Pass rate
90.7%
Above average — 2.8 pts ahead of the 87.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 199,660 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £40–£94
2018 Volkswagen Golf MOT pass rate
- 2018
- typical 47,598 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
37.0% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Part only £55–£85 for Tread depth below 1.6 mm. What fitting it takes →
3.8 pts down across model years — 6.2% in 2000, 2.4% in 2023.
Which year to buy
- Best 2024 98.1% pass
- Avoid 2004 69.3% pass
Across the 25 years on record, a spread of 28.8 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 89.8%
- Typical mileage
- 48k mi
The 2018 Volkswagen Golf MOT pass rate is 90.7% of its MOT tests — 2.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 37.0% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volkswagen Golf does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.9× the national share
Tyres make up 37.0% of everything recorded on the 2018 Volkswagen Golf, against 19.8% nationally — 17.2 points above. Check all four tyres yourself, including the inner shoulders, and look at the date stamp — a tyre can pass on tread and still be six years old.
- 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 Volkswagen Golf? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2018 Volkswagen Golf compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 87.9%, so this figure is 2.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 89.8%. The median 2018 Volkswagen Golf in this dataset had covered 47,598 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 67% of tests, with a 91.6% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 91.2% of the time, April–September 90.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 1.88% of tests.
- 199,660 recorded tests behind this page.
- 90.7% overall pass rate, 89.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volkswagen Golf, the average is 82.1% — best year 2024 (98.1%), worst 2004 (69.3%).
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
- 199,660
- Typical mileage (median)
- 47,598 mi
- Make and model
- Volkswagen Golf
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
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 Golf MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 78% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (67% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Golf
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 41,318 | 91.0% |
| North West | 22,960 | 90.9% |
| Scotland | 20,616 | 88.1% |
| East of England | 20,375 | 91.4% |
| Yorkshire | 18,193 | 90.9% |
| South West | 18,111 | 90.8% |
| West Midlands | 17,789 | 91.6% |
| East Midlands | 13,422 | 90.5% |
| London | 10,276 | 91.2% |
| North East | 8,679 | 91.0% |
| Wales | 7,892 | 90.8% |
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 Golf
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 Golf
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 1.9% 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 tyre tread 0.9% of tests
“tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”
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.
-
Check the shock absorbers 0.9% of tests
“shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak”
Press down hard on each corner of the car and let go. It should settle in one bounce; if it keeps rocking, or you can see oil weeping down a shock absorber, that is the fault a tester will find.
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 Golf through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £40–£94 — and 20% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £40–£94
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 20%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 199,660 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 Golf, side by side
25 model years on record, from 2000 to 2024. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.3% to 98.1% — a spread of 28.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 72.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2001 72.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2002 72.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 72.8% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 69.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 71.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 71.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 72.8% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2008 73.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 75.7% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2010 75.6% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2011 76.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 78.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 83.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 85.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 87.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 89.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 89.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 90.7%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 91.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 93.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 92.6% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 93.7% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2023 95.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2024 98.1% ball joint dust cover severely…
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 Volkswagen Golf 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
- BMW X1 90.7%
- BMW 6 Series 90.7%
- Hyundai I20 90.8%
- Hyundai Kona 90.8%
- Fiat 124 90.8%
- Jaguar I-Pace 90.8%
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 Volkswagen Golf 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 172,329 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 64,139 | 37.00% | 19.76% | +17.24 |
| Brakes | 40,686 | 23.50% | 20.89% | +2.61 |
| Suspension | 33,486 | 19.30% | 20.98% | −1.68 |
| Non-component advisories | 9,394 | 5.40% | 4.18% | +1.22 |
| Visibility | 8,936 | 5.20% | 4.97% | +0.23 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 7,414 | 4.30% | 12.21% | −7.91 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2,920 | 1.70% | 5.52% | −3.82 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2,257 | 1.30% | 1.76% | −0.46 |
| Road Wheels | 2,040 | 1.20% | 0.75% | +0.45 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1,057 | 0.60% | 5.57% | −4.97 |
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 | 1.9% | £80–200 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.4% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.93% | £45–95 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 0.91% | £30–75 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 0.81% | £18–45 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.76% | £45–95 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 0.72% | £5–20 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.56% | £8–22 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 0.54% | £25–65 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 0.51% | £8–22 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 13.4% | £30–75 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 13.1% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 10.3% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 10.1% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 5.7% | £45–110 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.0% | £20–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 35,294 | 94.4% | 21,950 mi |
| 30-60k | 105,323 | 91.1% | 44,642 mi |
| 60-90k | 46,467 | 88.2% | 71,696 mi |
| 90-120k | 10,003 | 86.0% | 100,981 mi |
| 120k+ | 2,554 | 87.3% | 142,294 mi |
Source: 199,660 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 Golf MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2018 Volkswagen Golf?
90.7% of the 199,660 2018 Volkswagen Golf tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 87.9% for cars first used in 2018. First-attempt pass rate: 89.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2018 Volkswagen Golf?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (1.88%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.35%), tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (0.93%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2018 Volkswagen Golf MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 94.4% of the time, falling to 87.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2018 Volkswagen Golf in this dataset had covered 47,598 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2018 Volkswagen Golf?
Petrol: 91.6% pass rate across 133,921 tests. Diesel: 89.1% pass rate across 53,452 tests. Hybrid: 88.5% pass rate across 10,331 tests. Electric: 88.8% pass rate across 1,956 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2018 Volkswagen Golf MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 91.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 90.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.