Calculate my fail sheet

2002 Audi A6 MOT pass rate

Check your postcode

Pass rate by postcode →

Pass rate

72.4%

Below average — 0.5 pts behind the 72.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 1,607 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £45–£137

Most common fault

Suspension

24.4% 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 →

12.0 pts down across model years — 12.7% in 2002, 0.7% in 2019.

Every failure, with what it costs →

Which year to buy

  • Best 2023 97.6% pass
  • Avoid 2002 72.4% pass · this year

Across the 25 years on record, a spread of 25.2 points. See every year →

First-attempt pass
65.1%
Typical mileage
153k mi

The 2002 Audi A6 MOT pass rate is 72.4% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.4% of what testers record.

MOT PASS RATES

The 2002 Audi A6 on the real record

72.4% of 2002 Audi A6 MOTs passed — 1,607 tests, 2023–2025

Pass rate

The answer from the DVSA's class-4 MOT records.

Expert verdict

Fewer problems with tyres

Tyres are 10.8% of this car’s recorded faults, against 19.8% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a car of this age.

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 A6? Get an email when these numbers change .

How does the 2002 Audi A6 compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 72.9%, so this figure is 0.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 65.1%. The median 2002 Audi A6 in this dataset had covered 153,004 mi.

The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 63% of tests, with a 70.1% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 72.0% of the time, April–September 73.0%.

The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 9.02% of tests.

  • 1,607 recorded tests behind this page.
  • 72.4% overall pass rate, 65.1% on a first attempt.
  • Across every year of the Audi A6, the average is 85.3% — best year 2023 (97.6%), worst 2002 (72.4%).

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
1,607
Typical mileage (median)
153,004 mi
Make and model
Audi A6
Updated
2026-11-07

Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.

Top part to budget for

Body Panel Repair

Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.

Does mileage affect the A6 MOT pass rate?

0-30k 100.0%
30-60k 100.0%
60-90k 79.4%
90-120k 73.8%
120k+ 71.1%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 63% so small gaps stay visible.

Fuel type and reliability

Diesel 70.1%
Petrol 76.3%

Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (63% of tests).

Where the Audi A6 is most common

Across all A6 model years on record (2000–2024): 198,194 Audi A6 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 428,091 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 8,282 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 Share of all Tests Pass rate
1 Birmingham (B) 8,282 4.2% 16,901 90.1%
2 Peterborough (PE) 5,224 2.6% 11,506 86.0%
3 Leicester (LE) 4,389 2.2% 9,041 85.9%
4 Sheffield (S) 3,970 2% 8,547 87.5%
5 Glasgow (G) 3,664 1.8% 8,186 85.4%
6 Nottingham (NG) 3,623 1.8% 8,189 83.7%
7 Coventry (CV) 3,567 1.8% 7,547 87.4%
8 Manchester (M) 3,552 1.8% 7,166 87.3%
9 Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) 3,464 1.7% 8,043 85.6%
10 Northampton (NN) 3,415 1.7% 7,651 86.2%
11 Reading (RG) 3,350 1.7% 7,518 84.4%
12 Doncaster (DN) 3,132 1.6% 6,819 85.4%
13 Derby (DE) 2,869 1.4% 5,894 85.8%
14 Milton Keynes (MK) 2,737 1.4% 5,748 85.7%
15 Guildford (GU) 2,701 1.4% 6,147 83.0%
16 Bristol (BS) 2,676 1.4% 6,448 80.1%
17 Blackburn (BB) 2,490 1.3% 4,741 89.8%
18 Bradford (BD) 2,441 1.2% 4,850 89.4%
19 Leeds (LS) 2,422 1.2% 5,052 83.3%
20 Ipswich (IP) 2,421 1.2% 5,803 83.4%

The twenty areas with the most Audi A6 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 A6

Region Tests Pass rate
South East 411 74.0%
East of England 244 74.6%
South West 212 66.5%
West Midlands 150 67.3%
North West 128 75.0%
Yorkshire 100 73.0%
East Midlands 85 75.3%
Wales 85 68.2%
Scotland 76 69.7%
London 76 85.5%
North East 40 67.5%

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 2002 A6

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.

Suspension 24.4%
+3.4 pts vs national national 21.0% Price suspension parts
Brakes 20.6%
in line with the national share national 20.9% Price brakes parts
Lamps & electrics 13.7%
+1.5 pts vs national national 12.2% Order bulbs & wipers
Tyres 10.8%
−9.0 pts vs national national 19.8% Compare tyre prices
Show the other 6 fault categories
  • Body & chassis 9.0%
  • Emissions & leaks 8.9%
  • Visibility 4.0%
  • Identification 2.6%
  • Steering 2.6%
  • Advisories 2.4%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2002 Audi A6 tests — a composition, so they add to 100% across all sections, not per test.

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 2002 A6

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.

  1. Check the windscreen 7.0% 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.

  2. Check the lights 5.6% of tests

    “headlamp lens slightly defective”

    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.

  3. Check the suspension joints 3.9% 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 2002 A6 through its MOT

Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £45–£137 — and 32% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 10 common items
£45–£137
Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp not working
£3–£15
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
32%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 1,607 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 A6, side by side

25 model years on record, from 2000 to 2024. Across them the pass rate runs from 72.4% to 97.6% — a spread of 25.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.

  1. 2000 74.7% joints constant velocity boot…
  2. 2001 76.3% joints constant velocity boot…
  3. 2002 72.4%
    joints constant velocity boot…
  4. 2003 74.5% joints constant velocity boot…
  5. 2004 75.4% joints constant velocity boot…
  6. 2005 76.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
  7. 2006 78.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
  8. 2007 78.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
  9. 2008 78.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
  10. 2009 80.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
  11. 2010 80.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
  12. 2011 81.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
  13. 2012 84.5% windscreen damaged but not…
  14. 2013 85.3% windscreen damaged but not…
  15. 2014 85.6% windscreen damaged but not…
  16. 2015 87.5% windscreen damaged but not…
  17. 2016 88.2% windscreen damaged but not…
  18. 2017 89.4% windscreen damaged but not…
  19. 2018 90.2% windscreen damaged but not…
  20. 2019 91.2% windscreen damaged but not…
  21. 2020 92.6% windscreen damaged but not…
  22. 2021 92.5% windscreen damaged but not…
  23. 2022 92.3% tread depth below requirements of…
  24. 2023 97.6% headlamp aim too high
  25. 2024 97.2% headlamp aim too low

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 2002 Audi A6 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.

Compare 2002 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

Other 2002 cars with a similar record

Closest pass rates among 2002 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 2002 Audi A6 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 5,196 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 1,282 24.40% 20.98% +3.42
Brakes 1,079 20.60% 20.89% −0.29
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 719 13.70% 12.21% +1.49
Tyres 565 10.80% 19.76% −8.96
Body, chassis, structure 471 9.00% 5.57% +3.43
Noise, emissions and leaks 468 8.90% 5.52% +3.38
Visibility 209 4.00% 4.97% −0.97
Identification of the vehicle 139 2.60% 1.76% +0.84
Steering 138 2.60% 2.57% +0.03
Non-component advisories 126 2.40% 4.18% −1.78

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 1,607 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost Part
Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure Minor 9.0% £80–250 Body Panel Repair →
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility Minor 7.0% £80–200 Windscreen →
Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure Major 6.0% £80–250 Body Panel Repair →
Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 5.6% £5–25 Headlight Bulb →
Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Major 3.9% £40–150 Suspension Component →
Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 3.6% £5–20 Number Plate Lamp →
Ball joint excessively worn Suspension Major 3.4% £18–45 Ball Joint →
Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 3.0% £3–15 Bulb →
Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 2.9% £5–25 Headlight Bulb →
Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 2.8% £30–80 Headlight Alignment →

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.

Items recorded as advisory on this vehicle
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost
Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Advisory 21.5% £40–150
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Advisory 19.3% £45–95
Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes Advisory 19.2% £45–110
Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks Advisory 18.1% £200–700
Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes Advisory 10.9% £80–180
Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension Advisory 9.8% £25–65

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage Tests Pass rate Median odometer
0-30k 2 100.0% 26,842 mi
30-60k 14 100.0% 48,757 mi
60-90k 102 79.4% 78,301 mi
90-120k 279 73.8% 105,654 mi
120k+ 1,207 71.1% 181,672 mi

Source: 1,607 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.

2002 A6 MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2002 Audi A6?

72.4% of the 1,607 2002 Audi A6 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.9% for cars first used in 2002. First-attempt pass rate: 65.1%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2002 Audi A6?

The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (9.02%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (7.03%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (6.04%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2002 Audi A6 MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 71.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2002 Audi A6 in this dataset had covered 153,004 mi.

Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2002 Audi A6?

Diesel: 70.1% pass rate across 1,008 tests. Petrol: 76.3% pass rate across 598 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.

Does the season affect the 2002 Audi A6 MOT pass rate?

Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 72.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 73.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.