78%
Citroën C5
Citroën C5 MOT pass rate and common problems
The Citroën C5 passed 78% of its initial MOT tests in 2025, 5.7 percentage points above the 72.3% UK average. The item testers recorded most often was joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt.
Checking a specific car? Its own results, advisories and recorded mileages are in a free MOT history check.
How the C5 compares
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded. A car that failed and was repaired at the test station counts as a fail.
63.5%
Citroën average
72.3%
UK average, all cars
The C5 runs 14.4 points ahead of the Citroën average. It is 2nd of the 21 Citroën models in the data. The average C5 arrived at its test 7.4 years old with 55,780 miles recorded.
A pass rate records whether cars met the roadworthiness standard on test day. It is not a reliability score, and part of any gap reflects how old the tested cars were.
C5 MOT pass rate by age
The same 2025 tests split by the car's age at test.
Citroën C5 cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 83.6% of MOT tests. For cars aged 11 years and over that fell to 56.9%, a drop of 26.7 percentage points.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate | vs UK average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years | 14,852 | 83.6% | 11.3 pts above |
| 6 to 10 years | 2,197 | 76.1% | 3.8 pts above |
| 11 years and over | 5,952 | 56.9% | 15.4 pts below |
That is a steep decline with age, so the headline rate flatters older examples. The UK average of 72.3% covers cars of every age, so compare like with like.
Where C5 failures cluster
Every failure item recorded on Citroën C5 cars in 2025, grouped into the DVSA's test areas.
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment and tyres together account for 45% of recorded failure items. These are recorded failures across the model, not faults every car has.
The 10 most common C5 MOT failures
Specific items recorded on Citroën C5 cars that failed their 2025 MOT, as a share of all recorded failure items.
Together these 10 items make up 49.3% of everything testers recorded against failed Citroën C5 cars. The rest is spread across many smaller items, and one failed test often records several at once.
What to look at on a C5
The recorded failures above, grouped by area, biggest first.
1
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
Recorded most often: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps, position lamp not working, headlamp aim too low and stop lamp not working. 16.6% of failure items.
2
Tyres
Recorded most often: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm, condition has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords and condition has ply or cords exposed. 14.5% of failure items.
3
Body, chassis, structure
Recorded most often: joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt. 7.6% of failure items.
4
Brakes
Recorded most often: brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick. 6.2% of failure items.
The car's own MOT history matters more than any model average. A free MOT history check shows whether a specific C5 has failed on these items before, or had them noted as advisories. Buying one? See the used Citroën C5 buying guide.
Already found one?
Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.
Citroën C5 MOT FAQs
What is the Citroën C5 MOT pass rate?
78% of Citroën C5 cars passed their initial MOT first time in 2025, from 26,607 tests. That is 5.7 percentage points above the 72.3% average for all cars, and ranks 226th of 575 models.
What does a Citroën C5 most commonly fail its MOT on?
The item testers recorded most often on Citroën C5 cars failing their 2025 MOT was joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt, on 7.6% of failure items. Next were registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps (6.6%) and tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (6.6%).
Which area causes the most Citroën C5 MOT failures?
Across every recorded failure item, the largest area was lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 27.5%, followed by tyres at 17.5%.
Do older Citroën C5 cars fail their MOT more often?
Citroën C5 cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 83.6% of MOT tests in 2025, against 56.9% for cars aged 11 years and over.
Does this mean every Citroën C5 has these problems?
No. These are the items testers recorded across every Citroën C5 that failed in 2025. They show where the model most often needs attention, not the condition of any individual car.
How do I see a specific Citroën C5's MOT history?
Enter its registration on the free Carpeep MOT history check to see that car's own test results, failures, advisories and recorded mileages.
MOT figures are aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025: class 4 initial tests, retests excluded, with failure items from failed tests (advisories and minor defects excluded), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT results describe roadworthiness at test, not mechanical reliability.