MOT comparison

Volkswagen Golf Mk7 vs Audi A3 8V

How the Volkswagen Golf Mk7 (2012–2019) and the Audi A3 8V (3rd Gen) (2012–2020) do at their MOTs, compared at the same mileage so a high-mileage car is never measured against a low-mileage one.

Volkswagen Golf Mk7

3,651,227

MOT tests compared · built 2012–2019

Passes more often in 3 of 15 mileage bands

Audi A3 8V (3rd Gen)

2,002,064

MOT tests compared · built 2012–2020

Passes more often in 3 of 15 mileage bands

MOT pass rate by mileage

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

Volkswagen Golf Mk7 Audi A3 8V

Under 10,000 miles 93.4% vs 94.9%

49,856 and 20,621 MOTs

10,000–20,000 miles 90.5% vs 92.1%

249,307 and 125,005 MOTs

20,000–30,000 miles 88.7% vs 90.1%

450,072 and 232,769 MOTs

30,000–40,000 miles 87.9% vs 88.6%

510,712 and 269,278 MOTs

40,000–50,000 miles 86.6% vs 86.8%

486,768 and 261,674 MOTs

50,000–60,000 miles 85.0% vs 84.6%

430,018 and 235,178 MOTs

60,000–70,000 miles 83.2% vs 82.6%

362,339 and 201,244 MOTs

70,000–80,000 miles 81.4% vs 80.9%

293,529 and 166,698 MOTs

80,000–90,000 miles 80.0% vs 79.3%

230,229 and 132,954 MOTs

90,000–100,000 miles 78.5% vs 77.9%

175,030 and 103,553 MOTs

100,000–125,000 miles 77.0% vs 76.1%

254,468 and 154,492 MOTs

125,000–150,000 miles 75.7% vs 74.4%

104,393 and 65,631 MOTs

150,000–175,000 miles 74.3% vs 73.5%

37,212 and 23,194 MOTs

175,000–200,000 miles 73.8% vs 71.1%

12,156 and 7,201 MOTs

200,000–250,000 miles 71.0% vs 69.6%

5,138 and 2,572 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 Mk7 fails more often on

Windscreen wiper

Fails about 6 times as often as the Audi A3 8V: 2.4% of MOTs against 0.50%.

In 8 of 15 mileage bands · Driver's View

Audi A3 8V fails more often on

Nothing that stands out consistently against the Volkswagen Golf Mk7.

Own one of these?

Enter your registration to see your own car's MOT history, its predicted pass chance and what usually fails next at its mileage.

Check a car's MOT Compare the Volkswagen Golf Mk7 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.