Pass rate
96.6%
Above average — 8.7 pts ahead of the 87.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 59 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £52–£172
2018 Audi RS3 MOT pass rate
- 2018
- typical 43,193 mi
Only 59 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
41.2% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2018 96.6% pass · this year
- Avoid 2012 89.4% pass
Across the 3 years on record, a spread of 7.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 96.5%
- Typical mileage
- 43k mi
The 2018 Audi RS3 MOT pass rate is 96.6% of its MOT tests — 8.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 41.2% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 2.0× the national share
Brakes make up 41.2% of everything recorded on the 2018 Audi Rs3, against 20.9% nationally — 20.3 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- 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 87.9% and this one manages 96.6% — 8.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 0% 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 RS3? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2018 Audi RS3 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 87.9%, so this figure is 8.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 96.5%. The median 2018 Audi RS3 in this dataset had covered 43,193 mi.
The single most recorded failure item is "Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds default limits", noted on 1.69% of tests.
- 59 recorded tests behind this page.
- 96.6% overall pass rate, 96.5% 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
- 59
- Typical mileage (median)
- 43,193 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
Emissions Repair
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yorkshire | 16 | 100.0% |
| West Midlands | 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 2018 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 2018 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 exhaust and emissions 1.7% of tests
“catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds default 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.
-
Check the tyre tread 1.7% of tests
“tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm”
Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.
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 2018 RS3 through its MOT
Across the 2 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £52–£172 — and 0% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 2 common items
- £52–£172
- Cheapest common item: tread depth tread pattern not visible over…
- £45–£95
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 0%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 59 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 2018 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 2018 cars with a similar record
- Lexus Rx 95.9%
- Levc Tx Vista Comfort 95.5%
- Porsche 911 95.2%
- Porsche Boxster 95.0%
- Porsche Cayman 94.7%
- Porsche Macan 94.1%
Closest pass rates among 2018 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 2018 Audi RS3 2 failure items · 6 advisories · 5 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 17 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 | 7 | 41.20% | 20.89% | +20.31 |
| Tyres | 5 | 29.40% | 19.76% | +9.64 |
| Suspension | 3 | 17.60% | 20.98% | −3.38 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1 | 5.90% | 5.52% | +0.38 |
| Steering | 1 | 5.90% | 2.57% | +3.33 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.7% | £60–250 |
| Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres | Major | 1.7% | £45–95 |
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 pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 6.8% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 3.4% | £45–110 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 3.4% | £30–75 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 3.4% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 1.7% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 1.7% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 10 | 90.0% | 20,051 mi |
| 30-60k | 38 | 100.0% | 43,483 mi |
| 60-90k | 11 | 90.9% | 72,907 mi |
Source: 59 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.
2018 RS3 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2018 Audi RS3?
96.6% of the 59 2018 Audi RS3 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 87.9% for cars first used in 2018. First-attempt pass rate: 96.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2018 Audi RS3?
The three most recorded items are catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds default limits (1.69%), tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm (1.69%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2018 Audi RS3 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 90.0% of the time, falling to 90.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2018 Audi RS3 in this dataset had covered 43,193 mi.