61.5%
Vauxhall Zafira
Vauxhall Zafira vs Ford C-MAX
Buying a used Vauxhall Zafira or Ford C-MAX? 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%.
66.4%
Ford C-MAX
4.9
percentage point gap in the Ford C-MAX's favour
A real gap, but not a decisive one on its own. The figures come from 174,465 tests of the Vauxhall Zafira and 116,414 of the Ford C-MAX. The Vauxhall Zafira also arrives at test with roughly 10,403 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 | Zafira | C-MAX |
|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years | 80% (small sample) | 84.3% |
| 6 to 10 years | 70.5% | 76.3% |
| 11 years and over | 57.2% | 60.1% |
There are not enough tests in every age group to compare the two fairly across all ages.
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.
Vauxhall Zafira
Ford C-MAX
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.
Vauxhall Zafira
- Coil spring fractured or broken
- Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction
- Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn
Ford C-MAX
- Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- Tread depth tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm
- Position lamp not working
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 Zafiras 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
Vauxhall Zafira vs Ford C-MAX FAQs
Is the Vauxhall Zafira or the Ford C-MAX more likely to pass its MOT?
The Ford C-MAX passed 66.4% of its initial MOT tests in the DVSA 2025 data against 61.5% for the Vauxhall Zafira, a gap of 4.9 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 Vauxhall Zafira or the Ford C-MAX?
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 Vauxhall Zafira fails most often on lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment. The Ford C-MAX fails most often on lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment.
Which one has covered more miles by MOT time?
The average Vauxhall Zafira arrived at its 2025 MOT on 95,557 miles, against 85,154 for the Ford C-MAX. 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 Ford C-MAX 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.