Pass rate
70.4%
Below average — 6.8 pts behind the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 81 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £31–£92
2012 Renault Espace MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 109,525 mi
Only 81 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.
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
27.4% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2000 75.0% pass
- Avoid 2011 66.0% pass
Across the 13 years on record, a spread of 9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 60.0%
- Typical mileage
- 110k mi
The 2012 Renault Espace MOT pass rate is 70.4% of its MOT tests — 6.8 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.4% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.3× the national share
Brakes make up 27.4% of everything recorded on the 2012 Renault Espace, against 20.9% nationally — 6.5 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 77.2%; this one manages 70.4% — 6.8 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- 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 Renault Espace? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 Renault Espace compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 6.8 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 60.0%. The median 2012 Renault Espace in this dataset had covered 109,525 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 73.8% of the time, April–September 66.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt", noted on 6.17% of tests.
- 81 recorded tests behind this page.
- 70.4% overall pass rate, 60.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Renault Espace, the average is 68.5% — best year 2000 (75.0%), worst 2011 (66.0%).
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
- 81
- Typical mileage (median)
- 109,525 mi
- Make and model
- Renault Espace
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Body Panel Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Espace MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 55% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Renault Espace is most common
Across all Espace model years on record (2000–2012): 2,030 Renault Espace cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 5,348 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 50 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) | 50 | 79.5% |
| 2 | Portsmouth (PO) | 41 | 63.3% |
| 3 | Nottingham (NG) | 40 | 66.0% |
| 4 | Norwich (NR) | 38 | 64.3% |
| 5 | Peterborough (PE) | 36 | 66.7% |
| 6 | Reading (RG) | 36 | 69.6% |
| 7 | Poole (BH) | 35 | 68.1% |
| 8 | Chester (CH) | 34 | 63.7% |
| 9 | Bristol (BS) | 34 | 58.2% |
| 10 | Leicester (LE) | 34 | 74.7% |
| 11 | Brighton (BN) | 33 | 64.5% |
| 12 | Doncaster (DN) | 33 | 63.7% |
| 13 | Guildford (GU) | 33 | 67.9% |
| 14 | Ashford (TN) | 31 | 70.4% |
| 15 | Sheffield (S) | 30 | 68.4% |
| 16 | Oxford (OX) | 28 | 64.3% |
| 17 | Southampton (SO) | 28 | 73.2% |
| 18 | Manchester (M) | 28 | 73.4% |
| 19 | Northampton (NN) | 27 | 69.1% |
| 20 | London (SE) | 27 | 75.0% |
The twenty areas with the most Renault Espace 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 Espace
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 32 | 78.1% |
| East Midlands | 17 | 58.8% |
| East of England | 15 | 66.7% |
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 Espace
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 Espace
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 lights 6.2% 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.
-
Check the suspension joints 6.2% 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 coil springs 3.7% 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.
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 Espace through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £31–£92 — and 23% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £31–£92
- 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
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 23%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 81 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 Espace, side by side
13 model years on record, from 2000 to 2012. Across them the pass rate runs from 66.0% to 75.0% — a spread of 9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 75.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2001 72.2% battery(ies) insecure but not…
- 2002 68.8% steering rack gaiter missing or…
- 2003 72.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2004 71.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 71.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2006 69.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2007 66.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 67.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 68.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2010 68.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 66.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 70.4%joints constant velocity boot…
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 Renault Espace 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
- Citroen DS3 70.4%
- Peugeot 5008 70.4%
- Nissan Qashqai 70.1%
- Vauxhall Combo 70.0%
- Chevrolet Aveo 71.1%
- Citroen Grand C4 Picasso 71.3%
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 Renault Espace 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 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 | 55 | 27.40% | 20.89% | +6.51 |
| Tyres | 40 | 19.90% | 19.76% | +0.14 |
| Suspension | 37 | 18.40% | 20.98% | −2.58 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 28 | 13.90% | 12.21% | +1.69 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 12 | 6.00% | 5.57% | +0.43 |
| Steering | 9 | 4.50% | 2.57% | +1.93 |
| Non-component advisories | 7 | 3.50% | 4.18% | −0.68 |
| Visibility | 6 | 3.00% | 4.97% | −1.97 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3 | 1.50% | 1.76% | −0.26 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2 | 1.00% | 5.52% | −4.52 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 6.2% | £80–250 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.2% | £5–20 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 6.2% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.9% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.7% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.7% | £25–65 |
| Door condition cannot be opened from outside the vehicle Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.7% | £80–250 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 3.7% | £5–25 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.5% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.5% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 33.3% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 21.0% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 17.3% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 14.8% | £25–65 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 9.9% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 4.9% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 3 | 100.0% | 32,034 mi |
| 60-90k | 15 | 66.7% | 71,592 mi |
| 90-120k | 33 | 63.6% | 103,462 mi |
| 120k+ | 30 | 76.7% | 154,358 mi |
Source: 81 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 Espace MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Renault Espace?
70.4% of the 81 2012 Renault Espace tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 60.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Renault Espace?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (6.17%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (6.17%), track rod end ball joint has excessive play (6.17%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Renault Espace MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 76.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Renault Espace in this dataset had covered 109,525 mi.
Does the season affect the 2012 Renault Espace MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 73.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 66.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.