Kia Picanto years to avoid: the early ones

Based on 176,413 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 2006. The worst is the 2006, which fails its MOT 18% more often than other cars of the same age. The 2020 is the strongest, failing 36% less often than average.

Found a Kia Picanto 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 Picanto 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 Kia Picanto
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2004	2,155	39.9%	about average
2005	4,197	40.8%	about average
2006 Worst	4,720	42.7%	18% worse
2007	3,091	39.8%	about average
2008	3,410	37.8%	about average
2009	13,419	36.5%	about average
2010	13,467	34.9%	about average
2011	10,846	33.5%	about average
2012	13,433	30.4%	about average
2013	12,881	25.4%	about average
2014	14,627	20.9%	about average
2015	13,625	17.3%	about average
2016	12,612	18.0%	about average
2017	13,334	12.9%	about average
2018	16,399	9.5%	21% better
2019	16,266	8.5%	17% better
2020	7,931	5.9%	36% better

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Kia Picanto, 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.