Pass rate
81.7%
Around average — 9.2 pts ahead of the 72.5% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 3,988 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £27–£74
2006 Audi Q7 MOT pass rate
- 2006
- typical 142,861 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
21.2% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 98.1% pass
- Avoid 2008 81.2% pass
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 16.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 78.7%
- Typical mileage
- 143k mi
The 2006 Audi Q7 MOT pass rate is 81.7% of its MOT tests — 9.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 21.2% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 1.9× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 10.6% of everything recorded on the 2006 Audi Q7, against 5.5% nationally — 5.1 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 21.2%, but at 20.9% 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 72.5% and this one manages 81.7% — 9.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 56% of the repairs this model fails on cost under £30 in parts. The pass rate matters less than what a bad afternoon at the test centre actually costs you.
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 Q7? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2006 Audi Q7 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.5%, so this figure is 9.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 78.7%. The median 2006 Audi Q7 in this dataset had covered 142,861 mi.
95% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 81.6% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 81.1% of the time, April–September 82.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 6.72% of tests.
- 3,988 recorded tests behind this page.
- 81.7% overall pass rate, 78.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Audi Q7, the average is 86.4% — best year 2023 (98.1%), worst 2008 (81.2%).
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
- 3,988
- Typical mileage (median)
- 142,861 mi
- Make and model
- Audi Q7
- 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 Q7 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 72% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (95% of tests).
Where the Audi Q7 is most common
Across all Q7 model years on record (2006–2023): 75,119 Audi Q7 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 151,094 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 3,007 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) | 3,007 | 91.2% |
| 2 | Peterborough (PE) | 1,735 | 87.8% |
| 3 | Sheffield (S) | 1,489 | 88.3% |
| 4 | Leicester (LE) | 1,488 | 86.8% |
| 5 | Manchester (M) | 1,454 | 88.7% |
| 6 | Reading (RG) | 1,449 | 85.2% |
| 7 | Chelmsford (CM) | 1,259 | 86.7% |
| 8 | Coventry (CV) | 1,218 | 87.8% |
| 9 | Glasgow (G) | 1,217 | 85.8% |
| 10 | Nottingham (NG) | 1,217 | 85.7% |
| 11 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 1,187 | 86.4% |
| 12 | High Wycombe (HP) | 1,116 | 87.5% |
| 13 | Guildford (GU) | 1,098 | 83.9% |
| 14 | Romford (RM) | 1,091 | 90.7% |
| 15 | Luton (LU) | 1,065 | 92.2% |
| 16 | London (E) | 989 | 93.4% |
| 17 | Doncaster (DN) | 975 | 86.7% |
| 18 | Northampton (NN) | 968 | 86.5% |
| 19 | Kingston upon Thames (KT) | 948 | 87.2% |
| 20 | Derby (DE) | 948 | 88.1% |
The twenty areas with the most Audi Q7 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 Q7
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 772 | 80.7% |
| West Midlands | 496 | 86.9% |
| North West | 460 | 82.4% |
| East of England | 435 | 82.8% |
| Yorkshire | 432 | 82.4% |
| South West | 345 | 75.1% |
| East Midlands | 279 | 80.3% |
| Scotland | 235 | 76.6% |
| London | 220 | 91.8% |
| Wales | 192 | 74.0% |
| North East | 122 | 85.2% |
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 2006 Q7
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 2006 Q7
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 6.7% 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 4.1% 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 2.2% 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.
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 2006 Q7 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £27–£74 — and 56% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £27–£74
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp with a multiple light source up to…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 56%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 3,988 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 Q7, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2006 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 81.2% to 98.1% — a spread of 16.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2006 81.7%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 81.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 81.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 82.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 83.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 85.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 86.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 87.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 87.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 87.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 85.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 86.2% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2018 87.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 90.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 92.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 92.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2022 93.6% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2023 98.1% windscreen damaged but not…
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 2006 Audi Q7 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 2006 cars with a similar record
- Jaguar Xk 81.5%
- BMW 535 82.5%
- Toyota Alphard 82.8%
- Lexus IS250 80.5%
- Toyota Estima 82.9%
- Porsche Cayenne 83.0%
Closest pass rates among 2006 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 2006 Audi Q7 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 8,910 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 1,913 | 21.20% | 20.89% | +0.31 |
| Suspension | 1,633 | 18.10% | 20.98% | −2.88 |
| Tyres | 1,432 | 15.80% | 19.76% | −3.96 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,316 | 14.60% | 12.21% | +2.39 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 963 | 10.60% | 5.52% | +5.08 |
| Visibility | 421 | 4.70% | 4.97% | −0.27 |
| Non-component advisories | 372 | 4.10% | 4.18% | −0.08 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 341 | 3.80% | 5.57% | −1.77 |
| Steering | 283 | 3.10% | 2.57% | +0.53 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 236 | 2.60% | 0.82% | +1.78 |
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 | 6.7% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.1% | £80–200 |
| Position lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.0% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.2% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 2.0% | £80–250 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.8% | £5–25 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 1.8% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.7% | £5–25 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.7% | £45–95 |
| Stop lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.6% | £3–12 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 19.9% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 18.6% | £200–700 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 12.7% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 11.1% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 10.2% | £18–45 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 6.2% | £180–450 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1 | 100.0% | 28,038 mi |
| 30-60k | 28 | 92.9% | 52,215 mi |
| 60-90k | 200 | 84.0% | 79,107 mi |
| 90-120k | 750 | 80.1% | 107,759 mi |
| 120k+ | 3,009 | 81.9% | 157,269 mi |
Source: 3,988 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.
2006 Q7 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2006 Audi Q7?
81.7% of the 3,988 2006 Audi Q7 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.5% for cars first used in 2006. First-attempt pass rate: 78.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2006 Audi Q7?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (6.72%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (4.11%), position lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning (2.96%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2006 Audi Q7 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 81.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2006 Audi Q7 in this dataset had covered 142,861 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2006 Audi Q7?
Diesel: 81.6% pass rate across 3,777 tests. Petrol: 83.9% pass rate across 211 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2006 Audi Q7 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 81.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 82.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.