Pass rate
90.5%
Above average — 6.5 pts ahead of the 84.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 105 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £36–£95
2016 Audi RS3 MOT pass rate
- 2016
- typical 56,952 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
30.0% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2018 96.6% pass
- Avoid 2012 89.4% pass
Across the 3 years on record, a spread of 7.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 89.9%
- Typical mileage
- 57k mi
The 2016 Audi RS3 MOT pass rate is 90.5% of its MOT tests — 6.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 30.0% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Visibility: 3.4× the national share
Visibility accounts for 16.7% of everything recorded on the 2016 Audi Rs3, against 5.0% nationally — 11.7 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 30.0%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Wipers, washers and a chip in the driver’s eyeline are the three quickest ways to fail a test that the car otherwise deserves to pass.
- 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 84.0% and this one manages 90.5% — 6.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Based on a small sample. 105 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
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 RS3? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2016 Audi RS3 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 84.0%, so this figure is 6.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 89.9%. The median 2016 Audi RS3 in this dataset had covered 56,952 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 91.2% of the time, April–September 89.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 3.81% of tests.
- 105 recorded tests behind this page.
- 90.5% overall pass rate, 89.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Audi RS3, the average is 91.4% — best year 2018 (96.6%), worst 2012 (89.4%).
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
- 105
- Typical mileage (median)
- 56,952 mi
- Make and model
- Audi RS3
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the RS3 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 82% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the RS3
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| North West | 17 | 82.4% |
| Scotland | 16 | 87.5% |
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 2016 RS3
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 2016 RS3
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 windscreen 3.8% 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 lights 2.9% of tests
“malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction”
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 exhaust and emissions 0.9% of tests
“catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits”
Listen for a blow at idle and have someone rev it gently. Then look at the tailpipe smoke: blue is oil, white when warm is coolant, black is over-fuelling. Any of those and the emissions test is the least of it.
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 2016 RS3 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £36–£95 — and 37% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £36–£95
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 37%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 105 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 RS3, side by side
3 model years on record, from 2012 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 89.4% to 96.6% — a spread of 7.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2012 89.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 90.5%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 96.6% catalyst emissions carbon…
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 2016 Audi RS3 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 2016 cars with a similar record
- Suzuki Celerio 90.6%
- Honda Cr-V 90.7%
- Mazda Mx-5 90.7%
- BMW 1 Series 90.3%
- Toyota GT86 90.3%
- MINI Paceman 90.9%
Closest pass rates among 2016 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 2016 Audi RS3 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 7 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 60 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 | 18 | 30.00% | 20.89% | +9.11 |
| Tyres | 16 | 26.70% | 19.76% | +6.94 |
| Visibility | 10 | 16.70% | 4.97% | +11.73 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 8 | 13.30% | 5.52% | +7.78 |
| Suspension | 5 | 8.30% | 20.98% | −12.68 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2 | 3.30% | 5.57% | −2.27 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 1 | 1.70% | 0.82% | +0.88 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.8% | £80–200 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.9% | £3–12 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Rectified | 2.9% | £3–12 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.9% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.9% | £45–95 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.95% | £60–250 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 0.95% | £25–65 |
| Driver's view of an obligatory external mirror significantly affected by an obstruction Visibility | Major | 0.95% | £20–80 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 0.95% | £60–150 |
| Washers jets misaligned and not providing sufficient fluid to the windscreen Visibility | Rectified | 0.95% | £5–15 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 9.5% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 8.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 3.8% | £18–45 |
| Exhaust system noise is clearly in excess of that emitted by a similar vehicle fitted with a standard silencer in… Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 1.9% | £45–120 |
| Flexible brake hoses ferrule excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 1.9% | £25–70 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 0.95% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 3 | 100.0% | 23,349 mi |
| 30-60k | 61 | 90.2% | 50,026 mi |
| 60-90k | 41 | 90.2% | 71,314 mi |
Source: 105 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.
2016 RS3 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2016 Audi RS3?
90.5% of the 105 2016 Audi RS3 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 84.0% for cars first used in 2016. First-attempt pass rate: 89.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2016 Audi RS3?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.81%), malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction (2.86%), malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction (2.86%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2016 Audi RS3 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 90.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2016 Audi RS3 in this dataset had covered 56,952 mi.
Does the season affect the 2016 Audi RS3 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 91.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 89.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.