Pass rate
93.1%
Above average — 1.9 pts ahead of the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 2,109 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £43–£104
2021 SEAT Arona Xcellence MOT pass rate
- 2021
- typical 21,463 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
48.0% 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 2021 93.1% pass · this year
- Avoid 2020 90.2% pass
Across the 2 years on record, a spread of 2.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 92.6%
- Typical mileage
- 21k mi
The 2021 SEAT Arona Xcellence MOT pass rate is 93.1% of its MOT tests — 1.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 48.0% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how SEAT Arona Xcellence does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 2.3× the national share
Brakes make up 48.0% of everything recorded on the 2021 SEAT Arona Xcellence, against 20.9% nationally — 27.1 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 0% 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 SEAT Arona Xcellence? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2021 SEAT Arona Xcellence compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 1.9 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 SEAT Arona Xcellence in this dataset had covered 21,463 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 92.6% of the time, April–September 93.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick", noted on 1.47% of tests.
- 2,109 recorded tests behind this page.
- 93.1% overall pass rate, 92.6% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the SEAT Arona Xcellence, the average is 92.9% — best year 2021 (93.1%), worst 2020 (90.2%).
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
- 2,109
- Typical mileage (median)
- 21,463 mi
- Make and model
- SEAT Arona Xcellence
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Brake Pads Set
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Arona Xcellence MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 81% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Arona Xcellence
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 436 | 94.0% |
| Yorkshire | 258 | 91.5% |
| South West | 251 | 96.0% |
| East of England | 225 | 92.9% |
| North West | 218 | 93.1% |
| East Midlands | 166 | 90.4% |
| West Midlands | 160 | 93.8% |
| Scotland | 150 | 94.0% |
| Wales | 116 | 95.7% |
| North East | 86 | 88.4% |
| London | 43 | 86.0% |
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 Arona Xcellence
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 Arona Xcellence
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 brakes 1.5% 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.
-
Check the windscreen 1.2% 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 suspension joints 0.8% 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.
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 Arona Xcellence through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £43–£104 — and 0% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £43–£104
- Cheapest common item: brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- £18–£45
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 0%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 2,109 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 Arona Xcellence, side by side
2 model years on record, from 2020 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 90.2% to 93.1% — a spread of 2.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2020 90.2% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2021 93.1%brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
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 SEAT Arona Xcellence 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
- Audi Q3 93.1%
- BMW X1 93.1%
- BMW I3 93.1%
- Nissan Leaf 93.0%
- Hyundai Tucson Ultimate T-Gdi 93.0%
- Mazda Cx-5 93.0%
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 SEAT Arona Xcellence 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 1,264 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 | 609 | 48.00% | 20.89% | +27.11 |
| Tyres | 372 | 29.30% | 19.76% | +9.54 |
| Non-component advisories | 102 | 8.00% | 4.18% | +3.82 |
| Visibility | 56 | 4.40% | 4.97% | −0.57 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 43 | 3.40% | 12.21% | −8.81 |
| Steering | 24 | 1.90% | 2.57% | −0.67 |
| Suspension | 22 | 1.70% | 20.98% | −19.28 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 16 | 1.30% | 1.76% | −0.46 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 14 | 1.10% | 0.82% | +0.28 |
| Road Wheels | 6 | 0.50% | 0.75% | −0.25 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.5% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.2% | £80–200 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.0% | £45–95 |
| Service brake performance excessively fluctuating Brakes | Major | 1.0% | £60–150 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 0.85% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.62% | £30–80 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Major | 0.57% | £45–110 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Major | 0.47% | £45–110 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.47% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.43% | £45–95 |
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 discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 13.9% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 8.1% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 6.1% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 4.8% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.6% | £20–80 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 1.8% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1,555 | 94.3% | 17,200 mi |
| 30-60k | 528 | 89.8% | 39,049 mi |
| 60-90k | 25 | 92.0% | 65,680 mi |
| 90-120k | 1 | 100.0% | 91,781 mi |
Source: 2,109 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 Arona Xcellence MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 SEAT Arona Xcellence?
93.1% of the 2,109 2021 SEAT Arona Xcellence 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 SEAT Arona Xcellence?
The three most recorded items are brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (1.47%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (1.19%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.04%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 SEAT Arona Xcellence MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 94.3% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 SEAT Arona Xcellence in this dataset had covered 21,463 mi.
Does the season affect the 2021 SEAT Arona Xcellence MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 92.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 93.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.