70.7%
Nissan Pulsar pass rate
Used Nissan Pulsar buying guide
In 2025, Nissan Pulsar cars passed 70.7% of 20,884 initial MOT tests, 1.6 points below the 72.3% UK average. Here is where it fails and what to check before you buy.
Looking at a specific Pulsar? Check its finance, write-off, stolen, mileage and keeper history. £15, no account needed.
Nissan Pulsar MOT record in brief
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded.
72.3%
UK average, all cars
−1.6
percentage points below average
Ranked on pass rate the Pulsar sits 341st of 575 models in the data. Nissan as a brand averaged 67.8%, so this model runs 2.9 points ahead of its own brand. Nissan Pulsar cars 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%.
A pass rate is not a reliability score. The full Nissan Pulsar MOT record has the pass rate by age, every common failure and how the Pulsar compares with similar cars.
Pulsar fuel types
Petrol was the most common fuel among Nissan Pulsar cars tested in 2025. Diesel still made up 30.5% of tests.
Where the Pulsar fails its MOT
Where Nissan Pulsar 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 ball joint excessively worn (12%), coil spring fractured or broken (10.7%) and track rod end ball joint has excessive play (7.7%). See every common Pulsar MOT failure.
These are DVSA failure records across every Nissan Pulsar that failed, not a claim that every Pulsar has these problems.
What should you check when buying a used Pulsar?
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. 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.
4
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. 13.5% of Pulsar failure items.
5
Steering
Feel for play, knocking or stiffness in the steering, and check there is no steering warning light. 8.8% of Pulsar 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 Nissan Pulsar failures cluster around suspension and brakes 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 Pulsar you are looking at. One £15 report, instant results, backed by a £30,000 data guarantee. More on the Nissan history check.
- Outstanding finance
- Write-off records
- Stolen markers
- Mileage history
- Previous keepers
Other used Nissan models
The most-tested Nissan models in 2025, with how their MOT pass rate compares with the Pulsar.
Used Nissan Pulsar FAQs
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.
Do older Nissan Pulsar cars fail their MOT more often?
Nissan Pulsar cars 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%. 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 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 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 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.
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.