Pass rate
79.7%
Around average — 7.2 pts ahead of the 72.5% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 118 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £31–£104
2006 Audi S6 MOT pass rate
- 2006
- typical 129,011 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
19.4% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 95.6% pass
- Avoid 2008 78.5% pass
Across the 10 years on record, a spread of 17.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 76.2%
- Typical mileage
- 129k mi
The 2006 Audi S6 MOT pass rate is 79.7% of its MOT tests — 7.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 19.4% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.9× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 16.2% of everything recorded on the 2006 Audi S6, against 5.5% nationally — 10.7 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 19.4%, 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 72.5% and this one manages 79.7% — 7.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 55% 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 S6? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2006 Audi S6 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.5%, so this figure is 7.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 76.2%. The median 2006 Audi S6 in this dataset had covered 129,011 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 75.0% of the time, April–September 86.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 11.02% of tests.
- 118 recorded tests behind this page.
- 79.7% overall pass rate, 76.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Audi S6, the average is 88.3% — best year 2021 (95.6%), worst 2008 (78.5%).
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
- 118
- Typical mileage (median)
- 129,011 mi
- Make and model
- Audi S6
- 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 S6 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 65% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the S6
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 37 | 81.1% |
| East of England | 18 | 88.9% |
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 S6
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 S6
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 11.0% 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 exhaust and emissions 4.2% 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.
-
Check the suspension joints 2.5% 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 S6 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £31–£104 — and 55% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £31–£104
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £3–£12
- 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
- 55%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 118 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 S6, side by side
10 model years on record, from 2000 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 78.5% to 95.6% — a spread of 17.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 84.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 79.7%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 79.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2008 78.5% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2012 89.2% mirrors slightly damaged
- 2013 94.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 93.2% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2020 88.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 95.6% has a bulge, caused by separation…
- 2022 93.9% 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 S6 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
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 S6 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 242 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 | 48 | 19.40% | 20.98% | −1.58 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 43 | 17.40% | 12.21% | +5.19 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 40 | 16.20% | 5.52% | +10.68 |
| Brakes | 30 | 12.10% | 20.89% | −8.79 |
| Tyres | 27 | 10.90% | 19.76% | −8.86 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 27 | 10.90% | 5.57% | +5.33 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 11 | 4.50% | 1.76% | +2.74 |
| Non-component advisories | 6 | 2.40% | 4.18% | −1.78 |
| Visibility | 5 | 2.00% | 4.97% | −2.97 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 5 | 2.00% | 0.82% | +1.18 |
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 | 11.0% | £5–20 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 8.5% | £80–250 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 4.2% | £60–250 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.2% | £5–25 |
| Position lamp light intensity obviously reduced Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.4% | £5–25 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.4% | £3–12 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.5% | £18–45 |
| Linkage pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.5% | £40–150 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.5% | £3–12 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.5% | £80–200 |
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 | 23.7% | £200–700 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 17.8% | £40–150 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 12.7% | £45–120 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 11.0% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 5.9% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 5.1% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 2 | 100.0% | 52,404 mi |
| 60-90k | 6 | 100.0% | 75,762 mi |
| 90-120k | 30 | 73.3% | 107,377 mi |
| 120k+ | 79 | 79.7% | 138,064 mi |
Source: 118 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 S6 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2006 Audi S6?
79.7% of the 118 2006 Audi S6 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.5% for cars first used in 2006. First-attempt pass rate: 76.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2006 Audi S6?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (11.02%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (8.47%), catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (4.24%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2006 Audi S6 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 79.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2006 Audi S6 in this dataset had covered 129,011 mi.
Does the season affect the 2006 Audi S6 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 75.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 86.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.