Mazda 3 years to avoid: the early ones

Based on 108,694 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 2008 and 2016 to 2017. The worst is the 2017, which fails its MOT 40% more often than other cars of the same age. The 2020 is the strongest, failing 36% less often than average.

Found a Mazda 3 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 3 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 Mazda 3
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2005	3,289	40.9%	about average
2006	4,594	39.7%	about average
2007	5,985	38.6%	about average
2008	6,976	40.1%	15% worse
2009	8,220	35.3%	about average
2010	8,739	32.6%	about average
2011	5,623	31.5%	about average
2012	5,114	26.1%	about average
2013	5,252	22.3%	about average
2014	8,496	24.0%	about average
2015	11,898	22.3%	about average
2016	10,685	21.7%	28% worse
2017 Worst	8,227	20.0%	40% worse
2018	7,071	12.5%	about average
2019	4,367	6.9%	33% better
2020	4,158	5.9%	36% better

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Mazda 3, 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.