Pass rate
69.1%
Below average — 3.8 pts behind the 72.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 5,416 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £47–£132
2002 Citroen Xsara MOT pass rate
- 2002
- typical 107,982 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
17.6% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2009 71.7% pass
- Avoid 2000 66.9% pass
Across the 11 years on record, a spread of 4.8 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 58.8%
- Typical mileage
- 108k mi
The 2002 Citroen Xsara MOT pass rate is 69.1% of its MOT tests — 3.8 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 17.6% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.1× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 11.5% of everything recorded on the 2002 Citroen Xsara, against 5.6% nationally — 5.9 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 17.6%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 72.9%; this one manages 69.1% — 3.8 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out
Watching a Citroen Xsara? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2002 Citroen Xsara compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.9%, so this figure is 3.8 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 58.8%. The median 2002 Citroen Xsara in this dataset had covered 107,982 mi.
54% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 69.5% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 68.5% of the time, April–September 69.8%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 7.02% of tests.
- 5,416 recorded tests behind this page.
- 69.1% overall pass rate, 58.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Citroen Xsara, the average is 69.3% — best year 2009 (71.7%), worst 2000 (66.9%).
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
This page's data
- Tests analysed
- 5,416
- Typical mileage (median)
- 107,982 mi
- Make and model
- Citroen Xsara
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Xsara MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 58% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (54% of tests).
Where the Citroen Xsara is most common
Across all Xsara model years on record (2000–2010): 39,050 Citroen Xsara cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 106,337 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 1,331 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham (B) | 1,331 | 74.7% |
| 2 | Sheffield (S) | 1,002 | 71.9% |
| 3 | Peterborough (PE) | 919 | 68.8% |
| 4 | Portsmouth (PO) | 912 | 67.0% |
| 5 | Norwich (NR) | 774 | 66.6% |
| 6 | Nottingham (NG) | 731 | 66.3% |
| 7 | Bristol (BS) | 679 | 65.1% |
| 8 | Ashford (TN) | 661 | 70.4% |
| 9 | Doncaster (DN) | 636 | 66.7% |
| 10 | Manchester (M) | 636 | 72.8% |
| 11 | Plymouth (PL) | 632 | 65.2% |
| 12 | Brighton (BN) | 627 | 65.3% |
| 13 | Leicester (LE) | 619 | 71.9% |
| 14 | Poole (BH) | 602 | 68.2% |
| 15 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 590 | 67.4% |
| 16 | Coventry (CV) | 586 | 72.3% |
| 17 | Exeter (EX) | 572 | 64.6% |
| 18 | Gloucester (GL) | 560 | 65.4% |
| 19 | Maidstone (ME) | 557 | 74.3% |
| 20 | Canterbury (CT) | 549 | 69.1% |
The twenty areas with the most Citroen Xsara cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →
Regional pass rates for the Xsara
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,340 | 69.8% |
| South West | 872 | 64.8% |
| West Midlands | 616 | 68.7% |
| East of England | 610 | 71.1% |
| North West | 571 | 70.8% |
| Yorkshire | 470 | 69.4% |
| East Midlands | 341 | 67.7% |
| Wales | 205 | 68.8% |
| London | 148 | 83.1% |
| North East | 146 | 67.1% |
| Scotland | 97 | 63.9% |
Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.
What fails a 2002 Xsara
Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.
A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.
Before your test
Three checks worth doing on a 2002 Xsara
These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.
-
Check the lights 7.0% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
Switch everything on and walk round the car: both headlamps on dip and main, every indicator, both brake lights, reverse, fog and the two number-plate lamps. A bulb is a few pounds and a five-minute job.
-
Check the exhaust and emissions 4.2% of tests
“exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases”
Listen for a blow at idle and have someone rev it gently. Then look at the tailpipe smoke: blue is oil, white when warm is coolant, black is over-fuelling. Any of those and the emissions test is the least of it.
-
Check the suspension joints 3.6% of tests
“ball joint excessively worn”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
What it costs to get a 2002 Xsara through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £47–£132 — and 37% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £47–£132
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 37%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 5,416 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →
Every year of the Xsara, side by side
11 model years on record, from 2000 to 2010. Across them the pass rate runs from 66.9% to 71.7% — a spread of 4.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 66.9% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2001 68.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 69.1%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 68.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 69.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 68.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 69.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 69.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 68.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 71.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 71.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.
Compare the 2002 Citroen Xsara with another year
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Other 2002 cars with a similar record
- Peugeot 206 69.1%
- Peugeot 307 68.9%
- Vauxhall Corsa 68.8%
- Volvo V40 69.4%
- Volkswagen Polo 68.7%
- Honda Accord 68.7%
Closest pass rates among 2002 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2002 Citroen Xsara 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 17,541 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.
| Category | Items | This car | Nationally | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 3,185 | 17.60% | 20.98% | −3.38 |
| Brakes | 3,131 | 17.30% | 20.89% | −3.59 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 2,898 | 16.00% | 12.21% | +3.79 |
| Tyres | 2,247 | 12.40% | 19.76% | −7.36 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2,079 | 11.50% | 5.57% | +5.93 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1,525 | 8.40% | 5.52% | +2.88 |
| Visibility | 748 | 4.10% | 4.97% | −0.87 |
| Steering | 667 | 3.70% | 2.57% | +1.13 |
| Non-component advisories | 544 | 3.00% | 4.18% | −1.18 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 517 | 2.90% | 0.82% | +2.08 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 7.0% | £5–20 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.8% | £5–25 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 4.2% | £45–120 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 4.1% | £80–250 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.6% | £18–45 |
| Prescribed areas prescribed area strength or continuity significantly reduced Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 3.5% | £40–120 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.2% | £80–250 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.1% | £80–200 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 3.0% | £180–450 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.9% | £5–25 |
Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.
What testers noted without failing the car
Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 19.4% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 19.2% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 15.3% | £80–180 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 13.5% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 13.3% | £45–110 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 10.9% | £45–120 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 42 | 78.6% | 23,898 mi |
| 30-60k | 591 | 76.1% | 47,575 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,222 | 71.4% | 75,933 mi |
| 90-120k | 1,351 | 68.8% | 105,130 mi |
| 120k+ | 2,132 | 66.0% | 156,516 mi |
Source: 5,416 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.
2002 Xsara MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2002 Citroen Xsara?
69.1% of the 5,416 2002 Citroen Xsara tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.9% for cars first used in 2002. First-attempt pass rate: 58.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2002 Citroen Xsara?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (7.02%), headlamp lens slightly defective (4.76%), exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases (4.17%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2002 Citroen Xsara MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 78.6% of the time, falling to 66.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2002 Citroen Xsara in this dataset had covered 107,982 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2002 Citroen Xsara?
Petrol: 69.5% pass rate across 2,925 tests. Diesel: 68.6% pass rate across 2,489 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2002 Citroen Xsara MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 68.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 69.8%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.