All generations and engines together · 4,533 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 66k
Better than most SUVs per mile driven. Watch suspension and emissions/leaks. A solid used buy, provided its MOT history has no repeating suspension advisories.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press, with how well each report stands up. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
The Q8 shares its adaptive air suspension with the Q7, Cayenne and Touareg, and the same pattern turns up on Honest John and owner forums: a corner sags overnight, a suspension warning appears on start-up, or the ride suddenly goes much firmer than normal. It's usually a leaking air strut or a tired compressor rather than the springs themselves, and it can start from around 40k miles. A strut is a few hundred pounds, but a compressor and valve block together can run past £1,500. The measured MOT data for this class flags suspension as the standout failure area, and this air-system wear is the real-world version of it, separate from the simple bush and wishbone wear that shows up on cheaper cars.
The mild hybrid system's lithium-ion battery sits under the boot floor and runs the stop-start and coasting function. Owners report stop-start refusing to engage, mild-hybrid warning messages, or a flat 12V battery after the car has sat for a few days, usually from two to three years old. Diagnosis and any battery or control unit work tends to fall in the £300-800 range depending on what's actually at fault. No recall or acknowledged fix has surfaced for this.
Multiple road tests and owners describe the same thing: ask for a sudden burst of acceleration and the eight-speed torque-converter automatic pauses for a second or two before picking a gear, most noticeable pulling out of junctions or overtaking. It doesn't throw fault codes or get worse with age, and owners are split on whether it's a fault at all or just how a heavy automatic SUV is tuned. No TSB or fix exists because Audi doesn't treat it as a defect.
The dual-screen MMI and digital instrument cluster occasionally freeze, blank out, or take an unusually long time to reboot, sometimes needing the ignition cycled to clear it. It's reported across ages and mileages rather than concentrated in one window. A dealer software update usually sorts it, free under warranty but around £100-200 in labour once the car is out of warranty. No UK recall covers this specifically, though VW Group has recalled infotainment and camera software on related models.
Cars fitted with the powered tailgate and automatic soft-close doors can develop faults where a door won't self-latch or the tailgate stalls mid-cycle. It's usually a motor or sensor issue rather than anything structural, tends to show from three to five years old, and a motor replacement typically runs £300-600 per unit. Doesn't apply to cars without the option fitted.
The 45/50 TDI V6 diesel is prone to the usual DPF and EGR clogging if it spends its life on short urban runs, showing up as a smoky exhaust, limp mode, or a dashboard warning. It tends to appear from around 40-60k miles on town-only cars. A DPF clean or EGR replacement is typically £300-900, more like £1,500-plus if the DPF itself needs swapping. Doesn't affect the petrol or 55 TFSI models.
Ranked from this model’s own MOT record, then from what owners report.
Saveable checklistThe physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
Drawn from the reports above rather than the MOT data. These are the model-specific ones.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 1,447 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Same segment (Family & large SUVs), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.