Volkswagen Tiguan: which years to avoid

Based on 182,482 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

No model year stands out as one to avoid. Every year sits within 15% of the failure rate for cars of the same age. The 2016 is the strongest, failing 28% less often than average.

Found a Volkswagen Tiguan 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 Tiguan 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 Tiguan
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2008	4,575	31.9%	about average
2009	6,544	31.5%	about average
2010	6,899	31.3%	about average
2011	7,018	29.4%	about average
2012	9,222	26.1%	about average
2013	12,428	21.9%	about average
2014	15,538	19.6%	about average
2015	20,114	16.1%	18% better
2016	18,688	12.2%	28% better
2017	26,559	10.8%	25% better
2018	29,612	9.9%	18% better
2019	15,770	9.3%	about average
2020	9,515	9.8%	about average

How this is worked out

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