Seat Arona years to avoid
Based on 37,697 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.
A car needs its first MOT at three years old, so a recent model has a short record. The Arona has 3 years of test data — enough to compare it against its contemporaries, not enough to show a trend.
The short answer
Avoid 2018. The worst is the 2018, which fails its MOT 28% more often than other cars of the same age.
Found a Seat Arona 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 Arona model year
Shaded rows are the years that differ most from other cars of the same age — worse, better.
| Registered | MOT tests | Fail rate | vs same-age cars |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 Worst | 12,136 | 15.4% |
28% worse
|
| 2019 | 14,811 | 9.7% |
about average
|
| 2020 | 10,750 | 8.7% |
about average
|
How this is worked out
Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Seat Arona, 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.