Volkswagen Golf MOT failures and reliability

In 2023 the Volkswagen Golf took 919,356 MOT tests in Britain and passed 74% of them first time, close to the national average of 71% for all cars. The figures below come from the DVSA's record of every test, so they show what testers actually found on these cars rather than what owners report.

MOT tests in 2023: 919,356
First-time pass rate: 74%
All cars: 71%

What the Golf fails on

Share of tests with at least one failure in each area, against the figure for all cars.

Suspension9.3% (all cars 9.0%)
Lights and electrics8.9% (all cars 11.3%)
Tyres6.6% (all cars 6.4%)
Brakes6.5% (all cars 6.8%)
Body and structure3.9% (all cars 3.5%)
Exhaust and emissions3.5% (all cars 3.1%)
Visibility3.5% (all cars 4.8%)
Seat belts and airbags1.3% (all cars 1.0%)

Most common failure items

Share of tests on which each item was recorded.

Coil spring: fractured or broken 3.0%
Tread depth: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm 2.4%
Joints: constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt 1.9%
Brake pads: less than 1.5 mm thick 1.8%
Malfunction indicator lamp: inoperative or indicates a malfunction 1.8%
Tyres, condition: has ply or cords exposed 1.7%
Linkage ball joint dust cover: ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt 1.7%
Shock absorbers: has a serious fluid leak 1.5%

Most common advisories

Tread depth: worn close to legal limit/worn on edge 18.6%
Shock absorbers: has light misting of oil 10.4%
Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened 9.6%
Tyres, condition: slightly damaged/cracking or perishing 8.8%
Brake pads: wearing thin 8.0%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement 6.1%
Engine oil leaks: leak, but not excessive 4.2%
Coil spring: corroded 3.3%

Pass rate by year of registration

Older cars fail more often whatever the model, so compare a car with others of the same age.

First registered	Tests	Pass rate
1983	790	76%
1986	361	68%
1987	471	71%
1988	703	70%
1989	1,309	69%
1990	1,704	70%
1991	1,737	71%
1992	597	67%
1994	325	63%
1995	542	62%
1996	1,024	64%
1997	1,076	65%
1998	1,505	57%
1999	3,325	56%
2000	5,587	56%
2001	9,696	56%
2002	16,886	56%
2003	19,733	57%
2004	16,219	51%
2005	24,872	53%
2006	34,874	54%
2007	46,138	58%
2008	45,122	60%
2009	47,401	63%
2010	47,748	63%
2011	52,419	66%
2012	53,171	70%
2013	55,800	77%
2014	65,188	80%
2015	68,130	84%
2016	65,762	86%
2017	70,387	87%
2018	62,391	88%
2019	54,095	89%
2020	40,035	91%
2021	1,203	92%

Typical mileage by age

Average odometer reading at the MOT, by the car's age in years at the test.

Age at test	Average mileage
3 years	25,028 miles
4 years	33,448 miles
5 years	42,405 miles
6 years	50,583 miles
7 years	59,326 miles
8 years	68,204 miles
9 years	79,121 miles
10 years	86,493 miles
11 years	94,906 miles
12 years	104,460 miles
13 years	109,905 miles
14 years	110,416 miles
15 years	122,147 miles
16 years	122,074 miles
17 years	123,191 miles
18 years	127,105 miles
19 years	126,451 miles
20 years	136,163 miles

Check a particular Golf

Model figures tell you what to look out for. To see one car's own MOT history, mileage and tax, enter its registration.

Other Volkswagen models

Source: Department for Transport, Anonymised MOT tests and results, 2023, cars and light vans, normal tests only. Pass rates are first-time passes; a pass after repair at the test station counts as a fail. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.