Pass rate
66.0%
Below average — 7.1 pts behind the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 53,285 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £32–£98
2008 Nissan Qashqai MOT pass rate
- 2008
- 2 trims combined
- typical 116,991 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
26.9% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £35–£75 for Suspension pin or bush excessively worn. What fitting it takes →
5.9 pts down across model years — 6.6% in 2007, 0.7% in 2020.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 94.7% pass
- Avoid 2009 65.8% pass
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 28.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 52.3%
- Typical mileage
- 117k mi
The 2008 Nissan Qashqai MOT pass rate is 66.0% of its MOT tests — 7.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Nissan Qashqai does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.3× the national share
Suspension accounts for 26.9% of everything recorded on the 2008 Nissan Qashqai, against 21.0% nationally — 5.9 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 73.1%; this one manages 66.0% — 7.1 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 32% 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 Nissan Qashqai? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Nissan Qashqai first registered in 2008 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2008 Nissan Qashqai compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 7.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 52.3%. The median 2008 Nissan Qashqai in this dataset had covered 116,991 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 67% of tests, with a 67.0% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 66.0% of the time, April–September 66.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Track rod end ball joint has excessive play", noted on 11.75% of tests.
- 53,285 recorded tests behind this page.
- 66.0% overall pass rate, 52.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Nissan Qashqai, the average is 78.9% — best year 2023 (94.7%), worst 2009 (65.8%).
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
- 53,285
- Typical mileage (median)
- 116,991 mi
- Make and model
- Nissan Qashqai
- 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 Qashqai 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 (67% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Qashqai
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 13,959 | 67.8% |
| East of England | 5,980 | 66.1% |
| North West | 5,857 | 63.9% |
| South West | 5,845 | 60.8% |
| London | 4,837 | 75.8% |
| West Midlands | 4,525 | 67.7% |
| Yorkshire | 3,660 | 63.1% |
| East Midlands | 3,283 | 65.3% |
| North East | 1,897 | 64.7% |
| Wales | 1,840 | 60.2% |
| Scotland | 1,601 | 59.6% |
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 2008 Qashqai
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 Qashqai
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 11.8% of tests
“track rod end ball joint has excessive play”
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 8.7% 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 2008 Qashqai through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £32–£98 — and 32% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £32–£98
- 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
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 32%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 53,285 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 Qashqai, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2006 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 65.8% to 94.7% — a spread of 28.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2006 67.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 66.9% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2008 66.0%track rod end ball joint has…
- 2009 65.8% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2010 67.3% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2011 68.6% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2012 70.1% ball joint excessively worn
- 2013 72.2% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2014 77.8% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2015 80.3% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2016 82.5% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2017 85.1% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2018 87.0% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2019 89.7% wipers blade defective
- 2020 92.5% wipers blade defective
- 2021 92.7% wipers blade defective
- 2022 93.1% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2023 94.7% 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 2008 Nissan Qashqai 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
- Chevrolet Kalos 66.1%
- Ford Ka 66.2%
- Chevrolet Aveo 66.5%
- Renault Grand Scenic 66.6%
- Mazda Bongo 64.9%
- Fiat Bravo 67.3%
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 Nissan Qashqai 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 180,694 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 | 49,333 | 26.90% | 20.98% | +5.92 |
| Brakes | 29,685 | 16.20% | 20.89% | −4.69 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 26,611 | 14.50% | 12.21% | +2.29 |
| Tyres | 19,939 | 10.90% | 19.76% | −8.86 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 16,211 | 8.80% | 5.57% | +3.23 |
| Steering | 14,217 | 7.80% | 2.57% | +5.23 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 9,304 | 5.10% | 5.52% | −0.42 |
| Non-component advisories | 6,704 | 3.70% | 4.18% | −0.48 |
| Visibility | 5,856 | 3.20% | 4.97% | −1.77 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 2,834 | 1.50% | 0.82% | +0.68 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 11.8% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 8.8% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 8.7% | £80–250 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 8.7% | £5–20 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 8.5% | £80–250 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 7.0% | £5–25 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.4% | £40–150 |
| Suspension arm corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Major | 3.7% | £35–85 |
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 3.2% | £3–12 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.9% | £3–12 |
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 | 20.1% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 16.4% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 14.4% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 13.8% | £18–45 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 11.1% | £200–700 |
| Suspension arm corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 10.9% | £35–85 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 96 | 85.4% | 24,074 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,671 | 75.4% | 50,418 mi |
| 60-90k | 8,375 | 69.3% | 77,888 mi |
| 90-120k | 18,493 | 65.9% | 105,793 mi |
| 120k+ | 24,615 | 64.4% | 146,317 mi |
Source: 53,285 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 Qashqai MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 Nissan Qashqai?
66.0% of the 53,285 2008 Nissan Qashqai tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 52.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 Nissan Qashqai?
The three most recorded items are track rod end ball joint has excessive play (11.75%), ball joint excessively worn (8.77%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (8.73%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 Nissan Qashqai MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 85.4% of the time, falling to 64.4% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Nissan Qashqai in this dataset had covered 116,991 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2008 Nissan Qashqai?
Petrol: 67.0% pass rate across 35,720 tests. Diesel: 64.1% pass rate across 17,560 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2008 Nissan Qashqai MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 66.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 66.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.