Nissan Note: which years to avoid

Based on 157,291 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

No model year stands out as one to avoid. Every year sits within 15% of the failure rate for cars of the same age. The 2016 is the strongest, failing 41% less often than average.

Found a Nissan Note 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 Note 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 Nissan Note
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2006	9,598	38.3%	about average
2007	12,783	36.8%	about average
2008	16,022	34.4%	about average
2009	15,399	32.9%	about average
2010	14,559	32.7%	about average
2011	12,267	31.6%	about average
2012	11,910	30.3%	about average
2013	11,802	25.8%	about average
2014	21,922	16.3%	28% better
2015	15,043	12.9%	34% better
2016	10,781	10.1%	41% better
2017	5,205	10.0%	30% better

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Nissan Note, 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.