Pass rate
88.9%
Above average — 1.8 pts behind the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 28,154 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £34–£81
2020 SEAT Leon MOT pass rate
- 2020
- 2 trims combined
- typical 32,679 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
39.2% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Part only £55–£85 for Tread depth below 1.6 mm. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 90.0% pass
- Avoid 2006 72.1% pass
Across the 23 years on record, a spread of 17.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 87.6%
- Typical mileage
- 33k mi
The 2020 SEAT Leon MOT pass rate is 88.9% of its MOT tests — 1.8 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 39.2% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how SEAT Leon does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.0× the national share
Tyres make up 39.2% of everything recorded on the 2020 SEAT Leon, against 19.8% nationally — 19.4 points above. Check all four tyres yourself, including the inner shoulders, and look at the date stamp — a tyre can pass on tread and still be six years old.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 21% 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 Leon? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every SEAT Leon first registered in 2020 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2020 SEAT Leon compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 1.8 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 87.6%. The median 2020 SEAT Leon in this dataset had covered 32,679 mi.
84% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 89.4% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 89.8% of the time, April–September 87.9%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords", noted on 1.36% of tests.
- 28,154 recorded tests behind this page.
- 88.9% overall pass rate, 87.6% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the SEAT Leon, the average is 83.1% — best year 2021 (90.0%), worst 2006 (72.1%).
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
- 28,154
- Typical mileage (median)
- 32,679 mi
- Make and model
- SEAT Leon
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Tyres
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Leon MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 75% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (84% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Leon
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| North West | 3,946 | 89.4% |
| Yorkshire | 3,858 | 89.5% |
| South East | 3,812 | 88.5% |
| Scotland | 3,376 | 87.6% |
| West Midlands | 2,900 | 90.6% |
| East Midlands | 2,838 | 85.2% |
| East of England | 2,240 | 90.5% |
| South West | 2,075 | 89.3% |
| North East | 1,445 | 88.7% |
| Wales | 1,262 | 90.3% |
| London | 402 | 90.0% |
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 2020 Leon
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 2020 Leon
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 coil springs 1.3% 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.
-
Check the tyre tread 1.1% of tests
“tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”
Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.
-
Check the windscreen 1.1% 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.
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 2020 Leon through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £34–£81 — and 21% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £34–£81
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 21%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 28,154 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 Leon, side by side
23 model years on record, from 2000 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 72.1% to 90.0% — a spread of 17.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 73.2% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2001 75.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2002 75.4% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 75.8% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 75.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 74.9% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 72.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 74.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2008 74.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 75.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2010 75.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 76.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 78.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 81.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 84.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 85.3% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2016 86.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 86.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2018 86.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2019 86.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2020 88.9%has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 90.0% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 89.8% has a cut in excess of the…
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 2020 SEAT Leon 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 2020 cars with a similar record
- Skoda Superb 88.9%
- Hyundai Tucson N 88.9%
- BMW 840I 88.9%
- Citroen C4 Gr Stourer 88.9%
- Mercedes-Benz Cla 89.0%
- Kia Ceed 89.0%
Closest pass rates among 2020 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 2020 SEAT Leon 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 23,698 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 9,355 | 39.20% | 19.76% | +19.44 |
| Suspension | 4,834 | 20.30% | 20.98% | −0.68 |
| Brakes | 4,665 | 19.60% | 20.89% | −1.29 |
| Non-component advisories | 1,530 | 6.40% | 4.18% | +2.22 |
| Visibility | 1,238 | 5.20% | 4.97% | +0.23 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,025 | 4.30% | 12.21% | −7.91 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 382 | 1.60% | 5.52% | −3.92 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 281 | 1.20% | 1.76% | −0.56 |
| Road Wheels | 233 | 1.00% | 0.75% | +0.25 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 155 | 0.60% | 0.82% | −0.22 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.4% | £45–95 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.3% | £25–65 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.1% | £45–95 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.1% | £80–200 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 0.98% | £30–75 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 0.80% | £18–45 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.79% | £45–95 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.73% | £8–22 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.69% | £3–12 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 0.59% | £8–22 |
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 | 12.7% | £45–95 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 12.5% | £30–75 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 11.3% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 9.0% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 3.9% | £45–110 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.4% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 12,128 | 91.7% | 20,908 mi |
| 30-60k | 12,630 | 87.4% | 41,443 mi |
| 60-90k | 2,463 | 84.6% | 71,389 mi |
| 90-120k | 587 | 83.5% | 101,722 mi |
| 120k+ | 343 | 84.0% | 154,069 mi |
Source: 28,154 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.
2020 Leon MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 SEAT Leon?
88.9% of the 28,154 2020 SEAT Leon tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 87.6%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 SEAT Leon?
The three most recorded items are has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.36%), coil spring fractured or broken (1.29%), tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (1.12%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2020 SEAT Leon MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 91.7% of the time, falling to 84.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 SEAT Leon in this dataset had covered 32,679 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2020 SEAT Leon?
Petrol: 89.4% pass rate across 23,680 tests. Diesel: 85.1% pass rate across 3,660 tests. Hybrid: 89.3% pass rate across 814 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2020 SEAT Leon MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 89.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 87.9%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.