90.8%
Volkswagen T-Roc
Volkswagen T-Roc vs SEAT Arona
Buying a used Volkswagen T-Roc or SEAT Arona? 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%.
84.2%
SEAT Arona
6.6
percentage point gap in the Volkswagen T-Roc's favour
That is a wide gap by the standards of this data, and worth weighing. The figures come from 93,710 tests of the Volkswagen T-Roc and 57,243 of the SEAT Arona.
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 | T-Roc | Arona |
|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years | 91.2% | 87% |
| 6 to 10 years | 88.9% | 77.4% |
| 11 years and over | No tests | No tests |
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.
Volkswagen T-Roc
SEAT Arona
The Volkswagen T-Roc fails most often on tyres, the SEAT Arona on brakes. Two different things to check on a viewing, and two different conversations to have with the seller. 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.
Volkswagen T-Roc
- Condition has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords
- Tread depth tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm
- Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
SEAT Arona
- Track rod end ball joint dust cover excessively damaged or deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt
- Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- Condition has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords
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 T-Rocs 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
Volkswagen T-Roc vs SEAT Arona FAQs
Is the Volkswagen T-Roc or the SEAT Arona more likely to pass its MOT?
The Volkswagen T-Roc passed 90.8% of its initial MOT tests in the DVSA 2025 data against 84.2% for the SEAT Arona, a gap of 6.6 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 Volkswagen T-Roc or the SEAT Arona?
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 Volkswagen T-Roc fails most often on tyres. The SEAT Arona fails most often on brakes.
How do I check the actual Volkswagen T-Roc 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.