MOT pass rate · 2025 data
Volvo S40 MOT pass rate
The Volvo S40 passed 64.37% of its 15,238 initial MOT tests in 2025 — below the 77.3% average across all cars tested that year. That is 12.9 percentage points worse than average.
How the Volvo S40 holds up with age
Every car fails the MOT more often as it gets older. What matters when you are buying is how steeply that happens for this particular model. These are the 2025 pass rates for the Volvo S40 grouped by the vehicle's age at the time of the test.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| 3–5 years | 1 | 0% |
| 6–10 years | 2 | 100% |
| 11 years and over | 15,235 | 64.37% |
Older Volvo S40 examples test at least as well as younger ones in this data, which is uncommon and usually reflects how these cars are used and maintained rather than the age itself.
Why the Volvo S40 fails its MOT
Across every Volvo S40 that failed its 2025 MOT, the most common area of failure was suspension, accounting for 26.27% of all recorded failure items. These are the areas worth having checked before you buy, and worth budgeting for on an older example.
| Failure area | Share of failure items | Recorded items |
|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 26.27% | 4,341 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 21.48% | 3,550 |
| Brakes | 15.57% | 2,573 |
| Tyres | 10.67% | 1,763 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 8.63% | 1,426 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 5.22% | 862 |
How the Volvo S40 compares
Ranked on pass rate, the Volvo S40 sits 595th of 651 models in this data , and 16th of the 17 Volvo models covered . Volvo as a whole averaged 78.37%, so this model runs 14 points behind its own brand average.
What this means when buying a used Volvo S40
A pass rate is a population average, not a verdict on the specific car in front of you. The average Volvo S40 came to its 2025 test at 110,330 miles and 17.5 years old. Most examples tested were petrol, though 46.15% were diesel.
The useful check is the individual car's own MOT record: how many times it has failed, what for, and whether advisories keep reappearing. A recurring advisory on corrosion, suspension or brakes tells you far more than a model-wide average, and a mileage that does not move consistently between tests is a warning in itself.
Check a specific Volvo S40
Run the registration through a free MOT history check to see that car's test results, advisories and recorded mileages. For the risks an MOT never covers — outstanding finance, insurance write-off records, stolen markers and ownership history — a full car history check brings them together in one £15 report.
Also useful: mileage check · write-off check · free car check
Other Volvo models
- Volvo XC60 82.51% pass rate · 108,847 tests
- Volvo V40 75.14% pass rate · 97,256 tests
- Volvo XC40 91.46% pass rate · 84,677 tests
- Volvo XC90 79.29% pass rate · 70,524 tests
- Volvo V70 70.32% pass rate · 37,976 tests
- Volvo V60 79.65% pass rate · 35,045 tests
Models with a similar pass rate
- Vauxhall Vivaro 64.44% pass rate
- Renault Trafic 64.42% pass rate
- Fiat Punto 63.87% pass rate
- Volkswagen Beetle 64.47% pass rate
- Nissan NV200 64.79% pass rate
- Mitsubishi Colt 64.04% pass rate
Figures aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025, class 4 initial tests only, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Retests are excluded, so these are first-time pass rates.