83.7%
Audi Q5
Audi Q5 vs BMW X3
Buying a used Audi Q5 or BMW X3? Compare their MOT pass rates, common problems, mileage and how they hold up as they get older.
Already found one of them? Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.
MOT pass rate head to head
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded. The UK average across all cars is 72.3%.
80.8%
BMW X3
3
percentage point gap in the Audi Q5's favour
A real gap, but not a decisive one on its own. The figures come from 118,079 tests of the Audi Q5 and 106,828 of the BMW X3.
A pass rate is not a reliability score. It records whether cars met the roadworthiness standard on test day.
Which one holds up better with age?
A headline pass rate mixes three-year-old cars with fifteen-year-old ones. Split by age, you can see what each model does over time.
The Audi Q5 gives up less as it gets older. Between cars aged 3 to 5 years and those aged 11 years and over it loses 17.1 percentage points against 18.9 for the BMW X3, a difference of 1.8 points.
| Age at test | Q5 | X3 |
|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years | 90.5% | 88.7% |
| 6 to 10 years | 83.7% | 82.3% |
| 11 years and over | 73.3% | 69.8% |
On a ten-year-old example that is the figure to weigh, not the headline number.
What each one fails on
The areas testers recorded most often across every failed 2025 test for each model, as a share of recorded failure items.
Audi Q5
BMW X3
The Audi Q5 fails most often on suspension, the BMW X3 on lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment. Two different things to check on a viewing, and two different conversations to have with the seller. These are recorded failure categories, not faults every car has.
The specific items testers wrote down
One level deeper than the category: the individual defects recorded most often on each model.
Audi Q5
- Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt
- Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn
- Tread depth tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm
BMW X3
- Condition has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords
- Coil spring fractured or broken
- Tread depth tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm
What this comparison can't tell you
Everything above describes two models across the whole UK fleet. It says nothing about the one car in the advert. Two Q5s of the same year and mileage can be worth thousands apart because of finance, a write-off, a theft record or a clocked odometer, none of which appear in MOT data.
Check the car you are about to buy. One £15 report, instant results, backed by a £30,000 data guarantee.
- Outstanding finance
- Write-off records
- Stolen markers
- Mileage history
- Previous keepers
Read more on each car
Audi Q5 vs BMW X3 FAQs
Is the Audi Q5 or the BMW X3 more likely to pass its MOT?
The Audi Q5 passed 83.7% of its initial MOT tests in the DVSA 2025 data against 80.8% for the BMW X3, a gap of 3 percentage points. That is a fleet-wide average, not a prediction about the specific car you are looking at.
Does a higher MOT pass rate mean a more reliable car?
No. An MOT records whether a vehicle met the roadworthiness standard on the day it was tested. It does not test the engine, clutch or gearbox, and it does not measure how often a car breaks down. Pass rates are useful for comparing how two models are holding up across the whole UK fleet, and nothing more than that.
Which holds up better with age, the Audi Q5 or the BMW X3?
The Audi Q5. Between cars aged 3 to 5 years and those aged 11 years and over, it loses 17.1 percentage points of MOT pass rate against 18.9 for the BMW X3 in the 2025 data.
Which is cheaper to keep on the road, the Audi Q5 or the BMW X3?
This data does not price servicing or repairs, so it cannot answer that directly. What it does show is what each model most often fails on, which is a fair guide to where the money goes. The Audi Q5 fails most often on suspension. The BMW X3 fails most often on lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment.
How do I check the actual Audi Q5 I have found?
Enter its registration. A Carpeep car history check reports outstanding finance, insurance write-off markers, stolen markers, the mileage recorded at every MOT, previous keepers, tax and MOT status, import and export markers and scrapped status in one £15 report. None of that appears in model-level MOT statistics.
MOT figures are aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025 (class 4 initial tests, retests excluded), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT results describe roadworthiness at test, not mechanical reliability.