vs top fifth (quintile) of the factor. Correlation, not causation — factors travel together (the north is colder and often poorer; urban areas are denser and less salted). Road surface condition is joined now, for the 91 English areas the DfT publishes, and it explains nothing: the correlation with suspension failures is −0.01 and with body and structure failures 0.07. Potholes wreck wheels and tyres between tests, but by the time a car reaches the bay the road it drives on leaves no measurable trace.

In areas with the highest mot centre density this model fails 4.4 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.53, n=114 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest frost days this model fails 2.5 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.47, n=114 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest road-salt proxy this model fails 3.3 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.47, n=114 areas with ≥800 tests).

Audi Q3 Why do areas differ? — 2024 UK MOT data
Values shown in the quintile chart
FactorLow QHigh QGapCorrelation
MOT centre density12.0%16.5%+4.5 ppr=0.53
Frost days13.7%16.3%+2.6 ppr=0.47
Road-salt proxy12.9%16.2%+3.3 ppr=0.47

Factors that only mean something combined

Some conditions are useless on their own and informative multiplied together. Frost days alone say little — Britain barely freezes. Salt tonnage alone says little — it tracks frost. Distance to the sea alone says little. Multiply the first two and divide by the third and you get an index of how hard an area attacks a car's underside, and it lines up with the corrosion defects we actually record. We built five such combinations and tested each against our own data. Three survived; two did not, and the failures are listed here on purpose — a proxy that was never checked is decoration. One survivor only survived on the second attempt: built from a crude stand-in for street parking it failed outright, and rebuilt from the census — terraced streets carrying more cars than they have driveways — it works, and carries information the salt index does not.

Composite area indicators, each tested against a defect rate we measure
CompositeBuilt fromTested againstrVerdict
Underbody corrosionfrost days × salt load ÷ (distance to coast + 1)share of tests with a corrosion defect+0.42holds (116 areas)
Tyre wearrain days × annual miles ÷ age at first tyre advisoryshare of tests failing on tyres+0.45holds (116 areas)
Overnight corrosionterraced housing × cars per household × frost daysshare with a corrosion defect+0.41holds (102 areas) — and adds signal beyond the first index
Deferred maintenancedeprivation × advisory-to-failure conversion ÷ labour ratecars repeating the same advisory−0.26fails (118 areas)
Powertrain stressengine capacity ÷ kerb weightsuspension, brake and emissions failures−0.16fails (22 models)

The deprivation result is the one worth dwelling on. The intuition that poorer areas defer repairs is strong enough that most people treat it as established. We tested it twice — once on raw failure rates (r = 0.04) and again, more fairly, on whether an advisory turns into a failure — and it did not hold any of the three times we tried it — on raw failure rates, on advisory-to-failure conversion, and again with deprivation measured properly inside each nation rather than England alone. We are closing it. What does predict local failure rates is the density of test centres, which is a statement about testing, not about cars.

All external-factor correlations (machine-readable)
Factorrn areasLow-Q fail %High-Q fail %Gap ppLow-Q factorHigh-Q factor
MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles)0.53411412.016.5+4.458.7
Frost days (days/year)0.47511413.716.3+2.511.638.1
Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr)0.46611412.916.2+3.3221.2675.1
Urban share (0–1)-0.39411415.512.2-3.20.41
Distance to coast (km)-0.20911416.214.3-1.96.279.5
Terrain gradient (% grade)0.1726714.115.7+1.60.53.7
Income deprivation (score)0.0649713.814.2+0.40.10.2

Deprivation uses England IMD 2019 income score only (Scotland SIMD is a different scale). Salt proxy is a simplified NWSRG-style dry-salt sum from air Tmin; coastalness is distance from the area centroid to the nearest coastline.

Every dot is a postcode area — size = how many were tested there, colour = share failing. These figures are not age-adjusted: coastal and rural areas often run older fleets and salted roads, so higher raw fail rates do not automatically mean a worse local stock of this model.

Map labels: Scotland · N. England · Wales · London · S. West. Colour scale: 11%–18% failing.

Audi Q3 survival: which cars are still on the road

By age 13 is well below the reference at 0.6%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Audi Q3 survival: which cars are still on the road — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · survival vs ages 4–6 · scale 0–105%.

Survival vs fail rate by age
AgeTestsSurvival vs ages 4–6Fail %
390,742100%8.27%
487,938100%9.13%
587,738100%10.93%
685,61298.3%13.68%
779,47891.3%16.32%
863,43472.8%18.86%
946,95353.9%21.77%
1032,70037.5%24.74%
1118,83921.6%26.9%
127,1238.2%28.67%
134860.6%28.81%

By age 12, only about 8% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈87,096); survivors still fail at 28.7% vs 9.1% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.

How many miles does an Audi Q3 last?

100,000+ miles is highest at 6.7%; 150,000+ miles is lowest at 0.6% — the gap is 6.1 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

OdometerTests ≥ thresholdShare of sample
100,000+ miles40,0276.67%
150,000+ miles3,5070.58%

Of 599,725 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 6.7% had reached 100k miles, 0.6% had reached 150k miles. This is a cross-section of cars still presenting for MOT, not a full birth cohort.

How many years is an Audi Q3 likely to last?

Bought at age 5 is highest at 4.3 years; Bought at age 12 is lowest at 0.5 years — the gap is 3.8 years.

bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve

Age nowTypical mileage (p50)Expected years left
5—4.3
8—at least 2.2
10—at least 1.3
12—at least 0.5

estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has at least 1.3 expected years of further MOT-present life. The curve is observed only until age 12, so the true figure is likely higher.

Audi Q3 faults that come together

Lamps & electrical + Seatbelts & SRS stand out at 21.86×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.

above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less

Group AGroup BTogetherLift
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems85321.86×
BrakesSteering26716.85× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksRoad Wheels368.28× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems1528.13× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSteering446.96× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentRoad Wheels606.61× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSteering506.41× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentNoise, emissions and leaks7766.14×
Body, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaks2715.52× (rough estimate)
SteeringSuspension1745.25× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment1325.04× (rough estimate)
BrakesRoad Wheels434.87× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleNoise, emissions and leaks614.86× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSteering794.85× (rough estimate)
BrakesSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems1844.84× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems734.82× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment4824.7× (rough estimate)
BrakesNoise, emissions and leaks5714.64×
Road WheelsSuspension844.55× (rough estimate)
SteeringTyres1754.48× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSuspension1,1334.41×
BrakesSuspension2,2844.37×
Body, chassis, structureSuspension9094.36×
Road WheelsTyres934.27× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSuspension2,2274.15×
BrakesTyres2,5024.06×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsTyres3733.98× (rough estimate)
BrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment1,0043.91×
Road WheelsVisibility593.89× (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsVisibility2493.82× (rough estimate)
BrakesIdentification of the vehicle963.76× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentVisibility1,6113.66×
Noise, emissions and leaksTyres1,1013.63×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSuspension2843.58× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksVisibility7473.54×
Body, chassis, structureBrakes3443.45× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSuspension1843.45× (rough estimate)
SteeringVisibility913.35× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentTyres2,1053.32×
Identification of the vehicleVisibility1443.29× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleTyres2043.24× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureIdentification of the vehicle323.14× (rough estimate)
BrakesVisibility1,2062.81×
SuspensionTyres3,5082.72×
Body, chassis, structureVisibility4592.68× (rough estimate)
TyresVisibility2,8222.67×
Body, chassis, structureTyres6322.57×
SuspensionVisibility2,2072.46×
Identification of the vehicleSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems18too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureRoad Wheels15too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems13too few (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSteering13too few (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSteering7too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSteering5too few (rough estimate)

Defects in «Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment» and «Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems» appear together 21.86× more often than chance (853 co-occurrences in the same test; lift≥1.3, n≥500).

Lift = how many times more often both groups appear on the same test than if independent. A pair is listed from 5 tests with both faults; the lift is shown from 20, and called above chance only when its 95% interval excludes 1 (see rough estimates).

Is low mileage better for an Audi Q3?

Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 10.0%, against 18.4% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BandFail %Tests
<5k miles/year10%54,752
8–12k miles/year18.39%160,868
Gap (low − normal)-8.4 pp—
By fuel and age

Diesel

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
56.894,56912.2718,798-5.38 pp
68.654,62415.7622,677-7.11 pp
710.714,62018.7724,212-8.05 pp
813.274,02421.5921,359-8.32 pp
914.032,92225.0916,594-11.06 pp
1016.332,07628.412,306-12.07 pp
1116.021,18631.297,476-15.27 pp
1218.9642231.482,621-12.52 pp
1313.163833.09136-19.93 pp

Petrol

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
56.699,36712.1211,336-5.43 pp
68.457,10015.028,850-6.57 pp
79.285,38016.196,212-6.92 pp
810.23,52118.073,657-7.88 pp
911.012,47021.322,448-10.31 pp
1013.041,44223.881,361-10.84 pp
1115.0670426.32623-11.27 pp
1218.2732331.95338-13.69 pp
13203019.5141+0.49 pp

At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 10.0% vs 18.4% for 8–12k miles/year — 8.4 pp lower (n_low=54,752, n_normal=160,868). In this family low annual use is associated with fewer MOT fails, not more — the ‘garage queen’ penalty is not visible in overall fail rates. Diesel alone: 11.2% low-use vs 19.6% normal (-8.5 pp).

Which Audi Q3 engine is best?

diesel 1.8–2.0 is highest at 106.9; petrol over 2.0 is lowest at 73.2 — the gap is 33.7 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Engine bands against this model's own failure rate at the same ages
FuelCapacityvs own age normRaw fail %Tests
petrolover 2.0 litre73.211.35%5,532
petrol1.8–2.0 litre78.311.02%71,008
petrol1.2–1.5 litre90.710.41%156,672
diesel1.8–2.0 litre106.916.94%370,135

Splitting this model by fuel alone hides the thing that actually differs. Within the same badge, the diesel 1.8–2.0 runs at 106.9 against this model's own age norm while the petrol over 2.0 runs at 73.2 — a spread of 33.7 points between two cars that share a name.

Read this one with more care than the rest of the page. Age is held constant, but who buys which engine is not: the largest capacity in a range is often a performance or executive variant that is garaged, cherished and lightly driven, while the smallest is frequently a fleet or entry car worked hard from new. The gap below is real in the test records; how much of it is the engine and how much is the owner, this data cannot separate. Bands under 100 tests are not shown; bands under 5,000 tests are rough estimates.

Best year for an Audi Q3, and the years to avoid

Build year 2012 is highest at 105.4; Build year 2020 is lowest at 88.4 — the gap is 17.0 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected

Audi Q3 build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected — 2024 UK MOT data
Audi Q3 by build year, tests 2019–2024. Below 100 is better than the model's own age norm.
Every build year with its confidence interval
Build yearvs own age norm95% CIRaw fail %TestsVerdict
202088.484.4–92.37.45%25,662better
201990.487.4–93.48.26%42,602better
201810299.3–104.710.41%51,278no different
201794.292.3–96.110.59%85,511better
2016103.6101.9–105.413.13%101,230worse
2015101.199.4–102.815.09%86,007no different
2014102.5100.8–104.117.95%83,140worse
2013104.8103.1–106.521.14%70,534worse
2012105.4103.3–107.523.91%40,441worse
201191.985–98.922.79%2,957better

The best build year here is 2020 and the weakest is 2012. Comparing build years sounds simple and is not: within a single year of testing, a car's build year and its age are the same number, so a naive comparison of years is a comparison of ages wearing a disguise. Each year below is measured against the same model at the same age in other cohorts, across six years of testing — 7 of 10 years come out distinguishable from their own model's age norm.

Two limits worth knowing before you act on this. Age, test year and build year are locked together by arithmetic, so the test-year effect is taken from the observed national failure level of each year rather than estimated — it is an adjustment, not a solution.

Audi Q3 MOT repair costs

The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £28.03 to £53.26, against £54.85 for the test itself.

bigger number = costs morepounds per test, MOT-failing faults only

MOT repairs, budget
£28–53
per test, repairs only
The test itself
£54.85
statutory cap, unchanged since 2010
How the figure is built: chance of failing × typical price of that repair
ComponentFails per 100 testsTypical repairIts priceContribution
Suspension5.7 (nat. 15.36)Suspension coil spring (single corner)£180£10.26
Tyres7.2 (nat. 8.7)Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted)£90£6.48
Brakes2.9 (nat. 11.25)Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback)£150£4.35
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment3.1 (nat. 18.09)Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid)£140£4.34
Noise, emissions and leaks1.3 (nat. 3.67)Exhaust rear silencer£200£2.60

Multiply how often each component fails on this model by what that repair usually costs, and you get the amount an owner should expect to budget per test for MOT-failing faults only — roughly £28 to £53, on top of the test fee itself. It is a budgeting figure, not a quote: the spread between a set of pads and a set of discs is most of the range.

Prices are modal quotes from a hand-kept catalogue of published UK garage guides — we do not scrape the booking sites, their terms forbid it, so this list is short and updated by hand with a source and date against each line. Each line prices one typical repair in that group, not a full remedy, and only groups our catalogue actually covers are counted. The contrast worth noticing is the second card: the legal maximum for the test has been £54.85 since 2010, while the repairs it uncovers have followed inflation the whole time.

For scale from a different direction: Warrantywise, which sees used-car warranty claims rather than test failures, puts the average claim at £2,052 across the ten highest-claim models it ranks and £539 for Honda, the lowest-claim make in its index (Warrantywise index 2026, 1.6 million claims, cars aged 3–15). Those sit an order of magnitude above the figures in this table, and the gap is the point: a warranty claim is a gearbox or an engine, which almost never fails an MOT, while the faults that do fail one are corrosion, lamps and tyres, which no warranty pays for. The two numbers answer different questions and neither replaces the other.

Audi Q3 running costs for a fleet

Vehicles failing at age 10 stand out at 24.0%, against 10.0% at age 5, tested in the same year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fails per 100 at age 5
10
vehicles needing work
At age 10
24
other cars of this model tested at age 10 in 2024
Repairs per 100
£2,803
plus £5,485 in test fees
Off the road
1d
median; 44.85% cleared same day
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
AgeFailsMedian odometerTestsGap vs age 5
39%24,54011,669-0.5 pp
47.69%29,55712,746-1.8 pp
59.53%35,81214,063+0.0 pp
612.6%44,49712,629+3.1 pp
714.51%52,70916,109+5.0 pp
817.77%62,45416,485+8.2 pp
921.18%70,49214,182+11.7 pp
1024.03%80,14213,717+14.5 pp
1126.48%90,34311,614+17.0 pp
1228.64%96,4156,635+19.1 pp
1328.93%95,086484+19.4 pp

The number a fleet manager needs is not the failure rate, it is the year the car starts costing more. Between cars aged 8 and cars aged 9, both tested in 2024, the failure rate of this model is 3.41 percentage points higher — the steepest one-year step in this cross-section of different cars, and a natural planning point for replacement.

Repair spend uses the same modal prices as the section above, so it inherits the same limits: one typical repair per component group, not a full remedy. Downtime is the gap between the failed test and the passed re-test, which is the window a vehicle is legally off the road.

Audi Q3 rust problems: where they corrode

Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility is well below the reference at 0.63×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.

above 1.0× = rusts more than averagebelow 1.0× = rusts less

How it rusts
0.63×
0.48% of tests record a corrosion defect vs 0.77% typical — age-standardised
Salt Belt exposure
74th
percentile among the models published here, from its tests across 114 postcode areas

This Audi Q3 fails on corrosion much less often than average once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are saltier than most for the models we publish. Both point the same way and reinforce each other: it resists corrosion even though its owners live in saltier areas than most.

Corrosion is the one failure mode that is as much about geography as about the car. We keep the two apart on purpose: a model can look rusty simply because it is popular in Scotland, and a model can look clean simply because it is bought in Surrey. Blending them into a single score would hide which of the two is doing the work.

Exposure is this model's tests weighted by an area corrosion index built from frost days, salt load and distance to the coast — the composite validated at r = 0.42 against corrosion defects we actually record. It is published as a rank, not a raw score, because every mainstream model skews towards low-corrosion areas for the simple reason that most of Britain's cars are in the south. Susceptibility is standardised to the national age profile, so an old fleet does not get labelled a rusty model.

Does an Audi Q3 advisory become a failure?

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment are highest at 11.4%; Non-component advisories are lowest at 0.0% — the gap is 11.4 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now

Audi Q3 chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now — 2024 UK MOT data
Audi Q3, advisory → failure conversion by component group, chained tests 2019–2024. Chart labels and rates: Lamps & electrical 11.4% · Suspension 10.5% · Tyres 7.7% · Body & chassis 5.5% · Brakes 5.4% · Noise, emissions, leaks 3.9% · Seat belts & restraints 1.6% · Identification of the veh… 1.5%.
Advisory today → failure at the next test, with how long you have
ComponentFails next timeTypical lead timeMiles of warningAdvisories tracked
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment11.4%12 months8,0601,430
Suspension10.5%12 months7,73642,038
Tyres7.7%12 months7,888101,437
Body, chassis, structure5.5%11.9 months6,248785
Brakes5.4%12 months7,76472,352
Noise, emissions and leaks3.9%12 months10,1251,288
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems1.6%12 months7,714974
Identification of the vehicle1.5%12 months8,4545,757
Non-component advisories0.0%——35,809

This is the question an advisory note actually raises, and it needs six years of test history to answer. We followed the same vehicles from one MOT to the next across 2019–2024 and measured how often a component that was merely advised came back as a genuine failure at the next test.

Read it as a budgeting horizon, not a prophecy: the most likely component above turns into a failure for about 11 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12 months and roughly 8,060 miles. The rest were repaired, sold, scrapped, or simply held. Rows with fewer than 500 tracked advisories are not shown.

What will fail next on an Audi Q3?

Suspension after a failure at age 9-11 is highest at 15.1%; Brakes after a passed at age <3 are lowest at 1.0% — the gap is 14.1 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

Probability of each component failing at the next test, by age and last result
AgeLast testMost likely next failuresCars tracked
<3passedTyres 3.5% · Visibility 2.5% · Brakes 1.0%41,709
<3advisoryTyres 4.8% · Visibility 3.5% · Brakes 2.1%15,095
<3failureTyres 5.3% · Visibility 3.2% · Brakes 2.0%4,761
3-5passedTyres 3.8% · Visibility 2.5% · Suspension 2.3%124,579
3-5advisoryTyres 5.7% · Visibility 3.8% · Suspension 3.6%63,960
3-5failureTyres 5.9% · Suspension 4.2% · Visibility 4.2%22,515
6-8passedSuspension 6.4% · Tyres 4.4% · Visibility 3.1%76,712
6-8advisorySuspension 8.6% · Tyres 6.6% · Visibility 4.8%53,795
6-8failureSuspension 10.8% · Tyres 7.8% · Visibility 5.5%28,089
9-11passedSuspension 9.5% · Tyres 5.1% · Visibility 4.5%17,330
9-11advisorySuspension 12.4% · Tyres 7.8% · Visibility 6.8%13,848
9-11failureSuspension 15.1% · Tyres 9.0% · Visibility 8.4%10,496
12-14failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 13.6% · Suspension 11.9% · Visibility 8.5%59 (rough estimate)

The same chains, cut differently: given a car's age and how its last test went, which component most often causes trouble at the following one.

The pattern that repeats across every family: a failure at one test roughly doubles the chance of a failure on the same component at the next one, and an advisory sits about half-way between a clean pass and a failure. Age bands in years; probabilities are per car, not per defect item.

Audi Q3 ownership: what six years of MOTs show

The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 53.2%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 2.0% — the gap is 51.2 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fixed same day
44.85%
of failures re-tested
Fails /10k miles
0.214
miles actually driven
Clean streaks
44.09%
3+ tests, nothing noted
Odometer anomaly
0.751%
reading went backwards

Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 70,499 failures followed through to their re-test, 44.85% were repaired and passed the same day and 53.18% within ten days; the median gap is 1 day. 124,699 defect items were cleared in the process.

Per mile driven, not per year. Dividing failures by the miles that actually went onto the odometers between consecutive tests gives 0.214 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 6,656 miles a year across 120,551 chains. This is the number to compare between models — an annual rate quietly rewards cars that barely leave the drive.

Two populations hide inside one model. 44.09% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 21.65% carried the same advisory three times or more — the same fault, noted, ignored, noted again. When you buy used you are buying one of those two histories, and the MOT record shows which.

Odometer anomalies: 0.751% of 120,580 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 17,455 miles. We call this an anomaly and not fraud on purpose — instrument swaps, imports, unit mix-ups and keying errors all land in the same bucket. Obvious typos (drops under 100 miles or over 90% of the reading) are already excluded.

Audi Q3 safety recalls and how to check yours

DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 10.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

recall campaigns launched per year

Audi Q3 recall campaigns launched per year — 2024 UK MOT data
Campaigns launched per year for the Audi Q3. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls. Chart values: 2017: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2024: 0 · 2025: 0 · 2026: 1.
Most recent safety recall campaigns for the Audi Q3
ReferenceLaunchedVehiclesConcern
R/2026/29213/07/2026162Replacement front seat belt
R/2023/33110/11/202313A weld seam on the outer backrest frame of the front seats may not have been made correctl
R/2022/35418/11/2022100Certain vehicles may have been fitted with a rear window which does not conform to the man
R/2022/08507/04/20223,656THE FUSE IN THE HIGH-VOLTAGE SYSTEM MAY HAVE BEEN MANUFACTURED WITH AN INSUFFICIENT QUANTI
R/2022/07322/03/20221,762THE DESIGN TRIM ON THE POWER UNIT CAN BECOME DETACHED FROM ITS RETAINERS
All 10 campaigns
ReferenceLaunchedBuild datesVehiclesConcern
R/2026/29213/07/202603/11/2025 – 26/05/2026162Replacement front seat belt
R/2023/33110/11/202306/06/2023 – 09/06/202313A weld seam on the outer backrest frame of the front seats may not have been made correctl
R/2022/35418/11/202226/05/2022 – 30/05/2022100Certain vehicles may have been fitted with a rear window which does not conform to the man
R/2022/08507/04/202201/10/2020 – 22/02/20223,656THE FUSE IN THE HIGH-VOLTAGE SYSTEM MAY HAVE BEEN MANUFACTURED WITH AN INSUFFICIENT QUANTI
R/2022/07322/03/202223/11/2020 – 10/03/20221,762THE DESIGN TRIM ON THE POWER UNIT CAN BECOME DETACHED FROM ITS RETAINERS
R/2021/32310/09/202124/08/2020 – 05/05/202111THE BOLTED CONNECTION ON THE INPUT ROD BETWEEN THE ELECTROMECHANICAL BRAKE SERVO AND BRAKE
R/2020/30226/10/202009/07/2020 – 10/07/20208SEAT FRAME MAY NOT BE BOLTED CORRECTLY TO THE RAIL ON THE DRIVER AND PASSENGER SIDES
R/2019/26007/08/201920/12/2014 – 30/07/201845,677FAILURE OF THE FRONT LED TURN SIGNAL
R/2018/04412/02/201813/09/2016 – 02/11/201658PASSENGER AIRBAG MAY NOT DEPLOY AS INTENDED
R/2017/21807/07/201701/10/2014 – 30/09/201617,074BRAKE LIGHTS MAY FAIL WHEN THE ELECTRONIC PARKING BRAKE IS OPERATED

DVSA lists 10 safety recall campaigns for the Audi Q3, covering roughly 68,521 vehicles in total. A recall is the manufacturer fixing a fault for free, so an open recall on your car costs nothing to clear.

Counter-intuitive, and measured on our own data: across the 25 families published here, more recalls go with a lower MOT Risk Index (r = −0.52). Heavily recalled models are not worse cars in the test bay — an active manufacturer removes the fault before it becomes an MOT failure.

Check whether a specific car has an outstanding recall — free, by registration — at DVSA's recall service. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls (check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk), OGL.

Audi Q3 technical service bulletins: what dealers are told

US market, Audi Q3, model years 2015–2021 only. A count of bulletins, not a UK failure rate.

NHTSA manufacturer communications are 1,552.

bigger number = more recorded dealer communicationsnot affected vehicles or confirmed faults

These are the issues the manufacturer fixes quietly: service communications sent to dealers without a public recall campaign. They show what the service network has been told even when the issue never became news.

United States · NHTSA manufacturer communications

US technical service bulletins by communication year; leading subjects cover the full file
Communication yearBulletinsLeading subjects across all years
201326
  • Equipment (573)
  • Electrical system (421)
  • Structure (120)
  • Other / uncategorised (116)
  • Engine and cooling (98)
  • Engine (59)
  • Suspension (59)
  • Steering (58)
2014141
2015104
201679
201784
201828
2019116
2020157
2021137
202296
2023162
2024207
2025130
202685

Caveat worth stating plainly: this is NHTSA data about US-specification cars. British cars sold under the same name often use different gearboxes, engines and equipment, so a bulletin may describe a component that was never fitted here. The file counts dealer communications, not affected vehicles or confirmed failures, and it cannot tell you whether an individual UK car has the issue. A communication can carry more than one subject tag, so topic counts do not have to add up to the total. Source: NHTSA Manufacturer Communications API (US-market vehicles; queried model years 2015-2022). Licence: U.S. Government work / public domain · retrieved 2026-09-25.

Audi Q3 owner complaints: what goes wrong

US market, Audi Q3, model years 2015–2021 only. A count of owner complaints, not a UK failure rate; NHTSA has no UK denominator.

Lamps & electrical are highest at 55; Body & structure are lowest at 8 — the gap is 47.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

Owner complaints (US) against actual MOT failures (UK) for the same component groups
ComponentComplaintsShareMOT fail items per 100MOT rankAgreement
Lamps & electrical5531.4%3.1#4complained about, fails occasionally
Engine (not MOT-tested)5028.6%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Steering1810.3%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Restraints179.7%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Transmission (not MOT-tested)105.7%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Body & structure84.6%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure

Two different populations answering two different questions: the MOT records what an inspector can measure once a year, the complaint file records what annoyed or frightened an owner on the road. A component high in one column and absent from the other is the interesting case — driver-assistance and electronics dominate complaints while almost never appearing as an MOT failure item.

What the reports actually say
The rear subframe broke while driving due to rust and corrosion causing the driver side rear wheel to be at an acute angle which caused the car to wobble all over the road. The car is currently not safe to drive.
NHTSA complaint, filed 09/08/2026 · SUSPENSION
I have 2015 Audi Q3 is very unsafe suspension. The rear lower arm worn out & unsafe to drive & very dangerous, risk to Accident. Under 98,000 miles & the lower control get Rusty & almost to split in half. The Audi Dealership should have a Recall to this Vehicle & is Unsafe to drive it to all Consumers like me. I keep the Rear Suspension & incase u Guy's like to see it.
NHTSA complaint, filed 12/23/2023 · SUSPENSION

US owners have filed 175 complaints about the equivalent Audi Q3 to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including 5 that mention a crash, 1 a fire and 3 an injury. These are owner reports, not verified findings — but they are the only large public record of what drivers themselves notice, and they cover the years between MOT tests.

Caveat worth stating plainly: US-specification cars, self-selected reporters, no denominator — complaint counts scale with how many cars were sold there and how motivated owners are to file. The mechanical gap matters as much as the statistical one: American cars of the same name often carry different gearboxes, engines and equipment — automatics where Britain buys manuals — so a drivetrain complaint filed in Ohio may describe a part that was never fitted here. Read the ranking inside a model, not between models, and treat drivetrain entries with particular caution. Source: NHTSA ODI consumer complaints (US market, public domain) — US-spec vehicles, indicative only.

Audi Q3 inspection results in other countries

Netherlands APK is well below the reference at 29.8%, against 50.8% nationally.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Same model, different national inspection regimes
CountryTestThis model failsNational averagePositionSample
United KingdomMOT (class 4)16.57%26.01%-9.4 pp130,906
NetherlandsAPK29.8%50.8%-21 pp11,053
NorwayPKK31.9%33.7%-1.8 pp3,018
FinlandKatsastus14.4%26.3%-11.9 pp2,328

The verdict is consistent across every regime where the difference is clear, which is the strongest form this comparison takes: independent inspectorates, different rulebooks, same direction of travel.

The exact faults Netherlands records — APK defect codes, 2024
CodeFaultRecordedType
210Tyre pressure not at the correct value1,985failure
205Tyre with insufficient tread897failure
AC1Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread668advisory
516Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed634failure
AC5Mechanical brake parts showing wear236advisory
391Wipers leave insufficient visibility216failure
203Tyre damaged215failure
224Spring broken or cracked145failure

Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 0.602 defects per inspection against a much higher national failure rate than Britain's, and the reason is not that Dutch cars are worse — it is that the two regimes draw the line between "note it" and "fail it" in different places. Codes are the RDW's own; the English wording here is our translation of the Dutch original.

Britain is not the only country that inspects every car every year, and the Audi Q3 is on the road in all of them. Each national regime writes its own rules, so the pass rates below are not comparable to each other — what does travel across a border is whether a model sits above or below its own country's average.

Rows with fewer than 500 inspections are not published. Sources: RDW open data — Meldingen Keuringsinstantie + Geconstateerde Gebreken + Gekentekende voertuigen (2024), CC0. Not an RDW endorsement.; Statens vegvesen — Periodisk kjøretøykontroll (PKK) 2024, CC BY 4.0; Traficom — Periodic inspections of cars by model / by model and fault object 2024, CC BY 4.0. Adapted; licences and full notice.

Audi Q3 MOT: quick answers

Audi Q3 MOT Risk Index is well below the reference at 75.0, against 100 for a car with the same age profile.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

What is the Audi Q3 first-time MOT pass rate?
83.43% of first attempts passed in 2024 (130,906 tests). This is the first-time figure: retests after repair are excluded. Basis: first-time, excluding retests.
Why does this number differ from other sites?
Other sites often report a pass rate that includes retests or counts all attempts. Our 16.57% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 130,906 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 75.0 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.

Compare the Audi Q3 with other cars

Audi A5 is highest at 79.1; Land Rover Range Rover Sport is lowest at 72.5 — the gap is 6.6 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Same brand

All Audi MOT statisticsAudi A5 MOT statsAudi A3 MOT stats

Similar risk

Land Rover Range Rover Evoque (index 75.5)Land Rover Range Rover Sport (index 72.5)Audi A5 (index 79.1)

Same size class

how Audi A5 compareshow Land Rover Range Rover Sport compareshow Volkswagen Caddy compares

By build year

Audi Q3 2011Audi Q3 2012Audi Q3 2013Audi Q3 2014Audi Q3 2015Audi Q3 2016Audi Q3 2017Audi Q3 2018Audi Q3 2019Audi Q3 2020

By area

Audi Q3 MOT failure rate by postcode area

By failure group

Audi Q3 body, chassis and structure failuresAudi Q3 brakes failuresAudi Q3 vehicle identification failuresAudi Q3 lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresAudi Q3 noise, emissions and leaks failuresAudi Q3 road wheels failuresAudi Q3 seat belts and airbags failuresAudi Q3 steering failuresAudi Q3 suspension failuresAudi Q3 tyres failuresAudi Q3 visibility failures

Inspections abroad

Audi Q3 in NorwayAudi Q3 in FinlandAudi Q3 in the Netherlands


Data details & how to cite

Scope: class-4 vehicles (cars), initial tests only, outcomes pass / fail / fixed-on-the-spot at the station (PRS counts towards the failure rate — the defect was present at arrival). Index = observed initial failures ÷ failures expected for this fleet's exact age profile, ×100; margin of error is a 95% confidence interval. Covers ALL generations together — a 3-year-old and a 15-year-old are very different cars; a generation split is on the roadmap. Dataset release dataset_release_id=dvsa-2024-v2, frozen baseline; headline claim_id=family-stats:audi-q3:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.

Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Audi Q3 MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/audi-q3/ · Published 2026-07-30.