Toyota Yaris years to avoid: the early ones

Based on 440,876 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 1999. The worst is the 1999, which fails its MOT 15% more often than other cars of the same age. The 2020 is the strongest, failing 44% less often than average.

Found a Toyota Yaris 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 Yaris 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 Toyota Yaris
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
1999 Worst	1,356	37.3%	15% worse
2000	4,352	36.3%	about average
2001	8,371	33.7%	about average
2002	10,656	32.9%	about average
2003	13,480	34.5%	about average
2004	15,590	35.5%	about average
2005	18,642	33.6%	about average
2006	18,787	32.3%	about average
2007	22,409	31.6%	about average
2008	23,668	30.9%	about average
2009	25,315	25.7%	23% better
2010	19,032	25.8%	20% better
2011	16,390	20.8%	31% better
2012	27,532	21.2%	24% better
2013	28,827	20.4%	20% better
2014	28,842	18.2%	20% better
2015	30,761	11.9%	39% better
2016	28,508	10.3%	39% better
2017	26,932	10.7%	25% better
2018	28,092	8.2%	32% better
2019	28,105	6.0%	42% better
2020	15,229	5.2%	44% better

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Toyota Yaris, 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.