70.5%
Kia Soul pass rate
Used Kia Soul buying guide
In 2025, Kia Soul cars passed 70.5% of 24,757 initial MOT tests, 1.8 points below the 72.3% UK average. Here is where it fails and what to check before you buy.
Looking at a specific Soul? Check its finance, write-off, stolen, mileage and keeper history. £15, no account needed.
Kia Soul MOT record in brief
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded.
72.3%
UK average, all cars
−1.8
percentage points below average
Ranked on pass rate the Soul sits 345th of 575 models in the data. Kia as a brand averaged 75.2%, so this model runs 4.7 points behind its own brand. Kia Soul cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 87.9% of MOT tests in 2025; for examples aged 11 years and over that fell to 58%.
A pass rate is not a reliability score. The full Kia Soul MOT record has the pass rate by age, every common failure and how the Soul compares with similar cars.
Soul fuel types
Diesel made up 56.3% of Kia Soul MOT tests in 2025, against 39.3% across all models in this data. The rest ran on other fuels, so tested examples were a genuine mix.
Where the Soul fails its MOT
Where Kia Soul cars that failed their 2025 MOT were marked down, as a share of all recorded failure items.
The specific items testers recorded most often were track rod end ball joint has excessive play (9.4%), position lamp not working (5.9%) and tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (4.5%). See every common Soul MOT failure.
These are DVSA failure records across every Kia Soul that failed, not a claim that every Soul has these problems.
What should you check when buying a used Soul?
The areas above, most common first, and what an MOT tester looks at in each.
1
Brakes
Make sure the pedal feels firm, the car stops in a straight line, the handbrake holds on a slope and no brake warning light is showing. 23.6% of Soul failure items.
2
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
Walk round with every light on: headlights, brake lights, indicators, fog lights and the number plate lamp. Check no warning lights stay on after starting. 20.2% of Soul failure items.
3
Suspension
Listen for knocks over bumps, check the car sits level, and look for leaking shock absorbers and split rubber gaiters. 15.3% of Soul failure items.
4
Tyres
Check tread depth across the full width of every tyre (the legal minimum is 1.6mm), and look for cuts, bulges and uneven wear. 12.8% of Soul failure items.
5
Steering
Feel for play, knocking or stiffness in the steering, and check there is no steering warning light. 12.5% of Soul failure items.
None of this replaces the car's own record. Run a free MOT history check on the registration to see every test, advisory and recorded mileage for that car.
What the MOT record doesn't tell you
Knowing Kia Soul failures cluster around brakes and lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment tells you what to inspect. It tells you nothing about whether the car is safe to buy. An MOT does not show money still owed on the car, a write-off, a theft record or a clocked odometer.
Check the exact Soul you are looking at. One £15 report, instant results, backed by a £30,000 data guarantee. More on the Kia history check.
- Outstanding finance
- Write-off records
- Stolen markers
- Mileage history
- Previous keepers
Other used Kia models
The most-tested Kia models in 2025, with how their MOT pass rate compares with the Soul.
Used Kia Soul FAQs
Is the Kia Soul reliable?
MOT data does not measure reliability. It records whether a car met the roadworthiness standard on the day of its test. What it does show is a 70.5% first-time pass rate for the Kia Soul across 24,757 tests in 2025, below the 72.3% average for all cars.
Do older Kia Soul cars fail their MOT more often?
Kia Soul cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 87.9% of MOT tests in 2025; for examples aged 11 years and over that fell to 58%. On an older example, the car's own MOT history tells you more than the model average.
What should I check before buying a used Kia Soul?
On the car itself, start with the areas it most often fails on: brakes, lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment and suspension. Then check the individual car's history: outstanding finance, insurance write-off records, stolen markers, mileage and previous keepers. None of these appear in the MOT record or on the V5C.
How do I check a Kia Soul's history?
Enter the registration of the specific car. A Carpeep car history check reports outstanding finance, write-off category, stolen markers, mileage history, previous keepers, MOT and tax status, import and export markers and scrapped status in one £15 report.
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.