FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSVolkswagen Golf
Top three failure systems, annotated from 98 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.
The Volkswagen Golf: 12.1% first-time failure, tyres the reason
808 inspections in a single year make the GOLF a modestly documented electric car in the data. Tyres cause 52.6% of its failures; tyres take 2.2× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
First-time test findings
The six-year vs nine-year picture
AT SIX YEARS OLD12.6%
GOLF failure rate. Petrol cars of the same age fail 12.9%.
AT NINE YEARS OLD10.5%
GOLF failure rate, against 19.9% for petrol.
The Volkswagen Golf fails 12.1% of first-time inspections. By 6 years that reaches 12.6%. Tyres cause 52.6% of its failures.
FIGURE 2 // TYRE SECTION39 certificates in 2024
The tyre that wears from the inside
Tyres take 52.6% of the defects that fail this car, 2.2× the share seen on petrol and diesel cars of the same age. The most common item in that group is "A tyre cords visible or damaged", recorded 39 times in 2024.
SECTION // TYRES CONCENTRATION
Where it concentrates
The GOLF stays under the petrol fleet at every age we can measure. What it does fail on is unusually concentrated.
Source: DVSA MOT defect items, 2024 test year.
What to check
Check tyre age and tread across the full width, inner edge included. Electric cars wear tyres faster; a cheap mismatched set on a used car tells you how it was run. Trivial to fix, but a car advertised with worn wipers and a fresh failure certificate tells you how it was maintained. Ask when the brakes were last stripped and cleaned. Regenerative braking barely wears the pads, so discs and calipers corrode and seize instead. Ask for the full MOT history by registration on the free DVSA service: advisories are next year's failures.
3 inspection points:
✓ Tyre inner-edge wear and age
✓ Wipers and washers
✓ Rear caliper drag and disc lip
FIGURE 3 // FAILURE RATE BY AGEvs petrol, diesel and all electric cars
Points hidden where fewer than 50 cars of that age were tested. Dashed lines are the same-age petrol and diesel fleets.
Data sheet
- Inspections
- 808
- Passed
- 695
- Failed
- 98
- Passed after repair
- 15
- Failure rate
- 12.1% (all EV 12.0%)
- Average age
- 6.5 years
- Best year
- 9 yrs · 10.5%
- Worst year
- 6 yrs · 12.6%
- Top cause
- Tyres 52.6%
TABLE 1 // WHAT FAILS, BY SYSTEMshare of failing defects
| System | This car (mark = petrol/diesel) | Share | vs fleet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 52.6% | 2.2× more | |
| Suspension | 13.5% | in line | |
| Brakes | 5.2% | 3.6× less | |
| Visibility | 13.0% | in line | |
| Lighting | 7.3% | 2.3× less | |
| Steering | 2.6% | in line | |
| Body | 1.0% | 4.1× less |
TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE
- A tyre cords visible or damaged39
- A tyre seriously damaged38
- Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements19
- A shock absorber damaged to the extent that it does not function or showing signs of severe leakage19
- Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen10
- Excessive fluctuation in brake effort through each wheel revolution.7
Wording as printed by the tester, from the DVSA inspection manual.
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Where it holds up
- Brakes fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (5.2% of defects vs 18.7%)
- Lighting fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (7.3% of defects vs 16.5%)
- Body fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (1.0% of defects vs 4.1%)
Where it fails
- Tyres take a bigger share of failures than on the wider fleet (52.6% vs 23.7%)
VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded
- GOLF808
OWNER REPORTS // MATCHED TO RECORDED DEFECTS0 read · 0 matched
No owner discussion has been matched to this car's recorded defects yet. Reports are re-collected every quarter; the figures on this page do not depend on them.
Summaries written by us, never quotes; every entry links to its source. Owner reports have no denominator and never feed the failure rate.
SIMILAR CARS IN THE DATAclosest rate and age, other brands
Smart Fortwo9.7% fail · 921 testsFord Mondeo12.2% fail · 370 testsSmart Forfour15.0% fail · 386 testsPeugeot Partner8.1% fail · 778 tests
OTHER VOLKSWAGEN ELECTRIC CARS
Three things the data shows
- 808 inspections in 2024 make this one of the adequately-documented electric cars in the data.
- Tyres take 2.2× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
- Failure rate rises from 10.5% at 9 years to 12.6% at 6: a gentle ageing curve.
LIMITS // WHAT THE INSPECTION DOES NOT TELL YOU
No battery health, no motor, no charging performance. The test covers brakes, suspension, steering, tyres, lights, visibility and structure. A car with a badly degraded battery passes as long as it stops and steers. Read this page as evidence about the chassis, not the powertrain. Cars are tested from their third year, so the newest model years are missing; every figure carries its sample size for that reason. Full methodology.
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