Ford Focus years to avoid: the early ones

Based on 974,787 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 1999 to 2000. The worst is the 1999, which fails its MOT 26% more often than other cars of the same age. The 2016 is the strongest, failing 22% less often than average.

Found a Ford Focus 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 Focus 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 Ford Focus
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
1999 Worst	1,736	40.7%	26% worse
2000	3,333	41.1%	21% worse
2001	7,037	38.7%	about average
2002	12,093	39.0%	about average
2003	15,060	38.9%	about average
2004	19,745	38.7%	about average
2005	27,656	37.0%	about average
2006	35,946	33.5%	about average
2007	48,900	33.2%	about average
2008	54,604	34.6%	about average
2009	62,204	32.9%	about average
2010	58,651	32.0%	about average
2011	66,870	31.4%	about average
2012	70,608	28.9%	about average
2013	75,598	28.4%	about average
2014	76,153	23.8%	about average
2015	76,052	15.7%	20% better
2016	64,392	13.3%	22% better
2017	64,208	12.2%	15% better
2018	48,000	11.6%	about average
2019	54,219	11.7%	about average
2020	31,722	9.5%	about average

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Ford Focus, 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.