Volkswagen Polo years to avoid: the later ones

Based on 607,475 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 2002 to 2006 and 2018. The worst is the 2018, which fails its MOT 38% more often than other cars of the same age. The 2020 is the strongest, failing 20% less often than average.

Found a Volkswagen Polo 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 Polo 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 Volkswagen Polo
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
1999	1,187	33.1%	about average
2000	3,123	35.8%	about average
2001	4,761	36.8%	about average
2002	7,621	42.6%	21% worse
2003	12,895	43.2%	20% worse
2004	15,658	43.0%	18% worse
2005	18,041	43.2%	19% worse
2006	22,574	41.8%	16% worse
2007	25,511	39.1%	about average
2008	27,221	39.0%	about average
2009	24,587	37.5%	about average
2010	38,830	33.9%	about average
2011	40,586	32.4%	about average
2012	37,717	28.3%	about average
2013	38,805	27.1%	about average
2014	44,274	24.3%	about average
2015	51,566	20.7%	about average
2016	51,852	18.4%	about average
2017	46,090	16.2%	about average
2018 Worst	43,780	16.6%	38% worse
2019	36,690	10.1%	about average
2020	14,106	7.4%	20% better

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Volkswagen Polo, 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.