MOT comparison

Volkswagen Golf Mk5 vs Audi A3 8P

How the Volkswagen Golf Mk5 (2003–2008) and the Audi A3 8P (2nd Gen) (2003–2012) do at their MOTs, compared at the same mileage so a high-mileage car is never measured against a low-mileage one.

Volkswagen Golf Mk5

4,688,377

MOT tests compared · built 2003–2008

Passes more often in 0 of 16 mileage bands

Audi A3 8P (2nd Gen)

3,268,136

MOT tests compared · built 2003–2012

Passes more often in 13 of 16 mileage bands

MOT pass rate by mileage

Share of MOTs passed first time, at the mileage recorded at the test.

Volkswagen Golf Mk5 Audi A3 8P

Under 10,000 miles 89.3% vs 90.5%

19,083 and 10,932 MOTs

10,000–20,000 miles 90.1% vs 90.6%

107,296 and 67,790 MOTs

20,000–30,000 miles 87.0% vs 87.3%

241,748 and 153,714 MOTs

30,000–40,000 miles 83.8% vs 84.6%

330,671 and 211,907 MOTs

40,000–50,000 miles 80.0% vs 81.4%

366,296 and 241,989 MOTs

50,000–60,000 miles 76.1% vs 78.1%

380,755 and 259,322 MOTs

60,000–70,000 miles 72.4% vs 74.8%

386,592 and 267,891 MOTs

70,000–80,000 miles 68.8% vs 71.8%

386,399 and 271,014 MOTs

80,000–90,000 miles 65.4% vs 69.0%

377,517 and 268,696 MOTs

90,000–100,000 miles 62.5% vs 66.5%

361,891 and 257,494 MOTs

100,000–125,000 miles 58.7% vs 63.0%

764,188 and 546,841 MOTs

125,000–150,000 miles 55.5% vs 59.6%

514,216 and 373,161 MOTs

150,000–175,000 miles 53.8% vs 57.4%

274,680 and 204,854 MOTs

175,000–200,000 miles 52.6% vs 56.0%

117,032 and 88,064 MOTs

200,000–250,000 miles 52.6% vs 55.5%

53,880 and 39,936 MOTs

250,000–300,000 miles 53.1% vs 56.1%

6,133 and 4,531 MOTs

Parts that fail more often

Only differences that hold across at least half of the mileage bands we could compare, and that are far too large to be chance, are listed. How we decide

Volkswagen Golf Mk5 fails more often on

Side repeater

Fails about 4 times as often as the Audi A3 8P: 1.7% of MOTs against 0.44%.

In 16 of 16 mileage bands
Front position lamp

Fails about 4 times as often as the Audi A3 8P: 2.3% of MOTs against 0.83%.

In 11 of 16 mileage bands · Lights & Signals
Exhaust emissions

Fails about 3 times as often as the Audi A3 8P: 2.1% of MOTs against 1.0%.

In 10 of 16 mileage bands · Exhaust & Emissions

Audi A3 8P fails more often on

Rear direction indicator

Fails over 20 times as often as the Volkswagen Golf Mk5: 1.1% of MOTs against 0.08%.

In 11 of 16 mileage bands · Lights & Signals

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Check a car's MOT Compare the Volkswagen Golf Mk5 with another model

These are differences in real MOT results, not engineering verdicts. Owner mix differs between models (some are more often taxis, first cars or rural cars), which is why every figure compares cars at the same mileage. How we compare cars.

MOT records: DVSA MOT history, which contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See this the other way round.