Pass rate
90.8%
Above average — 0.4 pts behind the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 349 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £27–£65
2021 Cupra Ateca VZ1 MOT pass rate
- 2021
- typical 28,355 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
41.1% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£40 for Brake pads under 1.5 mm. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 90.8% pass · this year
- Avoid 2022 90.4% pass
Across the 2 years on record, a spread of 0.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 90.2%
- Typical mileage
- 28k mi
The 2021 Cupra Ateca VZ1 MOT pass rate is 90.8% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 41.1% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Cupra Ateca VZ1 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 2.0× the national share
Brakes make up 41.1% of everything recorded on the 2021 Cupra Ateca Vz1, against 20.9% nationally — 20.2 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 20% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
- Based on a small sample. 349 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
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 Cupra Ateca VZ1? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2021 Cupra Ateca VZ1 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 0.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 90.2%. The median 2021 Cupra Ateca VZ1 in this dataset had covered 28,355 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 92.2% of the time, April–September 90.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick", noted on 2.29% of tests.
- 349 recorded tests behind this page.
- 90.8% overall pass rate, 90.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Cupra Ateca VZ1, the average is 90.6% — best year 2021 (90.8%), worst 2022 (90.4%).
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
- 349
- Typical mileage (median)
- 28,355 mi
- Make and model
- Cupra Ateca VZ1
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Brake Pads Set
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Ateca VZ1 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 79% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Ateca VZ1
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 56 | 87.5% |
| North West | 53 | 88.7% |
| East Midlands | 51 | 84.3% |
| Yorkshire | 50 | 96.0% |
| South East | 40 | 97.5% |
| East of England | 36 | 88.9% |
| West Midlands | 23 | 95.7% |
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 2021 Ateca VZ1
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 2021 Ateca VZ1
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 brakes 2.3% of tests
“brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick”
Look through the spokes of each wheel at the pad — less than 3mm of friction material, or a lip on the disc edge, is the usual failure. Check the handbrake holds on a slope with a few clicks, not at the top of its travel.
-
Check the tyre tread 2.3% of tests
“tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”
Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.
-
Check the shock absorbers 1.7% of tests
“shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak”
Press down hard on each corner of the car and let go. It should settle in one bounce; if it keeps rocking, or you can see oil weeping down a shock absorber, that is the fault a tester will find.
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 2021 Ateca VZ1 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £27–£65 — and 20% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £27–£65
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: service brake performance excessively…
- £60–£150
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 20%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 349 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 Ateca VZ1, side by side
2 model years on record, from 2021 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 90.4% to 90.8% — a spread of 0.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2021 90.8%brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2022 90.4% tread depth below requirements of…
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 2021 Cupra Ateca VZ1 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 2021 cars with a similar record
- Skoda Fabia 90.8%
- Vauxhall Astra Griffin 90.8%
- Renault Zoe 90.7%
- BMW 420I 90.7%
- BMW X3 XDRIVE30E 90.7%
- Audi Q7 Sln 90.7%
Closest pass rates among 2021 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 2021 Cupra Ateca VZ1 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 296 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 122 | 41.10% | 20.89% | +20.21 |
| Tyres | 88 | 29.60% | 19.76% | +9.84 |
| Suspension | 29 | 9.80% | 20.98% | −11.18 |
| Non-component advisories | 28 | 9.40% | 4.18% | +5.22 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 10 | 3.40% | 12.21% | −8.81 |
| Visibility | 9 | 3.00% | 4.97% | −1.97 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 4 | 1.30% | 5.52% | −4.22 |
| Road Wheels | 3 | 1.00% | 0.75% | +0.25 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2 | 0.70% | 1.76% | −1.06 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1 | 0.30% | 5.57% | −5.27 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 2.3% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 2.3% | £45–95 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 1.7% | £30–75 |
| Brake pads worn down to wear indicator Brakes | Major | 0.86% | £18–45 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.86% | £3–12 |
| Service brake performance excessively fluctuating Brakes | Major | 0.86% | £60–150 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.86% | £8–22 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.57% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.57% | £30–80 |
| Washers not working Visibility | Major | 0.57% | £5–15 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 16.6% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 14.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.6% | £45–110 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 5.4% | £30–75 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 3.7% | £20–80 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 3.4% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 200 | 93.0% | 22,374 mi |
| 30-60k | 145 | 87.6% | 39,404 mi |
| 60-90k | 4 | 100.0% | 69,475 mi |
Source: 349 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.
2021 Ateca VZ1 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 Cupra Ateca VZ1?
90.8% of the 349 2021 Cupra Ateca VZ1 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 90.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 Cupra Ateca VZ1?
The three most recorded items are brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (2.29%), tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (2.29%), shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (1.72%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 Cupra Ateca VZ1 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 93.0% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 Cupra Ateca VZ1 in this dataset had covered 28,355 mi.
Does the season affect the 2021 Cupra Ateca VZ1 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 92.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 90.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.