Honda CR-V years to avoid: the early ones

Based on 201,181 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 2001. The worst is the 2001, which fails its MOT 15% more often than other cars of the same age. The 2020 is the strongest, failing 61% less often than average.

Found a Honda CR-V 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 CR-V 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 CR-V
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2001 Worst	1,461	39.8%	15% worse
2002	3,809	40.0%	about average
2003	5,659	40.0%	about average
2004	6,874	39.0%	about average
2005	9,899	35.9%	about average
2006	10,533	35.3%	about average
2007	15,552	32.6%	about average
2008	11,137	27.7%	21% better
2009	9,928	24.6%	27% better
2010	10,321	20.7%	36% better
2011	10,033	19.0%	37% better
2012	12,644	17.3%	38% better
2013	14,268	14.1%	45% better
2014	14,883	12.9%	43% better
2015	14,484	10.8%	45% better
2016	14,287	9.1%	46% better
2017	12,006	8.1%	44% better
2018	9,455	6.8%	44% better
2019	8,386	4.1%	60% better
2020	5,562	3.6%	61% better

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Honda CR-V, 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.