Volvo C30: which years to avoid

Based on 24,372 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.

Found a Volvo C30 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 C30 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 Volvo C30
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2007	2,478	37.5%	about average
2008	3,504	39.1%	about average
2009	5,623	36.4%	about average
2010	5,456	33.3%	about average
2011	3,333	33.1%	about average
2012	2,978	27.9%	about average
2013	1,000	25.9%	about average

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Volvo C30, 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.