Pass rate
74.2%
Below average — 2.0 pts ahead of the 72.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 24,721 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £37–£110
2004 Audi A4 MOT pass rate
- 2004
- typical 142,979 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
28.3% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £35–£75 for Suspension pin or bush excessively worn. What fitting it takes →
5.8 pts down across model years — 8.7% in 2000, 2.9% in 2018.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 91.4% pass
- Avoid 2000 73.5% pass
Across the 24 years on record, a spread of 17.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 67.5%
- Typical mileage
- 143k mi
The 2004 Audi A4 MOT pass rate is 74.2% of its MOT tests — 2.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 28.3% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.3× the national share
Suspension accounts for 28.3% of everything recorded on the 2004 Audi A4, against 21.0% nationally — 7.3 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.
Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out
Watching a Audi A4? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2004 Audi A4 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.2%, so this figure is 2.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 67.5%. The median 2004 Audi A4 in this dataset had covered 142,979 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 56% of tests, with a 73.1% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 74.1% of the time, April–September 74.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 12.67% of tests.
- 24,721 recorded tests behind this page.
- 74.2% overall pass rate, 67.5% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Audi A4, the average is 81.0% — best year 2023 (91.4%), worst 2000 (73.5%).
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
This page's data
- Tests analysed
- 24,721
- Typical mileage (median)
- 142,979 mi
- Make and model
- Audi A4
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the A4 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 64% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (56% of tests).
Where the Audi A4 is most common
Across all A4 model years on record (2000–2023): 393,657 Audi A4 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 888,010 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 14,329 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham (B) | 14,329 | 86.9% |
| 2 | Sheffield (S) | 8,921 | 83.7% |
| 3 | Peterborough (PE) | 8,586 | 82.1% |
| 4 | Leicester (LE) | 7,606 | 82.0% |
| 5 | Glasgow (G) | 7,286 | 82.0% |
| 6 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 7,000 | 81.8% |
| 7 | Nottingham (NG) | 6,834 | 79.4% |
| 8 | Manchester (M) | 6,749 | 83.4% |
| 9 | Coventry (CV) | 6,238 | 82.8% |
| 10 | Reading (RG) | 6,121 | 81.5% |
| 11 | Doncaster (DN) | 5,901 | 81.9% |
| 12 | Bristol (BS) | 5,882 | 76.9% |
| 13 | Derby (DE) | 5,511 | 82.0% |
| 14 | Northampton (NN) | 5,442 | 80.4% |
| 15 | Guildford (GU) | 5,421 | 80.1% |
| 16 | Leeds (LS) | 5,078 | 80.3% |
| 17 | Cardiff (CF) | 5,070 | 78.6% |
| 18 | Bradford (BD) | 5,060 | 84.3% |
| 19 | Gloucester (GL) | 4,860 | 77.7% |
| 20 | Norwich (NR) | 4,702 | 79.6% |
The twenty areas with the most Audi A4 cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →
Regional pass rates for the A4
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 5,121 | 76.1% |
| South West | 3,912 | 67.1% |
| East of England | 2,910 | 74.8% |
| West Midlands | 2,452 | 78.7% |
| North West | 2,243 | 75.7% |
| Yorkshire | 1,877 | 77.4% |
| East Midlands | 1,696 | 74.1% |
| Scotland | 1,565 | 69.5% |
| Wales | 1,151 | 70.1% |
| London | 975 | 82.2% |
| North East | 819 | 75.6% |
Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.
What fails a 2004 A4
Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.
A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.
Before your test
Three checks worth doing on a 2004 A4
These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.
-
Check the lights 12.7% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
Switch everything on and walk round the car: both headlamps on dip and main, every indicator, both brake lights, reverse, fog and the two number-plate lamps. A bulb is a few pounds and a five-minute job.
-
Check the windscreen 6.0% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
-
Check the suspension joints 4.2% of tests
“pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
What it costs to get a 2004 A4 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £37–£110 — and 46% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £37–£110
- Cheapest common item: srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 46%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 24,721 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →
Every year of the A4, side by side
24 model years on record, from 2000 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 73.5% to 91.4% — a spread of 17.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 73.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2001 74.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 73.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 74.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 74.2%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 75.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 75.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 76.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 76.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 77.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2010 78.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2011 79.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 81.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 81.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 81.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 82.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 84.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 85.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2018 86.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2019 88.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 90.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 90.0% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 90.7% has ply or cords exposed
- 2023 91.4% has a cut in excess of the…
Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.
Compare the 2004 Audi A4 with another year
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Other 2004 cars with a similar record
- Mazda Mx-5 74.2%
- Volkswagen Passat 74.3%
- Toyota Corolla 74.1%
- Jaguar S-Type 74.1%
- Volkswagen Bora 74.0%
- Mercedes-Benz Clk 73.9%
Closest pass rates among 2004 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2004 Audi A4 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 78,195 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.
| Category | Items | This car | Nationally | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 22,490 | 28.30% | 20.98% | +7.32 |
| Brakes | 13,610 | 17.10% | 20.89% | −3.79 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 12,464 | 15.70% | 12.21% | +3.49 |
| Tyres | 9,259 | 11.70% | 19.76% | −8.06 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 7,236 | 9.10% | 5.52% | +3.58 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 5,012 | 6.30% | 5.57% | +0.73 |
| Visibility | 2,882 | 3.60% | 4.97% | −1.37 |
| Steering | 1,806 | 2.30% | 2.57% | −0.27 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 1,744 | 2.20% | 1.76% | +0.44 |
| Non-component advisories | 1,692 | 2.10% | 4.18% | −2.08 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 12.7% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 6.0% | £80–200 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 5.8% | £80–250 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.2% | £40–150 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.2% | £80–250 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.0% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.8% | £18–45 |
| Anti-lock braking system warning lamp indicates an ABS fault Brakes | Major | 2.6% | £3–15 |
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 2.4% | £3–12 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 2.3% | £60–150 |
Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.
What testers noted without failing the car
Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 23.8% | £40–150 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 19.9% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 19.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 12.5% | £45–110 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 10.0% | £180–450 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 7.5% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 88 | 86.4% | 20,718 mi |
| 30-60k | 651 | 83.6% | 49,652 mi |
| 60-90k | 2,540 | 77.6% | 77,488 mi |
| 90-120k | 4,804 | 75.7% | 106,178 mi |
| 120k+ | 16,574 | 72.9% | 172,435 mi |
Source: 24,721 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.
2004 A4 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2004 Audi A4?
74.2% of the 24,721 2004 Audi A4 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.2% for cars first used in 2004. First-attempt pass rate: 67.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2004 Audi A4?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (12.67%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (5.95%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (5.83%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2004 Audi A4 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 86.4% of the time, falling to 72.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2004 Audi A4 in this dataset had covered 142,979 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2004 Audi A4?
Diesel: 73.1% pass rate across 13,734 tests. Petrol: 75.7% pass rate across 10,975 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2004 Audi A4 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 74.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 74.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.