Citroen C3 years to avoid: the early ones

Based on 193,924 real MOT tests from DVSA records. Each year is compared against every other car first registered the same year — otherwise the numbers would only tell you that older cars fail more, which you knew.

The short answer

Avoid 2002 to 2003, 2009 to 2012, and 2016. The worst is the 2002, which fails its MOT 22% more often than other cars of the same age. The 2020 is the strongest, failing 31% less often than average.

Found a Citroen C3 you like?

Averages tell you what to expect. Its registration tells you what actually happened — every MOT, every advisory, and whether the mileage adds up.

Every C3 model year

Shaded rows are the years that differ most from other cars of the same age — worse, better.

MOT failure rate by registration year for the Citroen C3
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2002 Worst	1,284	43.2%	22% worse
2003	3,522	43.0%	19% worse
2004	4,374	40.9%	about average
2005	5,277	40.4%	about average
2006	5,918	38.8%	about average
2007	6,515	39.1%	about average
2008	5,819	39.6%	about average
2009	10,646	39.0%	17% worse
2010	19,735	39.1%	21% worse
2011	16,262	36.4%	21% worse
2012	15,529	33.1%	19% worse
2013	13,891	29.0%	about average
2014	14,122	25.9%	about average
2015	12,397	22.2%	about average
2016	8,968	19.8%	17% worse
2017	15,584	15.4%	about average
2018	15,643	11.9%	about average
2019	13,497	8.8%	about average
2020	4,941	6.4%	31% better

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Citroen C3, grouped by the year the car was first registered. Retests are excluded, so a car that failed and was fixed still counts as a failure. Each year's rate is then divided by the rate for all cars first registered that year — so 120 means 20% more failures than its contemporaries, not 20% more than a brand new car.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.