Mazda 6 years to avoid: the early ones

Based on 66,469 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 2005. The worst is the 2005, which fails its MOT 20% more often than other cars of the same age. The 2020 is the strongest, failing 44% less often than average.

Found a Mazda 6 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 6 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 6
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2005 Worst	1,084	43.4%	20% worse
2006	1,740	38.9%	about average
2007	2,941	38.6%	about average
2008	4,225	36.6%	about average
2009	4,699	32.0%	about average
2010	5,837	32.0%	about average
2011	4,514	31.5%	about average
2012	3,107	28.1%	about average
2013	4,423	25.6%	about average
2014	6,520	22.4%	about average
2015	6,836	20.1%	about average
2016	7,000	18.0%	about average
2017	4,756	14.9%	about average
2018	3,270	11.1%	about average
2019	4,465	7.6%	26% better
2020	1,052	5.2%	44% better

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Mazda 6, 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.