Kia Sorento years to avoid: the early ones

Based on 34,329 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, 2008 to 2009, and 2012 to 2014. The worst is the 2012, which fails its MOT 21% more often than other cars of the same age.

Found a Kia Sorento 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 Sorento 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 Sorento
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2005	1,277	40.8%	about average
2006	2,299	42.5%	18% worse
2007	1,557	38.8%	about average
2008	1,113	41.1%	18% worse
2009	1,471	38.5%	15% worse
2010	1,986	35.8%	about average
2011	1,704	33.2%	about average
2012 Worst	1,977	33.9%	21% worse
2013	2,177	29.9%	17% worse
2014	2,940	26.8%	18% worse
2015	4,004	19.3%	about average
2016	3,153	18.2%	about average
2017	3,116	16.1%	about average
2018	2,771	13.2%	about average
2019	2,784	11.2%	about average

How this is worked out

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