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Used car rankings from MOT data

Most reliable 10 year old petrol cars by MOT fail rate

We ranked 106 petrol cars by the share of MOT tests they failed at 10 years old, against 29.5% for all petrol cars that age. From 3,995,568 DVSA MOT tests in Great Britain, 2022 to 2025.

MOT data updated

First in this list (n=6,227)6.8%
All petrol cars, same age29.5%
Ranked106
MOT tests used3,995,568

First in this list: Porsche 911.

How this ranking works
  • Data: DVSA anonymised MOT test data, class 4 normal tests in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), 2022 to 2025. Northern Ireland tests its cars separately and is not included. A fail is a test marked fail or passed after a repair at the test station.
  • Measure: share of MOTs failed by cars 10 years old (test year minus first-use year).
  • Comparison: all petrol cars means every class 4 MOT test on petrol except vans, pickups, taxis, campers, van-based people carriers, motorhome and minibus bases and used imports, weighted to each row's own mix of ages.
  • Thresholds: every age behind a row here has at least 5,000 tests. A model generation is ranked only with at least 3 ages of 1,000 tests or more. A list is published only with at least 10 ranked rows.
  • Fuel: as DVSA records it on each test. Each row is one model generation on petrol; where a model is also sold with other fuels, the row is named with the fuel and its figures differ from the model's all-fuel MOT page.
  • Vans, pickups, taxis, campers, van-based people carriers, motorhome and minibus bases, and models sold here mainly as used imports are left out of car lists.
  • Years in brackets are the first-use years of a model generation.

The ranking

The 20 petrol cars with the lowest MOT fail rates at 10 years old, of 106 ranked.
#ModelMOT fail rateAll petrol cars, same ageTests (n)Median mileage
1Porsche 911Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ6.8%29.5%6,22736,100 miles
2Jaguar F-TypeCommon problems · Recalls · ULEZ8.8%29.5%5,20339,100 miles
3Audi TT (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ14.7%29.5%16,32659,900 miles
4Honda CR-V (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ17.0%29.5%21,57666,300 miles
5Mazda MX-5Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ17.2%29.5%12,11640,400 miles
6BMW 4 Series (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ17.9%29.5%8,68465,800 miles
7BMW Z4Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ18.1%29.5%7,08551,200 miles
8Honda Jazz (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ18.1%29.5%76,35248,100 miles
9Volkswagen Golf (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ18.1%29.5%87,38166,400 miles
10MINI Countryman (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ18.2%29.5%14,76859,400 miles
11BMW 2 Series (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ18.4%29.5%9,31862,100 miles
12Audi A5 (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ18.6%29.5%10,53470,300 miles
13Mercedes-Benz SLK (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ18.6%29.5%7,45644,700 miles
14Audi A4 (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ19.2%29.5%8,86072,200 miles
15Audi Q3 (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ19.2%29.5%9,84364,800 miles
16Audi A3 (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ19.6%29.5%49,64269,400 miles
17MINI Cooper and One (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ20.2%29.5%109,13457,700 miles
18Skoda Yeti (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ20.3%29.5%14,27158,600 miles
19BMW 3 Series (petrol)Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ20.5%29.5%21,49568,300 miles
20Suzuki CelerioCommon problems · Recalls · ULEZ20.6%29.5%7,15347,600 miles

What stands out

  • Porsche 911 has the lowest MOT fail rate in this list: 6.8% (n=6,227), against 29.5% for all petrol cars that age.
  • 58 of the 106 ranked petrol cars fail less often than all petrol cars at the same age.
  • In the 20 shown, the fail rate runs from 6.8% to 20.6%.
  • One other row is within 2 points of the first, so read close positions as level rather than as a strict order.
Read this with care. A fail rate is not a measure of build quality. How far cars are driven, how they are used and how well owners maintain them all change it, and wear items such as tyres and brake pads are common fails. Compare a model only with cars of the same age. Methodology and limits.

More rankings

All used car rankings · MOT fail rates by make and model · Common problems by model · Recalls by model · ULEZ by model

Looking at one car?

A ranking describes model generations, not the car in front of you. The VetTheCar Buying Report reads one car's MOT history, mileage and recalls and sets them against cars like it.

See a sample Buying Report Look up a model's MOT fail rate

Source

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data, class 4 normal MOT tests, 2022 to 2025. MOT data updated 28 September 2026.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by DVSA. How we calculate these figures · Data sources