Pass rate
79.2%
Around average — 3.3 pts ahead of the 75.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 447 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £56–£164
2011 Ford Focus C-Max MOT pass rate
- 2011
- typical 106,614 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
20.3% 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 →
3.5 pts up across model years — 3.3% in 2004, 6.8% in 2008.
Which year to buy
- Best 2011 79.2% pass · this year
- Avoid 2004 68.9% pass
Across the 10 years on record, a spread of 10.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 73.9%
- Typical mileage
- 107k mi
The 2011 Ford Focus C-Max MOT pass rate is 79.2% of its MOT tests — 3.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 20.3% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.1× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 11.6% of everything recorded on the 2011 Ford Focus C-Max, against 5.6% nationally — 6.0 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 20.3%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 75.9% and this one manages 79.2% — 3.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 18% 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.
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 Ford Focus C-Max? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2011 Ford Focus C-Max compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 75.9%, so this figure is 3.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 73.9%. The median 2011 Ford Focus C-Max in this dataset had covered 106,614 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 64% of tests, with a 76.7% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 78.9% of the time, April–September 79.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 10.51% of tests.
- 447 recorded tests behind this page.
- 79.2% overall pass rate, 73.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Ford Focus C-Max, the average is 70.3% — best year 2011 (79.2%), worst 2004 (68.9%).
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
- 447
- Typical mileage (median)
- 106,614 mi
- Make and model
- Ford Focus C-Max
- 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 Focus C-Max 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 (64% of tests).
Where the Ford Focus C-Max is most common
Across all Focus C-Max model years on record (2003–2013): 21,824 Ford Focus C-Max cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 56,717 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 695 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) | 695 | 75.1% |
| 2 | Bristol (BS) | 510 | 64.9% |
| 3 | Peterborough (PE) | 493 | 69.1% |
| 4 | Sheffield (S) | 460 | 71.9% |
| 5 | Liverpool (L) | 454 | 71.6% |
| 6 | Leicester (LE) | 450 | 71.6% |
| 7 | Brighton (BN) | 440 | 64.9% |
| 8 | Nottingham (NG) | 428 | 66.4% |
| 9 | Basildon (SS) | 428 | 77.9% |
| 10 | Portsmouth (PO) | 386 | 68.7% |
| 11 | Ipswich (IP) | 385 | 69.7% |
| 12 | Norwich (NR) | 378 | 68.9% |
| 13 | Romford (RM) | 366 | 78.7% |
| 14 | Chelmsford (CM) | 357 | 74.0% |
| 15 | Coventry (CV) | 328 | 72.7% |
| 16 | Exeter (EX) | 318 | 62.5% |
| 17 | Maidstone (ME) | 314 | 70.9% |
| 18 | Manchester (M) | 314 | 72.3% |
| 19 | Reading (RG) | 311 | 72.0% |
| 20 | Plymouth (PL) | 310 | 64.3% |
The twenty areas with the most Ford Focus C-Max 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 Focus C-Max
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 97 | 84.5% |
| North West | 72 | 68.1% |
| East of England | 55 | 89.1% |
| South West | 47 | 74.5% |
| West Midlands | 42 | 83.3% |
| Yorkshire | 36 | 75.0% |
| Wales | 27 | 63.0% |
| East Midlands | 24 | 83.3% |
| Scotland | 22 | 77.3% |
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 2011 Focus C-Max
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 2011 Focus C-Max
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 4.5% 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 4.5% 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 brakes 2.5% 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.
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 2011 Focus C-Max through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £56–£164 — and 18% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £56–£164
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 18%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 447 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 Focus C-Max, side by side
10 model years on record, from 2003 to 2013. Across them the pass rate runs from 68.9% to 79.2% — a spread of 10.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 70.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 68.9% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 69.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2006 70.1% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2007 71.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 71.7% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 73.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 73.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 79.2%joints constant velocity boot…
- 2013 76.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
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 2011 Ford Focus C-Max 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 2011 cars with a similar record
- Suzuki Alto 79.1%
- BMW 3 Series 79.4%
- Smart Mcc Fortwo 79.4%
- Volvo XC60 79.5%
- Volvo V60 78.9%
- Volkswagen Sharan 78.9%
Closest pass rates among 2011 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 2011 Ford Focus C-Max 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 914 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 | 187 | 20.30% | 20.89% | −0.59 |
| Tyres | 184 | 20.00% | 19.76% | +0.24 |
| Suspension | 174 | 18.90% | 20.98% | −2.08 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 111 | 12.10% | 12.21% | −0.11 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 107 | 11.60% | 5.57% | +6.03 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 52 | 5.70% | 5.52% | +0.18 |
| Visibility | 42 | 4.60% | 4.97% | −0.37 |
| Non-component advisories | 36 | 3.90% | 4.18% | −0.28 |
| Steering | 14 | 1.50% | 2.57% | −1.07 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 7 | 0.80% | 1.76% | −0.96 |
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 | 10.5% | £80–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 4.5% | £80–250 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.5% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.5% | £80–200 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 2.5% | £18–45 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 1.8% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.6% | £40–150 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.6% | £3–12 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 1.3% | £45–120 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.3% | £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 | 24.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 13.0% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 11.6% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 9.8% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 7.8% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 5.6% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1 | 100.0% | 29,474 mi |
| 30-60k | 33 | 93.9% | 48,850 mi |
| 60-90k | 110 | 85.5% | 75,622 mi |
| 90-120k | 160 | 76.9% | 106,292 mi |
| 120k+ | 143 | 73.4% | 137,447 mi |
Source: 447 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.
2011 Focus C-Max MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2011 Ford Focus C-Max?
79.2% of the 447 2011 Ford Focus C-Max tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 75.9% for cars first used in 2011. First-attempt pass rate: 73.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2011 Ford Focus C-Max?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (10.51%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (4.47%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (4.47%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2011 Ford Focus C-Max MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 73.4% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2011 Ford Focus C-Max in this dataset had covered 106,614 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2011 Ford Focus C-Max?
Diesel: 76.7% pass rate across 287 tests. Petrol: 83.8% pass rate across 160 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2011 Ford Focus C-Max MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 78.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 79.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.