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Nissan Pulsar, Buying guide, MOT record, UK numbers and recalls

20,249 Nissan Pulsars are licensed in the UK. In 2025 they passed 70.7% of initial MOT tests, 1.6 points below the 72.3% UK average.

Looking at a specific Pulsar? Check its finance, write-off, stolen, mileage and keeper history. £15, no account needed.

Nissan Pulsar at the MOT

70.7% of 20,884 initial tests passed in 2025, ranking the Pulsar 341st of 575 models. Nissan Pulsars aged 6 to 10 years passed 70.7% of MOT tests in 2025; for examples aged 11 years and over that fell to 69.9%.

First-time pass rate, 2025

Share of initial tests passed, retests excluded.

  • Nissan Pulsar70.7%
  • All Nissan modelsThe Pulsar is 2.9 pts ahead67.8%
  • All cars72.3%

Pass rate by age at test

Nissan Pulsar tests in 2025.

  • 6 to 10 years20,570 tests70.7%
  • 11 years and over312 tests69.9%

Where Pulsars fail

Share of all failure items recorded on Nissan Pulsar tests in 2025.

  • Suspension30.7%
  • Brakes19.9%
  • Tyres14%
  • Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment13.5%
  • Steering8.8%

The items testers recorded most often were ball joint excessively worn (12%), coil spring fractured or broken (10.7%) and track rod end ball joint has excessive play (7.7%).

The MOT page lists every common Pulsar MOT failure. For one car's own results and advisories, run a free MOT history check.

Full Nissan Pulsar MOT record

What to look at on a viewing

The Pulsar's most common failure areas, and what a tester checks in each.

  1. Suspension

    Listen for knocks over bumps, check the car sits level, and look for leaking shock absorbers and split rubber gaiters.30.7% of Pulsar failure items

  2. 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.19.9% of Pulsar failure items

  3. 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.14% of Pulsar failure items

Nissan Pulsars in the UK

20,249 were licensed at the end of June 2026. The number licensed has grown 121% since the end of 2015, although it peaked at 21,655 at the end of 2019.

Change since 2015
+121%from 9,147 licensed
Typical year of first use
2016half of those licensed at the end of 2025 were first used in 2016 or earlier
Declared off the road
4322.1% of those registered, under SORN

Licensed Nissan Pulsars since 2014

Licensed at each year end and in the latest quarter.

Show the figures
DateLicensed
End of 20141,449
End of 20159,147
End of 201616,001
End of 201719,978
End of 201821,443
End of 201921,655
End of 202021,536
End of 202121,610
End of 202221,438
End of 202321,170
End of 202420,829
End of 202520,534
End of June 202620,249

How old they are

Licensed Nissan Pulsars by year of first use.

  • Licensed at the end of 2025
  • First registered that year
Show the figures
First usedLicensed, end 2025First registered that year
20181,9522,064
20174,0344,329
20166,0306,780
20157,2308,363
20141,273

7,230 Pulsars first used in 2015 were still licensed at the end of 2025, roughly 86% of the 8,363 first registered that year.

Pulsar engines and fuel

1.2 litre engines made up 66% of Nissan Pulsar MOT tests in 2025, followed by 1.5 litre at 31%. Petrol accounts for 68% of licensed Pulsars and diesel for 32%.

Engine size at MOT, 2025

Share of 20,883 initial MOT tests in 2025.

  • 1.2 litre66.1%
  • 1.5 litre30.6%
  • 1.6 litre2.9%

Fuel type, licensed Pulsars

DfT licensing statistics, June 2026.

FuelLicensedShare
Petrol13,84268%
Diesel6,40632%
Gas1<0.1%

Nissan Pulsar recalls

3 DVSA safety recalls launched from 1992 to October 2026 name the Nissan Pulsar. Each covers vehicles built in a set period, so a recall does not mean every Pulsar is affected.

  1. Aug 2020 R/2020/220

    Possible reduced retention force of the rear door child lock switch

    Pulsars built Sep 2015 to Mar 2018 · 299,631 vehicles across the whole recall

    Defect and remedy
    Remedy
    Fit a countermeasure part into the child lock door switch aperture of all potentially affected vehicles.

  2. Jul 2016 R/2016/157

    Rear oxygen sensor may fail

    Pulsars built Sep 2014 to May 2016 · 7,393 vehicles across the whole recall

    Defect and remedy
    Defect
    If an electrical short occurs in the supply to the rear oxygen sensor the senor will fail but the driver will not see an immediate warning. A MIL warning may display after continued driving depending on driving/vehicle characteristics.
    Remedy
    Reprogram the ECU to display a warning if the rear oxygen sensor fails.

  3. Mar 2016 R/2016/050

    Headlight auto levelling system may malfunction when vehicle is fully laden

    Pulsars built May 2014 to Dec 2015 · 8,404 vehicles across the whole recall

    Defect and remedy
    Defect
    On affected vehicles with Pulsar headlight auto levelling the initialisation process during production was incorrect. In this condition affected vehicles may not correctly adjust the height of the headlamp aim when the rear of the vehicle is heavily laden and therefore may not comply with the specific regulation requirements
    Remedy
    Reprogram the Intelligent Power Distribution Module (IPDM) and re-initialise the headlamp auto-levelling system.
How to check a specific Pulsar for recalls

Other Nissan models

The most-tested Nissan models in 2025, against the Pulsar's 70.7% MOT pass rate.

All 25 Nissan models

Nissan Pulsar FAQs

How many Nissan Pulsars are there in the UK?

20,249 Nissan Pulsars were licensed in the UK at the end of June 2026, with a further 432 declared off the road (SORN), according to DfT vehicle licensing statistics.

Is the Nissan Pulsar 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 70.7% first-time pass rate for the Nissan Pulsar across 20,884 tests in 2025, below the 72.3% average for all cars.

Has the Nissan Pulsar had any recalls?

3 DVSA safety recalls launched from 1992 to October 2026 name the Nissan Pulsar. The most recent was published in August 2020. A recall applies to vehicles built in a set period, so check a specific car on the GOV.UK vehicle recall checker.

What should I check before buying a used Nissan Pulsar?

On the car itself, start with the areas it most often fails on: suspension, brakes and tyres. Then check the individual car's own records. Outstanding finance, insurance write-offs and police stolen markers are not part of the MOT record, so they take a history check.

How do I check a Nissan Pulsar'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.

Already found a Pulsar?

Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.

Across the 1,548 vehicles of every make Carpeep has checked since November 2025, 19% had outstanding finance recorded and 13% an insurance write-off. More on the Nissan history check. To confirm a car's identity, see the Nissan VIN check.

  • Outstanding finance
  • Write-off records
  • Stolen markers
  • Mileage history
  • Previous keepers

MOT figures are aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025 (class 4 initial tests, retests excluded), which also gives the engine sizes. Licensed, SORN, fuel and registration figures are from the Department for Transport vehicle licensing statistics (VEH0120, VEH0124, VEH0160). Recalls are from the DVSA vehicle recalls data, with recalls launched up to October 2026. Government data is used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT results describe roadworthiness at test, not mechanical reliability. History-check findings are anonymous counts from reports bought on Carpeep, each vehicle counted once, and are published only where at least 100 vehicles returned an answer.