Pass rate
70.7%
Below average — 2.4 pts behind the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 259 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £27–£74
2008 Kia Magentis MOT pass rate
- 2008
- typical 79,239 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
30.3% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2005 77.1% pass
- Avoid 2009 69.3% pass
Across the 8 years on record, a spread of 7.8 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 61.6%
- Typical mileage
- 79k mi
The 2008 Kia Magentis MOT pass rate is 70.7% of its MOT tests — 2.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 30.3% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Kia Magentis does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.4× the national share
Suspension accounts for 30.3% of everything recorded on the 2008 Kia Magentis, against 21.0% nationally — 9.3 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.
- Based on a small sample. 259 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 Kia Magentis? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2008 Kia Magentis compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 2.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 61.6%. The median 2008 Kia Magentis in this dataset had covered 79,239 mi.
95% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 70.4% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 70.1% of the time, April–September 71.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp lens slightly defective", noted on 9.65% of tests.
- 259 recorded tests behind this page.
- 70.7% overall pass rate, 61.6% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Kia Magentis, the average is 71.6% — best year 2005 (77.1%), worst 2009 (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
- 259
- Typical mileage (median)
- 79,239 mi
- Make and model
- Kia Magentis
- 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 Magentis MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 56% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (95% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Magentis
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| West Midlands | 51 | 76.5% |
| South East | 50 | 72.0% |
| North West | 44 | 70.5% |
| South West | 26 | 65.4% |
| East of England | 26 | 65.4% |
| Yorkshire | 25 | 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 2008 Magentis
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 Magentis
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 9.7% 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 5.4% of tests
“ball joint excessively worn”
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 windscreen 3.9% 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.
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 Magentis through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £27–£74 — and 37% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £27–£74
- Cheapest common item: srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 37%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 259 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 Magentis, side by side
8 model years on record, from 2003 to 2010. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.3% to 77.1% — a spread of 7.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 76.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2004 73.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 77.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 70.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 70.9% linkage ball joints ball joint…
- 2008 70.7%headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2009 69.3% service brake performance…
- 2010 72.3% track rod end ball joint has…
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 Kia Magentis 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
- Citroen C1 70.7%
- Mitsubishi L200 70.7%
- Vauxhall Vectra 70.8%
- Mercedes-Benz Clc 70.8%
- Citroen C2 70.8%
- Nissan Navara 70.8%
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 Kia Magentis 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 788 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 | 247 | 30.30% | 20.98% | +9.32 |
| Brakes | 161 | 19.80% | 20.89% | −1.09 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 100 | 12.30% | 12.21% | +0.09 |
| Tyres | 81 | 9.90% | 19.76% | −9.86 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 43 | 5.30% | 5.57% | −0.27 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 37 | 4.50% | 1.76% | +2.74 |
| Visibility | 34 | 4.20% | 4.97% | −0.77 |
| Steering | 34 | 4.20% | 2.57% | +1.63 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 29 | 3.60% | 0.82% | +2.78 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 22 | 2.70% | 5.52% | −2.82 |
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 | 9.7% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 5.4% | £18–45 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 4.6% | £18–45 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.3% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.9% | £30–80 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 3.9% | £60–150 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.9% | £80–200 |
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 3.5% | £3–12 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 3.5% | £8–22 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 2.7% | £80–250 |
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 | 16.2% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 15.8% | £40–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 15.8% | £45–95 |
| Suspension arm corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 15.4% | £35–85 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 13.9% | £20–80 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 13.5% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 3 | 100.0% | 16,282 mi |
| 30-60k | 57 | 75.4% | 49,089 mi |
| 60-90k | 114 | 70.2% | 75,089 mi |
| 90-120k | 57 | 64.9% | 106,033 mi |
| 120k+ | 28 | 71.4% | 139,342 mi |
Source: 259 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 Magentis MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 Kia Magentis?
70.7% of the 259 2008 Kia Magentis tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 61.6%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 Kia Magentis?
The three most recorded items are headlamp lens slightly defective (9.65%), ball joint excessively worn (5.41%), track rod end ball joint has excessive play (4.63%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 Kia Magentis MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 71.4% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Kia Magentis in this dataset had covered 79,239 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2008 Kia Magentis?
Petrol: 70.4% pass rate across 247 tests. Diesel: 75.0% pass rate across 12 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2008 Kia Magentis MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 70.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 71.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.