Pass rate
81.6%
Around average — 8.3 pts ahead of the 73.3% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 304 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £37–£112
2001 Audi A8 MOT pass rate
- 2001
- typical 134,982 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
23.9% 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 →
9.9 pts down across model years — 11.7% in 2005, 1.8% in 2018.
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 95.0% pass
- Avoid 2000 74.8% pass
Across the 23 years on record, a spread of 20.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 79.3%
- Typical mileage
- 135k mi
The 2001 Audi A8 MOT pass rate is 81.6% of its MOT tests — 8.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 23.9% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.3× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 12.9% of everything recorded on the 2001 Audi A8, against 5.5% nationally — 7.4 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 23.9%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 73.3% and this one manages 81.6% — 8.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 20% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
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 A8? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2001 Audi A8 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.3%, so this figure is 8.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 79.3%. The median 2001 Audi A8 in this dataset had covered 134,982 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 80.0% of the time, April–September 83.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 6.25% of tests.
- 304 recorded tests behind this page.
- 81.6% overall pass rate, 79.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Audi A8, the average is 90.2% — best year 2021 (95.0%), worst 2000 (74.8%).
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
- 304
- Typical mileage (median)
- 134,982 mi
- Make and model
- Audi A8
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the A8 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Audi A8 is most common
Across all A8 model years on record (2000–2022): 18,992 Audi A8 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 36,133 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 828 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) | 828 | 93.5% |
| 2 | Peterborough (PE) | 451 | 90.7% |
| 3 | London (N) | 430 | 95.1% |
| 4 | London (E) | 377 | 97.6% |
| 5 | Coventry (CV) | 373 | 90.6% |
| 6 | Northampton (NN) | 366 | 89.2% |
| 7 | Romford (RM) | 343 | 95.6% |
| 8 | Leicester (LE) | 338 | 92.1% |
| 9 | Wembley (HA) | 338 | 95.4% |
| 10 | Sheffield (S) | 327 | 93.9% |
| 11 | Manchester (M) | 322 | 90.4% |
| 12 | Glasgow (G) | 318 | 88.0% |
| 13 | London (NW) | 316 | 94.9% |
| 14 | Nottingham (NG) | 302 | 88.1% |
| 15 | Luton (LU) | 302 | 94.8% |
| 16 | Reading (RG) | 300 | 88.7% |
| 17 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 298 | 92.3% |
| 18 | Doncaster (DN) | 295 | 90.8% |
| 19 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 291 | 92.1% |
| 20 | Enfield (EN) | 272 | 96.1% |
The twenty areas with the most Audi A8 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 A8
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 73 | 79.5% |
| East of England | 48 | 79.2% |
| West Midlands | 36 | 86.1% |
| North West | 33 | 87.9% |
| London | 24 | 87.5% |
| South West | 23 | 69.6% |
| Wales | 22 | 72.7% |
| East Midlands | 15 | 80.0% |
| Scotland | 15 | 100.0% |
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 2001 A8
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 2001 A8
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 suspension joints 6.3% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
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.
-
Check the coil springs 3.0% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
-
Check the lights 2.3% 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.
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 2001 A8 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £37–£112 — and 20% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £37–£112
- Cheapest common item: washers not working
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 20%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 304 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 A8, side by side
23 model years on record, from 2000 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 74.8% to 95.0% — a spread of 20.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 74.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2001 81.6%ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2002 82.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 81.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 82.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 83.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 84.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 84.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 87.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 87.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 88.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 90.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 90.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 91.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 92.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 92.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 92.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 93.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 93.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 94.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 93.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 95.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2022 93.5% 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 2001 Audi A8 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 2001 cars with a similar record
- Jaguar XK8 80.6%
- Porsche Boxster 80.5%
- Mercedes-Benz Slk 80.3%
- BMW Z3 79.5%
- Subaru Impreza 79.3%
- Jaguar Xkr 79.2%
Closest pass rates among 2001 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 2001 Audi A8 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 684 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 | 165 | 23.90% | 20.98% | +2.92 |
| Brakes | 127 | 18.40% | 20.89% | −2.49 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 89 | 12.90% | 5.52% | +7.38 |
| Tyres | 87 | 12.60% | 19.76% | −7.16 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 61 | 8.90% | 12.21% | −3.31 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 61 | 8.90% | 5.57% | +3.33 |
| Visibility | 36 | 5.20% | 4.97% | +0.23 |
| Steering | 32 | 4.60% | 2.57% | +2.03 |
| Non-component advisories | 17 | 2.50% | 4.18% | −1.68 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 9 | 1.30% | 1.76% | −0.46 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 6.3% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 5.6% | £80–250 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 4.0% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.6% | £80–250 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.0% | £25–65 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.3% | £5–20 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 2.3% | £60–150 |
| Washers not working Visibility | Major | 2.3% | £5–15 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.0% | £40–150 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.0% | £3–15 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 19.4% | £200–700 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 13.5% | £40–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 11.8% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 11.5% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 7.2% | £45–110 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 6.9% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 2 | 100.0% | 19,446 mi |
| 30-60k | 8 | 75.0% | 49,275 mi |
| 60-90k | 41 | 80.5% | 82,506 mi |
| 90-120k | 55 | 81.8% | 105,767 mi |
| 120k+ | 197 | 81.7% | 166,204 mi |
Source: 304 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.
2001 A8 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2001 Audi A8?
81.6% of the 304 2001 Audi A8 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.3% for cars first used in 2001. First-attempt pass rate: 79.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2001 Audi A8?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (6.25%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (5.59%), track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (3.95%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2001 Audi A8 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 81.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2001 Audi A8 in this dataset had covered 134,982 mi.
Does the season affect the 2001 Audi A8 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 80.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 83.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.