Pass rate
83.8%
Around average — 1.7 pts ahead of the 82.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 8,229 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £29–£77
2015 Mazda Cx-3 MOT pass rate
- 2015
- typical 59,069 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
31.5% 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 →
0.5 pts down across model years — 4.0% in 2015, 3.5% in 2019.
Which year to buy
- Best 2019 93.1% pass
- Avoid 2015 83.8% pass · this year
Across the 5 years on record, a spread of 9.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 81.0%
- Typical mileage
- 59k mi
The 2015 Mazda Cx-3 MOT pass rate is 83.8% of its MOT tests — 1.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 31.5% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.5× the national share
Brakes make up 31.5% of everything recorded on the 2015 Mazda Cx-3, against 20.9% nationally — 10.6 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 23% 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 Mazda Cx-3? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2015 Mazda Cx-3 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 82.1%, so this figure is 1.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 81.0%. The median 2015 Mazda Cx-3 in this dataset had covered 59,069 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 74% of tests, with a 84.5% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 83.9% of the time, April–September 83.8%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 3.78% of tests.
- 8,229 recorded tests behind this page.
- 83.8% overall pass rate, 81.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mazda Cx-3, the average is 89.5% — best year 2019 (93.1%), worst 2015 (83.8%).
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
- 8,229
- Typical mileage (median)
- 59,069 mi
- Make and model
- Mazda Cx-3
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Coil Spring
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Cx-3 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 71% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (74% of tests).
Where the Mazda Cx-3 is most common
Across all Cx-3 model years on record (2015–2019): 35,389 Mazda Cx-3 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 82,585 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 883 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) | 883 | 90.9% |
| 2 | Sheffield (S) | 781 | 90.0% |
| 3 | Glasgow (G) | 634 | 86.9% |
| 4 | Nottingham (NG) | 631 | 90.0% |
| 5 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 620 | 90.7% |
| 6 | Peterborough (PE) | 612 | 92.2% |
| 7 | Edinburgh (EH) | 597 | 87.1% |
| 8 | Leicester (LE) | 596 | 89.6% |
| 9 | Northampton (NN) | 587 | 89.3% |
| 10 | Reading (RG) | 566 | 88.8% |
| 11 | Poole (BH) | 555 | 89.5% |
| 12 | Coventry (CV) | 545 | 90.3% |
| 13 | Portsmouth (PO) | 538 | 88.9% |
| 14 | Doncaster (DN) | 525 | 90.0% |
| 15 | Bristol (BS) | 516 | 86.2% |
| 16 | Cardiff (CF) | 512 | 88.9% |
| 17 | Derby (DE) | 494 | 89.3% |
| 18 | Stockport (SK) | 493 | 90.6% |
| 19 | Southampton (SO) | 458 | 91.1% |
| 20 | Leeds (LS) | 445 | 86.8% |
The twenty areas with the most Mazda Cx-3 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 Cx-3
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,733 | 86.2% |
| South West | 951 | 82.8% |
| North West | 931 | 85.4% |
| Yorkshire | 851 | 81.7% |
| East of England | 820 | 85.0% |
| Scotland | 794 | 76.8% |
| West Midlands | 693 | 86.0% |
| East Midlands | 521 | 84.1% |
| Wales | 415 | 85.1% |
| North East | 296 | 80.4% |
| London | 224 | 87.9% |
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 2015 Cx-3
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 2015 Cx-3
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 coil springs 3.8% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
-
Check the suspension joints 2.8% 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 lights 2.3% 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.
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 2015 Cx-3 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £29–£77 — and 23% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £29–£77
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 23%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 8,229 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 Cx-3, side by side
5 model years on record, from 2015 to 2019. Across them the pass rate runs from 83.8% to 93.1% — a spread of 9.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2015 83.8%coil spring fractured or broken
- 2016 84.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 89.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 91.8% wipers blade defective
- 2019 93.1% 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 2015 Mazda Cx-3 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 2015 cars with a similar record
- Volvo V60 83.8%
- Skoda Fabia 83.7%
- Nissan Micra 83.7%
- Volkswagen Tiguan 83.9%
- Audi Q3 83.9%
- Kia Rio 83.6%
Closest pass rates among 2015 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 2015 Mazda Cx-3 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 9,199 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 | 2,926 | 31.50% | 20.89% | +10.61 |
| Tyres | 2,588 | 27.90% | 19.76% | +8.14 |
| Suspension | 1,425 | 15.40% | 20.98% | −5.58 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 595 | 6.40% | 12.21% | −5.81 |
| Visibility | 530 | 5.70% | 4.97% | +0.73 |
| Non-component advisories | 463 | 5.00% | 4.18% | +0.82 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 376 | 4.10% | 0.82% | +3.28 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 151 | 1.60% | 5.52% | −3.92 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 80 | 0.90% | 5.57% | −4.67 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 65 | 0.70% | 1.76% | −1.06 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.8% | £25–65 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.8% | £18–45 |
| Retracting mechanism defective Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 2.4% | £40–120 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.3% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.9% | £80–200 |
| Not functioning as intended Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 1.5% | £40–120 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.2% | £18–45 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.2% | £8–22 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.1% | £45–95 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 0.89% | £8–22 |
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 | 11.9% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 11.8% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 10.8% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 7.7% | £45–110 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 6.7% | £80–180 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 3.1% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 649 | 87.8% | 22,568 mi |
| 30-60k | 3,575 | 85.8% | 46,639 mi |
| 60-90k | 3,019 | 82.3% | 72,693 mi |
| 90-120k | 862 | 79.0% | 100,975 mi |
| 120k+ | 121 | 79.3% | 136,831 mi |
Source: 8,229 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.
2015 Cx-3 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2015 Mazda Cx-3?
83.8% of the 8,229 2015 Mazda Cx-3 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 82.1% for cars first used in 2015. First-attempt pass rate: 81.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2015 Mazda Cx-3?
The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (3.78%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (2.79%), retracting mechanism defective (2.44%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2015 Mazda Cx-3 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 87.8% of the time, falling to 79.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2015 Mazda Cx-3 in this dataset had covered 59,069 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2015 Mazda Cx-3?
Petrol: 84.5% pass rate across 6,112 tests. Diesel: 81.9% pass rate across 2,117 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2015 Mazda Cx-3 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 83.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 83.8%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.