65.6%
Ford Fiesta
Ford Fiesta vs Volkswagen Polo
Buying a used Ford Fiesta or Volkswagen Polo? Compare their MOT pass rates, common problems, mileage and how they hold up as they get older.
Already found one of them? Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.
MOT pass rate head to head
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded. The UK average across all cars is 72.3%.
67.4%
Volkswagen Polo
1.8
percentage point gap in the Volkswagen Polo's favour
That gap is close enough that the specific car matters far more than the badge. The figures come from 1,360,720 tests of the Ford Fiesta and 632,067 of the Volkswagen Polo. The Ford Fiesta also arrives at test with roughly 3,385 more miles on average, which usually says more about who buys it and what they use it for than about how long it lasts.
A pass rate is not a reliability score. It records whether cars met the roadworthiness standard on test day.
Which one holds up better with age?
A headline pass rate mixes three-year-old cars with fifteen-year-old ones. Split by age, you can see what each model does over time.
| Age at test | Fiesta | Polo |
|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years | 86.8% | 85.5% |
| 6 to 10 years | 71.1% | 73.7% |
| 11 years and over | 56.6% | 55.9% |
Both models age at much the same rate, losing around 29.9 percentage points between the youngest and oldest groups. Neither has an advantage worth paying for on this measure.
What each one fails on
The areas testers recorded most often across every failed 2025 test for each model, as a share of recorded failure items.
Ford Fiesta
Volkswagen Polo
Both models fail most often on lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment, which tells you what to look at on either. The difference between them is in what comes next on each list. These are recorded failure categories, not faults every car has.
The specific items testers wrote down
One level deeper than the category: the individual defects recorded most often on each model.
Ford Fiesta
- Stop lamp not working
- Ball joint ball joint excessively worn
- Position lamp not working
Volkswagen Polo
- Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn
- Tread depth tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm
- Track rod end ball joint dust cover excessively damaged or deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt
What this comparison can't tell you
Everything above describes two models across the whole UK fleet. It says nothing about the one car in the advert. Two Fiestas of the same year and mileage can be worth thousands apart because of finance, a write-off, a theft record or a clocked odometer, none of which appear in MOT data.
Check the car you are about to buy. One £15 report, instant results, backed by a £30,000 data guarantee.
- Outstanding finance
- Write-off records
- Stolen markers
- Mileage history
- Previous keepers
Read more on each car
Other comparisons with these cars
Ford Fiesta vs Volkswagen Polo FAQs
Is the Ford Fiesta or the Volkswagen Polo more likely to pass its MOT?
The Volkswagen Polo passed 67.4% of its initial MOT tests in the DVSA 2025 data against 65.6% for the Ford Fiesta, a gap of 1.8 percentage points. That is a fleet-wide average, not a prediction about the specific car you are looking at.
Does a higher MOT pass rate mean a more reliable car?
No. An MOT records whether a vehicle met the roadworthiness standard on the day it was tested. It does not test the engine, clutch or gearbox, and it does not measure how often a car breaks down. Pass rates are useful for comparing how two models are holding up across the whole UK fleet, and nothing more than that.
Which is cheaper to keep on the road, the Ford Fiesta or the Volkswagen Polo?
This data does not price servicing or repairs, so it cannot answer that directly. What it does show is what each model most often fails on, which is a fair guide to where the money goes. The Ford Fiesta fails most often on lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment. The Volkswagen Polo fails most often on lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment.
Which one has covered more miles by MOT time?
The average Ford Fiesta arrived at its 2025 MOT on 71,188 miles, against 67,803 for the Volkswagen Polo. That usually reflects who buys each car and what they use it for rather than how long it will last.
How do I check the actual Volkswagen Polo I have found?
Enter its registration. A Carpeep car history check reports outstanding finance, insurance write-off markers, stolen markers, the mileage recorded at every MOT, previous keepers, tax and MOT status, import and export markers and scrapped status in one £15 report. None of that appears in model-level MOT statistics.
MOT figures are aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025 (class 4 initial tests, retests excluded), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT results describe roadworthiness at test, not mechanical reliability.