Pass rate
69.3%
Below average — 3.8 pts behind the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 153 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £35–£95
2008 Hyundai Sonata MOT pass rate
- 2008
- typical 93,461 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
25.6% 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 2002 82.7% pass
- Avoid 2008 69.3% pass · this year
Across the 9 years on record, a spread of 13.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 62.3%
- Typical mileage
- 93k mi
The 2008 Hyundai Sonata MOT pass rate is 69.3% of its MOT tests — 3.8 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.6% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Hyundai Sonata does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Fewer problems with tyres
Tyres are 12.7% of this car’s recorded faults, against 19.8% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a car of this age.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 73.1%; this one manages 69.3% — 3.8 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- Based on a small sample. 153 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 Hyundai Sonata? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2008 Hyundai Sonata compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 3.8 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 62.3%. The median 2008 Hyundai Sonata in this dataset had covered 93,461 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 61% of tests, with a 67.0% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 67.5% of the time, April–September 71.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 7.84% of tests.
- 153 recorded tests behind this page.
- 69.3% overall pass rate, 62.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Hyundai Sonata, the average is 75.2% — best year 2002 (82.7%), worst 2008 (69.3%).
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
- 153
- Typical mileage (median)
- 93,461 mi
- Make and model
- Hyundai Sonata
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
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 Sonata MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 58% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (61% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Sonata
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| East of England | 27 | 66.7% |
| Yorkshire | 26 | 73.1% |
| South East | 22 | 68.2% |
| Wales | 17 | 58.8% |
| East Midlands | 16 | 56.3% |
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 Sonata
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 Sonata
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 7.8% 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 brakes 4.6% 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 wipers and washers 3.9% of tests
“wipers blade defective”
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.
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 Sonata through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £35–£95 — and 41% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £35–£95
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 41%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 153 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 Sonata, side by side
9 model years on record, from 2002 to 2010. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.3% to 82.7% — a spread of 13.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2002 82.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2003 77.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 75.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 73.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 74.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 77.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 69.3%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 74.9% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2010 79.7% door condition cannot be opened…
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 Sonata 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
- Renault Twingo 69.3%
- Peugeot 207 69.2%
- SEAT Ibiza 69.2%
- Kia Sorento 69.2%
- Volkswagen Fox 69.4%
- Renault Grand Modus 69.4%
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 Sonata 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 561 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 | 145 | 25.60% | 20.89% | +4.71 |
| Suspension | 125 | 22.10% | 20.98% | +1.12 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 79 | 14.00% | 12.21% | +1.79 |
| Tyres | 72 | 12.70% | 19.76% | −7.06 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 39 | 6.90% | 5.57% | +1.33 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 31 | 5.50% | 5.52% | −0.02 |
| Non-component advisories | 26 | 4.60% | 4.18% | +0.42 |
| Visibility | 23 | 4.10% | 4.97% | −0.87 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 16 | 2.80% | 1.76% | +1.04 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 5 | 0.90% | 0.82% | +0.08 |
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 | 7.8% | £5–20 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 5.9% | £45–110 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 5.9% | £60–150 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 4.6% | £18–45 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 3.9% | £8–22 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.3% | £18–45 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 3.3% | £180–450 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.3% | £5–25 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.3% | £40–150 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 3.3% | £3–12 |
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 discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 19.6% | £45–110 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 18.9% | £25–65 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 17.6% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 17.0% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 13.7% | £200–700 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Advisory | 11.8% | £60–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 30 | 73.3% | 48,341 mi |
| 60-90k | 42 | 69.0% | 75,751 mi |
| 90-120k | 42 | 66.7% | 103,176 mi |
| 120k+ | 39 | 69.2% | 154,272 mi |
Source: 153 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 Sonata MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 Hyundai Sonata?
69.3% of the 153 2008 Hyundai Sonata tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 62.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 Hyundai Sonata?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (7.84%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (5.88%), service brake performance excessively binding (5.88%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 Hyundai Sonata MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 73.3% of the time, falling to 69.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Hyundai Sonata in this dataset had covered 93,461 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2008 Hyundai Sonata?
Diesel: 67.0% pass rate across 94 tests. Petrol: 72.9% pass rate across 59 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2008 Hyundai Sonata MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 67.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 71.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.