Vauxhall Adam: every year fails more than average

Based on 59,275 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 2014 to 2019. The worst is the 2016, which fails its MOT 27% more often than other cars of the same age.

Found a Vauxhall Adam 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 Adam 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 Vauxhall Adam
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2013	7,737	28.8%	about average
2014	13,383	27.4%	21% worse
2015	10,858	23.2%	19% worse
2016 Worst	9,511	21.5%	27% worse
2017	7,512	17.6%	23% worse
2018	5,452	14.3%	19% worse
2019	4,822	12.5%	22% worse

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Vauxhall Adam, 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.