Pass rate
71.6%
Below average — 3.1 pts behind the 74.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 4,639 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £35–£105
2010 Citroen Xsara MOT pass rate
- 2010
- typical 89,290 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
17.4% 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
- 62.0%
- Typical mileage
- 89k mi
The 2010 Citroen Xsara MOT pass rate is 71.6% of its MOT tests — 3.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 17.4% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Citroen Xsara does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.3× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 12.6% of everything recorded on the 2010 Citroen Xsara, against 5.6% nationally — 7.0 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 17.4%, 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 74.7%; this one manages 71.6% — 3.1 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 2010 Citroen Xsara compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.7%, so this figure is 3.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 62.0%. The median 2010 Citroen Xsara in this dataset had covered 89,290 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 69% of tests, with a 71.3% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 71.8% of the time, April–September 71.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 6.36% of tests.
- 4,639 recorded tests behind this page.
- 71.6% overall pass rate, 62.0% 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
- 4,639
- Typical mileage (median)
- 89,290 mi
- Make and model
- Citroen Xsara
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
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 59% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (69% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Xsara
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 780 | 74.1% |
| North West | 721 | 69.2% |
| South West | 625 | 71.2% |
| East of England | 580 | 77.1% |
| Yorkshire | 554 | 69.1% |
| West Midlands | 429 | 74.1% |
| Scotland | 254 | 63.4% |
| Wales | 240 | 68.8% |
| East Midlands | 207 | 72.5% |
| North East | 173 | 69.4% |
| London | 76 | 73.7% |
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 2010 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 2010 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 6.4% 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 windscreen 3.1% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
-
Check the suspension joints 2.6% of tests
“linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt”
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 2010 Xsara through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £35–£105 — and 38% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £35–£105
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot split or…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 38%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 4,639 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 2010 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 2010 cars with a similar record
- Hyundai I30 71.6%
- Fiat Fiorino 71.6%
- Peugeot 308 71.5%
- Mitsubishi L200 71.5%
- Peugeot Bipper 71.5%
- Mercedes-Benz Clc 71.5%
Closest pass rates among 2010 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 2010 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 11,369 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 | 2,015 | 17.40% | 20.98% | −3.58 |
| Tyres | 1,978 | 17.10% | 19.76% | −2.66 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,864 | 16.10% | 12.21% | +3.89 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1,462 | 12.60% | 5.57% | +7.03 |
| Brakes | 1,302 | 11.30% | 20.89% | −9.59 |
| Non-component advisories | 692 | 6.00% | 4.18% | +1.82 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 630 | 5.40% | 5.52% | −0.12 |
| Steering | 578 | 5.00% | 2.57% | +2.43 |
| Visibility | 454 | 3.90% | 4.97% | −1.07 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 394 | 3.40% | 0.82% | +2.58 |
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 | 6.4% | £5–20 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 4.4% | £80–250 |
| Prescribed areas prescribed area strength or continuity significantly reduced Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 4.3% | £40–120 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.9% | £3–12 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.9% | £80–250 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.5% | £5–25 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.1% | £80–200 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.6% | £18–45 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.3% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.2% | £25–65 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 20.2% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 13.5% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 7.5% | £200–700 |
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 7.5% | £120–300 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 6.4% | £40–150 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 6.2% | £45–120 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 53 | 83.0% | 21,464 mi |
| 30-60k | 733 | 75.9% | 49,719 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,569 | 72.3% | 75,831 mi |
| 90-120k | 1,397 | 71.2% | 103,861 mi |
| 120k+ | 868 | 67.1% | 144,083 mi |
Source: 4,639 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.
2010 Xsara MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2010 Citroen Xsara?
71.6% of the 4,639 2010 Citroen Xsara tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.7% for cars first used in 2010. First-attempt pass rate: 62.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2010 Citroen Xsara?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (6.36%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (4.40%), prescribed areas prescribed area strength or continuity significantly reduced (4.31%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2010 Citroen Xsara MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 83.0% of the time, falling to 67.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2010 Citroen Xsara in this dataset had covered 89,290 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2010 Citroen Xsara?
Petrol: 71.3% pass rate across 3,213 tests. Diesel: 72.2% pass rate across 1,426 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2010 Citroen Xsara MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 71.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 71.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.