Pass rate
80.2%
Around average — 7.7 pts behind the 87.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 1,371 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £33–£93
2018 DS DS4 MOT pass rate
- 2018
- typical 42,529 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
28.7% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2017 80.3% pass
- Avoid 2015 75.7% pass
Across the 4 years on record, a spread of 4.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 75.9%
- Typical mileage
- 43k mi
The 2018 DS DS4 MOT pass rate is 80.2% of its MOT tests — 7.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 28.7% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.4× the national share
Brakes make up 28.7% of everything recorded on the 2018 DS Ds4, against 20.9% nationally — 7.8 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 87.9%; this one manages 80.2% — 7.7 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 DS DS4? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2018 DS DS4 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 87.9%, so this figure is 7.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 75.9%. The median 2018 DS DS4 in this dataset had covered 42,529 mi.
56% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 79.7% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 77.8% of the time, April–September 83.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 8.17% of tests.
- 1,371 recorded tests behind this page.
- 80.2% overall pass rate, 75.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the DS DS4, the average is 78.1% — best year 2017 (80.3%), worst 2015 (75.7%).
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
- 1,371
- Typical mileage (median)
- 42,529 mi
- Make and model
- DS DS4
- 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 DS4 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 65% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (56% of tests).
Where the DS DS4 is most common
Across all DS4 model years on record (2015–2018): 7,002 DS DS4 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 16,496 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 208 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) | 208 | 82.7% |
| 2 | Sheffield (S) | 196 | 80.2% |
| 3 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 166 | 78.2% |
| 4 | Swansea (SA) | 153 | 78.4% |
| 5 | Cardiff (CF) | 148 | 76.3% |
| 6 | Peterborough (PE) | 148 | 84.0% |
| 7 | Doncaster (DN) | 145 | 77.3% |
| 8 | Nottingham (NG) | 142 | 74.8% |
| 9 | Glasgow (G) | 137 | 73.3% |
| 10 | Preston (PR) | 130 | 79.5% |
| 11 | Coventry (CV) | 129 | 78.2% |
| 12 | Manchester (M) | 121 | 79.9% |
| 13 | Edinburgh (EH) | 118 | 68.2% |
| 14 | Newport (NP) | 106 | 77.0% |
| 15 | Derby (DE) | 106 | 76.6% |
| 16 | Blackburn (BB) | 106 | 78.8% |
| 17 | Carlisle (CA) | 103 | 79.5% |
| 18 | Stoke On Trent (ST) | 102 | 80.2% |
| 19 | Leeds (LS) | 96 | 78.6% |
| 20 | Bolton (BL) | 96 | 81.3% |
The twenty areas with the most DS DS4 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 DS4
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 308 | 71.1% |
| North West | 210 | 85.7% |
| South East | 177 | 83.6% |
| Yorkshire | 135 | 81.5% |
| West Midlands | 125 | 80.0% |
| South West | 92 | 90.2% |
| East of England | 85 | 85.9% |
| East Midlands | 82 | 74.4% |
| Wales | 79 | 82.3% |
| North East | 61 | 75.4% |
| London | 17 | 88.2% |
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 2018 DS4
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 2018 DS4
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 8.2% 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 coil springs 6.3% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
-
Check the tyre tread 1.9% 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.
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 2018 DS4 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £33–£93 — and 43% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £33–£93
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot split or…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 43%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 1,371 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 DS4, side by side
4 model years on record, from 2015 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 75.7% to 80.3% — a spread of 4.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2015 75.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2016 77.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2017 80.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2018 80.2%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 2018 DS DS4 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 2018 cars with a similar record
- Fiat 500L 80.7%
- Nissan Navara 80.9%
- Vauxhall Combo 79.4%
- Renault Grand Scenic 81.2%
- Mercedes-Benz Citan 79.1%
- Hyundai I800 81.8%
Closest pass rates among 2018 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 2018 DS DS4 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 1,783 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 | 515 | 28.70% | 20.89% | +7.81 |
| Tyres | 453 | 25.20% | 19.76% | +5.44 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 220 | 12.20% | 12.21% | −0.01 |
| Suspension | 195 | 10.90% | 20.98% | −10.08 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 118 | 6.60% | 5.57% | +1.03 |
| Visibility | 104 | 5.80% | 4.97% | +0.83 |
| Non-component advisories | 89 | 5.00% | 4.18% | +0.82 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 49 | 2.70% | 5.52% | −2.82 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 23 | 1.30% | 1.76% | −0.46 |
| Steering | 17 | 0.90% | 2.57% | −1.67 |
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 | 8.2% | £5–20 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 6.3% | £25–65 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.9% | £80–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 2.0% | £80–250 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.9% | £45–95 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.8% | £8–22 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.7% | £80–200 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.6% | £8–22 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.2% | £5–20 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.0% | £45–95 |
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 | 18.2% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 17.9% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 8.8% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 5.9% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 3.1% | £45–110 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.0% | £20–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 302 | 85.4% | 23,016 mi |
| 30-60k | 791 | 80.3% | 43,531 mi |
| 60-90k | 240 | 73.8% | 71,228 mi |
| 90-120k | 36 | 77.8% | 100,328 mi |
| 120k+ | 2 | 100.0% | 152,174 mi |
Source: 1,371 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.
2018 DS4 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2018 DS DS4?
80.2% of the 1,371 2018 DS DS4 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 87.9% for cars first used in 2018. First-attempt pass rate: 75.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2018 DS DS4?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (8.17%), coil spring fractured or broken (6.27%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (3.87%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2018 DS DS4 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 85.4% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2018 DS DS4 in this dataset had covered 42,529 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2018 DS DS4?
Diesel: 79.7% pass rate across 769 tests. Petrol: 80.9% pass rate across 602 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2018 DS DS4 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 77.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 83.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.