Pass rate
77.0%
Around average — 3.9 pts ahead of the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 344 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £16–£43
2008 Hyundai I20 MOT pass rate
- 2008
- typical 87,599 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
24.2% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 93.6% pass
- Avoid 2011 75.5% pass
Across the 16 years on record, a spread of 18.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 71.3%
- Typical mileage
- 88k mi
The 2008 Hyundai I20 MOT pass rate is 77.0% of its MOT tests — 3.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.2% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Hyundai I20 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 1.7× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 20.2% of everything recorded on the 2008 Hyundai I20, against 12.2% nationally — 8.0 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 24.2%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Walk round the car with the lights on before the test: bulbs, indicators and number-plate lamps are the cheapest failures to prevent and among the most common.
- 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 73.1% and this one manages 77.0% — 3.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 56% of the repairs this model fails on cost under £30 in parts. The pass rate matters less than what a bad afternoon at the test centre actually costs you.
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 Hyundai I20? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2008 Hyundai I20 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 3.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 71.3%. The median 2008 Hyundai I20 in this dataset had covered 87,599 mi.
97% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 77.5% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 77.9% of the time, April–September 75.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp lens slightly defective", noted on 6.40% of tests.
- 344 recorded tests behind this page.
- 77.0% overall pass rate, 71.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Hyundai I20, the average is 82.7% — best year 2023 (93.6%), worst 2011 (75.5%).
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
- 344
- Typical mileage (median)
- 87,599 mi
- Make and model
- Hyundai I20
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Headlight Bulb
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the I20 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 66% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (97% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the I20
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 91 | 80.2% |
| Yorkshire | 46 | 71.7% |
| West Midlands | 41 | 85.4% |
| North West | 34 | 73.5% |
| South West | 33 | 69.7% |
| East of England | 31 | 80.6% |
| East Midlands | 23 | 82.6% |
| Scotland | 15 | 66.7% |
| Wales | 15 | 73.3% |
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 2008 I20
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 2008 I20
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
“headlamp lens slightly defective”
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 suspension joints 5.2% 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.
-
Check the battery 3.5% of tests
“battery(ies) insecure”
Check the battery is secure and its terminals are clean and tight — a loose battery is a fail on its own, and a weak one shows up as slow cranking on a cold morning.
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 2008 I20 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £16–£43 — and 56% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £16–£43
- Cheapest common item: washers provides insufficient washer liquid
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: battery(ies) insecure
- £60–£140
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 56%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 344 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 I20, side by side
16 model years on record, from 2008 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 75.5% to 93.6% — a spread of 18.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2008 77.0%headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2009 75.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 75.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 75.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 75.9% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2013 77.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 81.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 86.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 87.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 88.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 90.8% wipers blade defective
- 2019 92.1% wipers blade defective
- 2020 93.5% wipers blade defective
- 2021 91.6% wipers does not clear the…
- 2022 90.5% wipers does not clear the…
- 2023 93.6% wipers blade 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 2008 Hyundai I20 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 2008 cars with a similar record
- BMW 120 77.0%
- Mercedes-Benz Slk 77.0%
- Saab 9-5 76.9%
- BMW 118 76.8%
- Mercedes-Benz Cls 77.2%
- Toyota Auris 76.7%
Closest pass rates among 2008 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 2008 Hyundai I20 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 886 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 | 218 | 24.20% | 20.89% | +3.31 |
| Suspension | 192 | 21.30% | 20.98% | +0.32 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 182 | 20.20% | 12.21% | +7.99 |
| Tyres | 128 | 14.20% | 19.76% | −5.56 |
| Visibility | 43 | 4.80% | 4.97% | −0.17 |
| Non-component advisories | 33 | 3.70% | 4.18% | −0.48 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 31 | 3.40% | 5.52% | −2.12 |
| Steering | 27 | 3.00% | 2.57% | +0.43 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 18 | 2.00% | 5.57% | −3.57 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 14 | 1.60% | 1.76% | −0.16 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.4% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 5.2% | £18–45 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 5.2% | £5–20 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.7% | £5–25 |
| Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.5% | £60–140 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.9% | £30–80 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.9% | £18–45 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 2.9% | £8–22 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.6% | £18–45 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 2.6% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 17.1% | £80–180 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 16.0% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 12.2% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.1% | £40–150 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 7.3% | £25–65 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 7.0% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 5 | 100.0% | 25,127 mi |
| 30-60k | 63 | 82.5% | 47,731 mi |
| 60-90k | 119 | 74.8% | 77,073 mi |
| 90-120k | 128 | 74.2% | 102,056 mi |
| 120k+ | 29 | 82.8% | 136,408 mi |
Source: 344 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.
2008 I20 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 Hyundai I20?
77.0% of the 344 2008 Hyundai I20 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 71.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 Hyundai I20?
The three most recorded items are headlamp lens slightly defective (6.40%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (5.23%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (5.23%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 Hyundai I20 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 82.8% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Hyundai I20 in this dataset had covered 87,599 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2008 Hyundai I20?
Petrol: 77.5% pass rate across 334 tests. Diesel: 60.0% pass rate across 10 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2008 Hyundai I20 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 77.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 75.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.