Pass rate
73.6%
Below average — 1.1 pts ahead of the 72.5% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 394 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £67–£183
2006 Fiat Idea MOT pass rate
- 2006
- typical 81,888 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
23.9% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2006 73.6% pass · this year
- Avoid 2004 67.5% pass
Across the 4 years on record, a spread of 6.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 66.3%
- Typical mileage
- 82k mi
The 2006 Fiat Idea MOT pass rate is 73.6% of its MOT tests — 1.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 23.9% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.3× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 12.6% of everything recorded on the 2006 Fiat Idea, against 5.6% nationally — 7.0 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 23.9%, 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.
- 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. 394 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 Fiat Idea? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2006 Fiat Idea compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.5%, so this figure is 1.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 66.3%. The median 2006 Fiat Idea in this dataset had covered 81,888 mi.
64% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 71.0% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 72.4% of the time, April–September 75.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 6.85% of tests.
- 394 recorded tests behind this page.
- 73.6% overall pass rate, 66.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Fiat Idea, the average is 70.1% — best year 2006 (73.6%), worst 2004 (67.5%).
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
- 394
- Typical mileage (median)
- 81,888 mi
- Make and model
- Fiat Idea
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Body Panel Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Idea 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 (64% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Idea
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 91 | 73.6% |
| East of England | 68 | 72.1% |
| West Midlands | 50 | 70.0% |
| South West | 45 | 73.3% |
| North West | 37 | 75.7% |
| East Midlands | 23 | 78.3% |
| Yorkshire | 22 | 63.6% |
| Wales | 19 | 89.5% |
| Scotland | 15 | 60.0% |
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 2006 Idea
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 2006 Idea
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 windscreen 4.3% 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 wipers and washers 3.5% of tests
“wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the screen.
-
Check the suspension joints 3.3% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
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 2006 Idea through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £67–£183 — and 20% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £67–£183
- Cheapest common item: wipers does not clear the windscreen…
- £8–£22
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 20%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 394 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 Idea, side by side
4 model years on record, from 2004 to 2007. Across them the pass rate runs from 67.5% to 73.6% — a spread of 6.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2004 67.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 70.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 73.6%joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 68.2% joints constant velocity boot…
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 2006 Fiat Idea 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 2006 cars with a similar record
- Mercedes-Benz A-Class 73.6%
- BMW X5 73.6%
- Volvo V70 73.6%
- Subaru Forester 73.6%
- Volvo S40 73.5%
- Daihatsu Sirion 73.5%
Closest pass rates among 2006 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 2006 Fiat Idea 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 1,106 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 | 268 | 23.90% | 20.98% | +2.92 |
| Tyres | 172 | 15.40% | 19.76% | −4.36 |
| Brakes | 154 | 13.80% | 20.89% | −7.09 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 141 | 12.60% | 5.57% | +7.03 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 131 | 11.70% | 12.21% | −0.51 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 81 | 7.20% | 5.52% | +1.68 |
| Visibility | 64 | 5.70% | 4.97% | +0.73 |
| Non-component advisories | 43 | 3.80% | 4.18% | −0.38 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 26 | 2.30% | 1.76% | +0.54 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 26 | 2.30% | 0.82% | +1.48 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 6.8% | £80–250 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.3% | £80–200 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 3.5% | £8–22 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.3% | £18–45 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 3.0% | £8–22 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 2.8% | £180–450 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.3% | £25–65 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.0% | £60–250 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 2.0% | £45–95 |
| Integral vehicle structure condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.0% | £180–450 |
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 | 21.3% | £45–95 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 20.8% | £25–65 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 15.5% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 12.2% | £45–110 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 7.9% | £200–700 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 6.6% | £45–120 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 8 | 75.0% | 26,330 mi |
| 30-60k | 80 | 77.5% | 48,133 mi |
| 60-90k | 158 | 75.3% | 75,915 mi |
| 90-120k | 110 | 67.3% | 104,807 mi |
| 120k+ | 38 | 76.3% | 139,548 mi |
Source: 394 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.
2006 Idea MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2006 Fiat Idea?
73.6% of the 394 2006 Fiat Idea tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.5% for cars first used in 2006. First-attempt pass rate: 66.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2006 Fiat Idea?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (6.85%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (4.31%), wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively (3.55%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2006 Fiat Idea MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 75.0% of the time, falling to 76.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2006 Fiat Idea in this dataset had covered 81,888 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2006 Fiat Idea?
Petrol: 71.0% pass rate across 252 tests. Diesel: 78.2% pass rate across 142 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2006 Fiat Idea MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 72.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 75.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.