82.4%
BMW X1
BMW X1 vs Audi Q3
Buying a used BMW X1 or Audi Q3? 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%.
82.4%
Audi Q3
0.1
percentage point gap in the Audi Q3's favour
That gap is close enough that the specific car matters far more than the badge. The figures come from 112,492 tests of the BMW X1 and 141,023 of the Audi Q3.
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.
| Age at test | X1 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years | 90.5% | 91.4% |
| 6 to 10 years | 83.3% | 80.7% |
| 11 years and over | 70.4% | 70.4% |
Both models age at much the same rate, losing around 20.6 percentage points between the youngest and oldest groups. Neither has an advantage worth paying for on this measure.
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.
BMW X1
Audi Q3
The BMW X1 fails most often on tyres, the Audi Q3 on suspension. 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.
BMW X1
- Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn
- Condition has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords
- Tread depth tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm
Audi Q3
- Coil spring fractured or broken
- Tread depth tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm
- Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn
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 X1s 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
Other comparisons with these cars
BMW X1 vs Audi Q3 FAQs
Is the BMW X1 or the Audi Q3 more likely to pass its MOT?
The Audi Q3 passed 82.4% of its initial MOT tests in the DVSA 2025 data against 82.4% for the BMW X1, a gap of 0.1 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 is cheaper to keep on the road, the BMW X1 or the Audi Q3?
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 BMW X1 fails most often on tyres. The Audi Q3 fails most often on suspension.
How do I check the actual Audi Q3 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.