Audi A5 years to avoid: the later ones

Based on 121,255 real MOT tests from DVSA records. Each year is compared against every other car first registered the same year — otherwise the numbers would only tell you that older cars fail more, which you knew.

The short answer

Avoid 2020. The worst is the 2020, which fails its MOT 18% more often than other cars of the same age. The 2007 is the strongest, failing 30% less often than average.

Found a Audi A5 you like?

Averages tell you what to expect. Its registration tells you what actually happened — every MOT, every advisory, and whether the mileage adds up.

Every A5 model year

Shaded rows are the years that differ most from other cars of the same age — worse, better.

MOT failure rate by registration year for the Audi A5
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2007	1,511	24.7%	30% better
2008	4,361	26.1%	25% better
2009	6,304	25.2%	25% better
2010	10,622	25.0%	23% better
2011	10,007	22.9%	24% better
2012	9,560	21.4%	23% better
2013	10,918	20.6%	20% better
2014	10,807	18.6%	18% better
2015	10,465	16.4%	16% better
2016	8,428	17.1%	about average
2017	14,229	13.9%	about average
2018	11,589	11.8%	about average
2019	10,123	10.5%	about average
2020 Worst	2,331	10.8%	18% worse

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Audi A5, grouped by the year the car was first registered. Retests are excluded, so a car that failed and was fixed still counts as a failure. Each year's rate is then divided by the rate for all cars first registered that year — so 120 means 20% more failures than its contemporaries, not 20% more than a brand new car.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.