Pass rate
93.0%
Above average — 1.8 pts ahead of the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 10,084 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £30–£72
2021 Mazda Cx-5 MOT pass rate
- 2021
- 2 trims combined
- typical 27,717 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
36.7% 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 2023 97.0% pass
- Avoid 2012 76.7% pass
Across the 12 years on record, a spread of 20.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 92.6%
- Typical mileage
- 28k mi
The 2021 Mazda Cx-5 MOT pass rate is 93.0% of its MOT tests — 1.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 36.7% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.8× the national share
Brakes make up 36.7% of everything recorded on the 2021 Mazda Cx-5, against 20.9% nationally — 15.8 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
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-5? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Mazda Cx-5 first registered in 2021 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2021 Mazda Cx-5 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 1.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 92.6%. The median 2021 Mazda Cx-5 in this dataset had covered 27,717 mi.
90% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 93.0% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 92.8% of the time, April–September 93.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Wipers blade defective", noted on 2.28% of tests.
- 10,084 recorded tests behind this page.
- 93.0% overall pass rate, 92.6% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mazda Cx-5, the average is 86.3% — best year 2023 (97.0%), worst 2012 (76.7%).
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
- 10,084
- Typical mileage (median)
- 27,717 mi
- Make and model
- Mazda Cx-5
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Wiper Blade
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Cx-5 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 79% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (90% of tests).
Where the Mazda Cx-5 is most common
Across all Cx-5 model years on record (2012–2023): 103,130 Mazda Cx-5 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 223,708 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 2,524 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) | 2,524 | 88.0% |
| 2 | Peterborough (PE) | 2,294 | 87.0% |
| 3 | Sheffield (S) | 1,922 | 87.4% |
| 4 | Reading (RG) | 1,847 | 86.7% |
| 5 | Coventry (CV) | 1,755 | 89.5% |
| 6 | Bristol (BS) | 1,750 | 83.3% |
| 7 | Nottingham (NG) | 1,733 | 85.9% |
| 8 | Glasgow (G) | 1,710 | 84.6% |
| 9 | Edinburgh (EH) | 1,690 | 83.3% |
| 10 | Portsmouth (PO) | 1,663 | 85.3% |
| 11 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 1,638 | 87.6% |
| 12 | Northampton (NN) | 1,572 | 84.7% |
| 13 | Oxford (OX) | 1,561 | 87.5% |
| 14 | Southampton (SO) | 1,545 | 85.4% |
| 15 | Stockport (SK) | 1,534 | 86.7% |
| 16 | Leicester (LE) | 1,519 | 86.2% |
| 17 | Poole (BH) | 1,504 | 85.1% |
| 18 | Doncaster (DN) | 1,483 | 86.8% |
| 19 | Ashford (TN) | 1,397 | 86.6% |
| 20 | Guildford (GU) | 1,386 | 85.2% |
The twenty areas with the most Mazda Cx-5 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-5
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 2,396 | 94.1% |
| Scotland | 1,348 | 90.9% |
| North West | 1,067 | 92.3% |
| East of England | 1,050 | 92.5% |
| South West | 930 | 92.6% |
| West Midlands | 885 | 93.8% |
| Yorkshire | 817 | 94.1% |
| East Midlands | 650 | 91.4% |
| North East | 456 | 94.1% |
| Wales | 309 | 94.8% |
| London | 176 | 96.6% |
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 2021 Cx-5
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 2021 Cx-5
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 wipers and washers 2.3% 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.
-
Check the windscreen 2.1% 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 1.9% 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 2021 Cx-5 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £30–£72 — and 40% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £30–£72
- Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp insecure
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 40%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 10,084 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-5, side by side
12 model years on record, from 2012 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 76.7% to 97.0% — a spread of 20.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2012 76.7% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2013 76.8% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2014 80.1% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2015 82.3% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2016 84.0% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2017 87.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 89.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 91.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 92.7% wipers blade defective
- 2021 93.0%wipers blade defective
- 2022 94.4% headlamp aim too high
- 2023 97.0% headlamp aim too high
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 2021 Mazda Cx-5 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 2021 cars with a similar record
- Nissan Leaf 93.0%
- Hyundai Tucson Ultimate T-Gdi 93.0%
- Fiat 500 Dolcevita 93.0%
- Audi Q3 93.1%
- Mercedes-Benz Glc 92.9%
- BMW X1 93.1%
Closest pass rates among 2021 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 2021 Mazda Cx-5 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 6,863 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 | 2,527 | 36.70% | 20.89% | +15.81 |
| Tyres | 2,292 | 33.30% | 19.76% | +13.54 |
| Visibility | 773 | 11.20% | 4.97% | +6.23 |
| Non-component advisories | 689 | 10.00% | 4.18% | +5.82 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 359 | 5.20% | 12.21% | −7.01 |
| Suspension | 108 | 1.60% | 20.98% | −19.38 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 44 | 0.60% | 1.76% | −1.16 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 37 | 0.50% | 5.52% | −5.02 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 18 | 0.30% | 0.82% | −0.52 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 16 | 0.20% | 5.57% | −5.37 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 2.3% | £8–22 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.1% | £80–200 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.9% | £18–45 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.8% | £45–95 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.6% | £8–22 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.4% | £30–80 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Rectified | 1.1% | £8–22 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.53% | £45–95 |
| Rear fog lamp insecure Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 0.46% | £3–15 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.44% | £30–80 |
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 pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 11.9% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 8.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 7.5% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 6.4% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 3.5% | £20–80 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 3.0% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 5,824 | 94.5% | 20,641 mi |
| 30-60k | 3,931 | 91.1% | 39,468 mi |
| 60-90k | 286 | 89.2% | 69,364 mi |
| 90-120k | 41 | 87.8% | 100,158 mi |
| 120k+ | 1 | 100.0% | 124,077 mi |
Source: 10,084 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.
2021 Cx-5 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 Mazda Cx-5?
93.0% of the 10,084 2021 Mazda Cx-5 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 92.6%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 Mazda Cx-5?
The three most recorded items are wipers blade defective (2.28%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.06%), brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (1.88%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 Mazda Cx-5 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 94.5% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 Mazda Cx-5 in this dataset had covered 27,717 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2021 Mazda Cx-5?
Petrol: 93.0% pass rate across 9,052 tests. Diesel: 93.8% pass rate across 1,030 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2021 Mazda Cx-5 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 92.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 93.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.