Used car rankings from MOT data
Most reliable 12 year old cars by MOT fail rate
We ranked 167 cars by the share of MOT tests they failed at 12 years old, against 35.5% for all cars that age. From 6,452,009 DVSA MOT tests in Great Britain, 2022 to 2025.
MOT data updated
First in this list: Porsche 911.
- 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 12 years old (test year minus first-use year).
- Comparison: all cars means every class 4 MOT test 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.
- 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
| # | Model | MOT fail rate | All cars, same age | Tests (n) | Median mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porsche 911Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 7.6% | 35.5% | 5,890 | 43,800 miles |
| 2 | Porsche CayenneCommon problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 17.6% | 35.5% | 6,387 | 99,700 miles |
| 3 | BMW Z4Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 18.8% | 35.5% | 7,527 | 60,400 miles |
| 4 | Lexus RXCommon problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 19.2% | 35.5% | 7,946 | 96,600 miles |
| 5 | Audi Q7Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 19.4% | 35.5% | 8,969 | 106,900 miles |
| 6 | Lexus ISCommon problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 20.1% | 35.5% | 6,500 | 85,200 miles |
| 7 | Audi TTCommon problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 21.3% | 35.5% | 25,076 | 78,300 miles |
| 8 | Lexus CTCommon problems · ULEZ | 21.9% | 35.5% | 11,736 | 93,600 miles |
| 9 | Jaguar XJCommon problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 22.0% | 35.5% | 5,154 | 92,000 miles |
| 10 | Land Rover Range Rover SportCommon problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 22.5% | 35.5% | 24,375 | 100,600 miles |
| 11 | Mazda MX-5Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 22.9% | 35.5% | 14,455 | 49,500 miles |
| 12 | Toyota iQCommon problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 23.0% | 35.5% | 9,967 | 59,400 miles |
| 13 | BMW X5Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 23.2% | 35.5% | 15,388 | 107,800 miles |
| 14 | Honda CR-VCommon problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 23.4% | 35.5% | 47,118 | 94,500 miles |
| 15 | Honda JazzCommon problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 23.4% | 35.5% | 85,259 | 61,200 miles |
| 16 | Land Rover Range RoverCommon problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 23.8% | 35.5% | 21,313 | 102,100 miles |
| 17 | Audi A6Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 24.1% | 35.5% | 33,023 | 123,600 miles |
| 18 | Skoda CitigoCommon problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 24.4% | 35.5% | 10,726 | 63,400 miles |
| 19 | Volkswagen up!Common problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 24.6% | 35.5% | 34,619 | 63,400 miles |
| 20 | Volkswagen TouaregCommon problems · Recalls · ULEZ | 24.8% | 35.5% | 6,789 | 111,400 miles |
What stands out
- Porsche 911 has the lowest MOT fail rate in this list: 7.6% (n=5,890), against 35.5% for all cars that age.
- 89 of the 167 ranked cars fail less often than all cars at the same age.
- In the 20 shown, the fail rate runs from 7.6% to 24.8%.
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.
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 22 September 2026.
Not affiliated with or endorsed by DVSA. How we calculate these figures · Data sources