Audi A3 vs Vauxhall Astra

The Audi A3 has the better MOT record of the two — 17.3% fail rate versus 22.3% for the Vauxhall Astra across comparable years. The biggest single difference is lighting & signalling, where the Astra records failures noticeably more often.

17.3%
A3 fail rate
22.3%
Astra fail rate
4.94pp
Difference

Side by side

MOT figures compared
MetricAudi A3Vauxhall Astra
MOT tests analysed2,507,5634,357,149
Pass rate82.7%77.7%
Fail rate17.3%22.3%
Fail rate compared (lower is better) Audi A3 17.3% Vauxhall Astra 22.3%
Overall MOT fail rate across comparable model years.

Where they differ

Failure-area share, by category
CategoryA3Astra
Lighting & signalling6.8%10.6%
Suspension7.2%10.0%
Brakes4.5%7.3%
Visibility2.6%4.5%
Tyres6.3%6.2%

Methodology & source. Dataset: DVSA MOT testing data (2021,2022,2023,2024,2025). Data last updated 2026-07-27. Figures reflect MOT-testable defects only — read the methodology for how these are calculated and what they don't measure.

See the full data