55.4%
Mazda Bongo Friendee pass rate
Used Mazda Bongo Friendee buying guide
In 2025, Mazda Bongo Friendee cars passed 55.4% of 9,496 initial MOT tests, 16.9 points below the 72.3% UK average. Here is where it fails and what to check before you buy.
Looking at a specific Bongo Friendee? Check its finance, write-off, stolen, mileage and keeper history. £15, no account needed.
Mazda Bongo Friendee MOT record in brief
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded.
72.3%
UK average, all cars
−16.9
percentage points below average
Ranked on pass rate the Bongo Friendee sits 534th of 575 models in the data. Mazda as a brand averaged 72.7%, so this model runs 17.4 points behind its own brand. Mazda Bongo Friendee cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 72.9% of MOT tests in 2025; for examples aged 11 years and over that fell to 54.8%.
A pass rate is not a reliability score. The full Mazda Bongo Friendee MOT record has the pass rate by age, every common failure and how the Bongo Friendee compares with similar cars.
Bongo Friendee fuel types
Petrol was the most common fuel among Mazda Bongo Friendee cars tested in 2025. Diesel still made up 46.5% of tests.
Where the Bongo Friendee fails its MOT
Where Mazda Bongo Friendee 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 component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (11.2%), rear fog lamp not working (4.1%) and wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively (4.1%). See every common Bongo Friendee MOT failure.
These are DVSA failure records across every Mazda Bongo Friendee that failed, not a claim that every Bongo Friendee has these problems.
What should you check when buying a used Bongo Friendee?
The areas above, most common first, and what an MOT tester looks at in each.
1
Suspension
Listen for knocks over bumps, check the car sits level, and look for leaking shock absorbers and split rubber gaiters. 26.6% of Bongo Friendee 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. 25.3% of Bongo Friendee failure items.
3
Body, chassis, structure
Look underneath and along the sills for corrosion, and check for damaged or poorly repaired panels. 15.3% of Bongo Friendee failure items.
4
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. 9.9% of Bongo Friendee failure items.
5
Visibility
Check the windscreen for chips or cracks in the driver's view, and that the wipers and washers clear it properly. 6.3% of Bongo Friendee 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 Mazda Bongo Friendee failures cluster around suspension 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 Bongo Friendee you are looking at. One £15 report, instant results, backed by a £30,000 data guarantee. More on the Mazda history check.
- Outstanding finance
- Write-off records
- Stolen markers
- Mileage history
- Previous keepers
Other used Mazda models
The most-tested Mazda models in 2025, with how their MOT pass rate compares with the Bongo Friendee.
Used Mazda Bongo Friendee FAQs
Is the Mazda Bongo Friendee 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 55.4% first-time pass rate for the Mazda Bongo Friendee across 9,496 tests in 2025, below the 72.3% average for all cars.
Do older Mazda Bongo Friendee cars fail their MOT more often?
Mazda Bongo Friendee cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 72.9% of MOT tests in 2025; for examples aged 11 years and over that fell to 54.8%. 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 Mazda Bongo Friendee?
On the car itself, start with the areas it most often fails on: suspension, lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment and body, chassis, structure. 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 Mazda Bongo Friendee'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.