Honda Civic: which years to avoid

Based on 290,951 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

No model year stands out as one to avoid. Every year sits within 15% of the failure rate for cars of the same age. The 2014 is the strongest, failing 39% less often than average.

Found a Honda Civic 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 Civic 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 Honda Civic
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
1998	1,239	32.9%	about average
1999	1,731	31.2%	about average
2000	1,988	32.1%	about average
2001	5,435	36.2%	about average
2002	7,925	35.9%	about average
2003	9,073	36.3%	about average
2004	12,305	35.1%	about average
2005	14,623	34.7%	about average
2006	17,742	35.8%	about average
2007	26,459	34.9%	about average
2008	23,595	34.3%	about average
2009	20,583	33.7%	about average
2010	17,548	31.7%	about average
2011	11,454	29.9%	about average
2012	13,359	18.4%	34% better
2013	15,490	16.2%	37% better
2014	14,495	14.0%	39% better
2015	15,078	13.0%	34% better
2016	16,224	11.3%	33% better
2017	14,723	11.1%	23% better
2018	13,701	10.4%	about average
2019	12,767	7.4%	28% better
2020	3,414	5.9%	36% better

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Honda Civic, 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.