Vauxhall Astra years to avoid: the early ones

Based on 693,255 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 2015. The worst is the 2014, which fails its MOT 17% more often than other cars of the same age. The 2020 is the strongest, failing 20% less often than average.

Found a Vauxhall Astra 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 Astra 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 Astra
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
1999	1,412	36.8%	about average
2000	2,258	37.2%	about average
2001	4,160	37.0%	about average
2002	7,173	37.2%	about average
2003	9,365	36.6%	about average
2004	10,465	38.0%	about average
2005	19,570	40.6%	about average
2006	28,381	41.0%	about average
2007	45,115	39.4%	about average
2008	44,478	37.8%	about average
2009	42,195	37.3%	about average
2010	56,273	32.7%	about average
2011	48,889	30.1%	about average
2012	54,126	28.2%	about average
2013	59,918	26.6%	about average
2014 Worst	53,737	26.6%	17% worse
2015	48,175	22.4%	15% worse
2016	56,927	15.9%	about average
2017	46,604	14.1%	about average
2018	30,230	12.7%	about average
2019	21,344	10.9%	about average
2020	2,460	7.4%	20% better

How this is worked out

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