Pass rate
63.9%
Below average — 13.3 pts behind the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 61 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £52–£134
2012 Mazda E Series MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 111,131 mi
Only 61 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Most common fault
Suspension
28.4% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2018 84.5% pass
- Avoid 2012 63.9% pass · this year
Across the 12 years on record, a spread of 20.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 50.0%
- Typical mileage
- 111k mi
The 2012 Mazda E Series MOT pass rate is 63.9% of its MOT tests — 13.3 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 28.4% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mazda E Series does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.4× the national share
Suspension accounts for 28.4% of everything recorded on the 2012 Mazda E Series, against 21.0% nationally — 7.4 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.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 77.2%; this one manages 63.9% — 13.3 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 35% 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 E Series? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 Mazda E Series compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 13.3 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 50.0%. The median 2012 Mazda E Series in this dataset had covered 111,131 mi.
77% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 63.8% of the time.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 11.48% of tests.
- 61 recorded tests behind this page.
- 63.9% overall pass rate, 50.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mazda E Series, the average is 72.7% — best year 2018 (84.5%), worst 2012 (63.9%).
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
- 61
- Typical mileage (median)
- 111,131 mi
- Make and model
- Mazda E Series
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the E Series MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 51% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (77% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the E Series
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 19 | 52.6% |
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 2012 E Series
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 2012 E Series
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 windscreen 11.5% 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 corrosion 9.8% of tests
“component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength”
Look under the sills, around the jacking points and where the suspension mounts meet the body. Flaking, holed or crumbly metal fails; a brown stain on sound metal does not.
-
Check the lights 9.8% 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.
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 2012 E Series through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £52–£134 — and 35% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £52–£134
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 35%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 61 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 E Series, side by side
12 model years on record, from 2000 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 63.9% to 84.5% — a spread of 20.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 72.1% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2001 70.9% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2002 74.6% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2003 75.4% rear fog lamp not working
- 2004 69.7% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2011 64.1% component mounting prescribed…
- 2012 63.9%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 66.4% component mounting prescribed…
- 2014 75.1% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2015 73.6% component mounting prescribed…
- 2017 74.1% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2018 84.5% headlamp lens slightly 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 2012 Mazda E Series 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 2012 cars with a similar record
- Renault Clio 68.7%
- Renault Grand Scenic 69.9%
- Vauxhall Combo 70.0%
- Nissan Qashqai 70.1%
- Renault Megane 70.2%
- Citroen DS3 70.4%
Closest pass rates among 2012 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 2012 Mazda E Series 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 183 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 | 52 | 28.40% | 20.98% | +7.42 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 31 | 16.90% | 12.21% | +4.69 |
| Brakes | 24 | 13.10% | 20.89% | −7.79 |
| Tyres | 18 | 9.80% | 19.76% | −9.96 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 18 | 9.80% | 5.52% | +4.28 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 16 | 8.70% | 5.57% | +3.13 |
| Visibility | 10 | 5.50% | 4.97% | +0.53 |
| Non-component advisories | 6 | 3.30% | 4.18% | −0.88 |
| Steering | 5 | 2.70% | 2.57% | +0.13 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 3 | 1.60% | 0.82% | +0.78 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 11.5% | £80–200 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 9.8% | £180–450 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 9.8% | £5–25 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 8.2% | £5–20 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 6.6% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.9% | £30–80 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 4.9% | £8–22 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 3.3% | £18–45 |
| Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.3% | £60–140 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.3% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 21.3% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 19.7% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 18.0% | £80–180 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Advisory | 13.1% | £180–450 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 13.1% | £40–150 |
| Integral vehicle structure condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 9.8% | £180–450 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60-90k | 11 | 63.6% | 74,781 mi |
| 90-120k | 27 | 59.3% | 104,218 mi |
| 120k+ | 23 | 69.6% | 184,348 mi |
Source: 61 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.
2012 E Series MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Mazda E Series?
63.9% of the 61 2012 Mazda E Series tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 50.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Mazda E Series?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (11.48%), component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (9.84%), headlamp lens slightly defective (9.84%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Mazda E Series MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 63.6% of the time, falling to 69.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Mazda E Series in this dataset had covered 111,131 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2012 Mazda E Series?
Petrol: 63.8% pass rate across 47 tests. Diesel: 64.3% pass rate across 14 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.