Pass rate
79.3%
Around average — 2.1 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 5,254 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £26–£77
2012 Mitsubishi Colt MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 66,008 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
23.7% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2013 82.1% pass
- Avoid 2001 68.5% pass
Across the 14 years on record, a spread of 13.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 74.3%
- Typical mileage
- 66k mi
The 2012 Mitsubishi Colt MOT pass rate is 79.3% of its MOT tests — 2.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 23.7% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mitsubishi Colt does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Fewer problems with brakes
Brakes are 13.8% of this car’s recorded faults, against 20.9% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a car of this age.
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 Mitsubishi Colt? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 Mitsubishi Colt compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 2.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 74.3%. The median 2012 Mitsubishi Colt in this dataset had covered 66,008 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 79.2% of the time, April–September 79.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt", noted on 5.90% of tests.
- 5,254 recorded tests behind this page.
- 79.3% overall pass rate, 74.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mitsubishi Colt, the average is 73.1% — best year 2013 (82.1%), worst 2001 (68.5%).
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
- 5,254
- Typical mileage (median)
- 66,008 mi
- Make and model
- Mitsubishi Colt
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Colt MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 63% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Colt
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 994 | 80.5% |
| South East | 910 | 81.0% |
| West Midlands | 509 | 82.3% |
| Yorkshire | 509 | 75.0% |
| North West | 443 | 80.8% |
| Wales | 419 | 78.8% |
| East of England | 408 | 82.6% |
| Scotland | 406 | 70.4% |
| East Midlands | 343 | 79.0% |
| North East | 175 | 74.9% |
| London | 138 | 84.8% |
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 Colt
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 Colt
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 suspension joints 5.9% of tests
“track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or 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 3.1% of tests
“position lamp not working”
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 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.
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 Colt through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £26–£77 — and 39% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £26–£77
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot split or…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 39%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 5,254 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 Colt, side by side
14 model years on record, from 2000 to 2013. Across them the pass rate runs from 68.5% to 82.1% — a spread of 13.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 69.0% component mounting prescribed…
- 2001 68.5% component mounting prescribed…
- 2002 72.7% component mounting prescribed…
- 2003 72.0% component mounting prescribed…
- 2004 70.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 71.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 71.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 71.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 70.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 73.0% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2010 75.0% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2011 78.6% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2012 79.3%track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2013 82.1% track rod end ball joint dust…
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 Mitsubishi Colt 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
- Toyota Aygo 79.3%
- Jaguar Xf 79.3%
- Skoda Roomster 79.3%
- Citroen C1 79.2%
- BMW 3 Series 79.4%
- BMW 1 Series 79.4%
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 Mitsubishi Colt 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 9,216 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 | 2,236 | 23.70% | 20.98% | +2.72 |
| Tyres | 1,933 | 20.50% | 19.76% | +0.74 |
| Brakes | 1,303 | 13.80% | 20.89% | −7.09 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,287 | 13.60% | 12.21% | +1.39 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 646 | 6.80% | 5.57% | +1.23 |
| Visibility | 587 | 6.20% | 4.97% | +1.23 |
| Steering | 431 | 4.60% | 2.57% | +2.03 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 341 | 3.60% | 5.52% | −1.92 |
| Non-component advisories | 307 | 3.30% | 4.18% | −0.88 |
| Road Wheels | 145 | 1.50% | 0.75% | +0.75 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 5.9% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 5.7% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.6% | £80–250 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.1% | £5–25 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 2.3% | £5–25 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 2.3% | £8–22 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 2.3% | £8–22 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.0% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.0% | £80–200 |
| Linkage pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.0% | £40–150 |
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 | 14.6% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 13.4% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.2% | £45–110 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 7.7% | £25–65 |
| Linkage pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 6.2% | £40–150 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 5.2% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 410 | 87.3% | 22,882 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,826 | 82.1% | 46,423 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,884 | 78.6% | 74,136 mi |
| 90-120k | 839 | 73.7% | 102,232 mi |
| 120k+ | 295 | 71.5% | 143,152 mi |
Source: 5,254 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 Colt MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Mitsubishi Colt?
79.3% of the 5,254 2012 Mitsubishi Colt tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 74.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Mitsubishi Colt?
The three most recorded items are track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (5.90%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (5.67%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (3.60%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Mitsubishi Colt MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 87.3% of the time, falling to 71.5% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Mitsubishi Colt in this dataset had covered 66,008 mi.
Does the season affect the 2012 Mitsubishi Colt MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 79.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 79.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.