MOT pass rate · 2025 data
Audi S3 MOT pass rate
The Audi S3 passed 87.01% of its 6,772 initial MOT tests in 2025 — above the 77.3% average across all cars tested that year. That is 9.7 percentage points better than average.
How the Audi S3 holds up with age
Every car fails the MOT more often as it gets older. What matters when you are buying is how steeply that happens for this particular model. These are the 2025 pass rates for the Audi S3 grouped by the vehicle's age at the time of the test.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| 3–5 years | 3,361 | 91.61% |
| 6–10 years | 362 | 91.16% |
| 11 years and over | 2,994 | 81.13% |
The Audi S3 loses 10.5 percentage points between its early years and the 11-plus bracket — a normal pattern for a car of this age, but still worth checking the individual history.
Why the Audi S3 fails its MOT
Across every Audi S3 that failed its 2025 MOT, the most common area of failure was suspension, accounting for 21.78% of all recorded failure items. These are the areas worth having checked before you buy, and worth budgeting for on an older example.
| Failure area | Share of failure items | Recorded items |
|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 21.78% | 338 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 16.04% | 249 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 15.66% | 243 |
| Tyres | 14.3% | 222 |
| Brakes | 13.79% | 214 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 8.51% | 132 |
| Tyres | 62.39% | 277 |
| Brakes | 9.68% | 43 |
| Visibility | 6.08% | 27 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 6.08% | 27 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 4.5% | 20 |
| Road Wheels | 3.38% | 15 |
How the Audi S3 compares
Ranked on pass rate, the Audi S3 sits 176th of 651 models in this data , and 9th of the 21 Audi models covered . Audi as a whole averaged 81.59%, so this model runs 5.4 points ahead of its own brand average.
What this means when buying a used Audi S3
A pass rate is a population average, not a verdict on the specific car in front of you. The average Audi S3 came to its 2025 test at 63,667 miles and 9.2 years old. Most examples tested were petrol.
The useful check is the individual car's own MOT record: how many times it has failed, what for, and whether advisories keep reappearing. A recurring advisory on corrosion, suspension or brakes tells you far more than a model-wide average, and a mileage that does not move consistently between tests is a warning in itself.
Check a specific Audi S3
Run the registration through a free MOT history check to see that car's test results, advisories and recorded mileages. For the risks an MOT never covers — outstanding finance, insurance write-off records, stolen markers and ownership history — a full car history check brings them together in one £15 report.
Also useful: mileage check · write-off check · free car check
Other Audi models
- Audi A3 79.9% pass rate · 418,009 tests
- Audi A4 77.09% pass rate · 238,277 tests
- Audi A1 79.44% pass rate · 233,854 tests
- Audi Q3 84.17% pass rate · 135,125 tests
- Audi A5 80.48% pass rate · 124,402 tests
- Audi A6 83.04% pass rate · 118,740 tests
Models with a similar pass rate
- MINI Cooper 87.98% pass rate
- Hyundai Tucson 85.88% pass rate
- Toyota Prius 86.68% pass rate
- Mercedes-Benz GLC 88.01% pass rate
- Vauxhall Crossland 86.74% pass rate
- Vauxhall Grandland 86.51% pass rate
Figures aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025, class 4 initial tests only, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Retests are excluded, so these are first-time pass rates.