Pass rate
84.1%
Around average — 6.9 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 63 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £38–£114
2012 Subaru Xv I MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 87,913 mi
Only 63 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.
Most common fault
Suspension
31.5% 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 →
Which year to buy
- Best 2019 96.7% pass
- Avoid 2012 84.1% pass · this year
Across the 5 years on record, a spread of 12.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 81.5%
- Typical mileage
- 88k mi
The 2012 Subaru Xv I MOT pass rate is 84.1% of its MOT tests — 6.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 31.5% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Subaru Xv I does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.5× the national share
Suspension accounts for 31.5% of everything recorded on the 2012 Subaru Xv I, against 21.0% nationally — 10.5 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.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 77.2% and this one manages 84.1% — 6.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 12% 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 Subaru Xv I? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 Subaru Xv I compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 6.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 81.5%. The median 2012 Subaru Xv I in this dataset had covered 87,913 mi.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 6.35% of tests.
- 63 recorded tests behind this page.
- 84.1% overall pass rate, 81.5% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Subaru Xv I, the average is 95.7% — best year 2019 (96.7%), worst 2012 (84.1%).
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
- 63
- Typical mileage (median)
- 87,913 mi
- Make and model
- Subaru Xv I
- 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 Xv I MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Xv I
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| West Midlands | 17 | 94.1% |
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 Xv I
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 Xv I
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 6.3% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely 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 4.8% of tests
“stop 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 battery 3.2% of tests
“battery(ies) insecure”
Check the battery is secure and its terminals are clean and tight — a loose battery is a fail on its own, and a weak one shows up as slow cranking on a cold morning.
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 Xv I through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £38–£114 — and 12% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £38–£114
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 12%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 63 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 Xv I, side by side
5 model years on record, from 2012 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 84.1% to 96.7% — a spread of 12.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2012 84.1%ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2019 96.7% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2020 95.7% wipers blade defective
- 2021 96.0% wipers blade defective
- 2022 96.5% 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 2012 Subaru Xv I 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 RAV4 84.1%
- Honda Cr-V 84.2%
- Jaguar Xj 84.2%
- MINI Countryman 84.2%
- Skoda Citigo 84.3%
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class 84.3%
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 Subaru Xv I 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 9 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 149 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 | 47 | 31.50% | 20.98% | +10.52 |
| Brakes | 29 | 19.50% | 20.89% | −1.39 |
| Tyres | 23 | 15.40% | 19.76% | −4.36 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 14 | 9.40% | 12.21% | −2.81 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 14 | 9.40% | 5.57% | +3.83 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 7 | 4.70% | 5.52% | −0.82 |
| Visibility | 6 | 4.00% | 4.97% | −0.97 |
| Steering | 6 | 4.00% | 2.57% | +1.43 |
| Non-component advisories | 3 | 2.00% | 4.18% | −2.18 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 6.3% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 4.8% | £80–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 4.8% | £80–250 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.8% | £40–150 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 4.8% | £3–12 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 3.2% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.2% | £18–45 |
| Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.2% | £60–140 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 3.2% | £18–45 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.2% | £45–120 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 19.1% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 17.5% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 15.9% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 11.1% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 9.5% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 9.5% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 4 | 75.0% | 23,253 mi |
| 30-60k | 13 | 84.6% | 40,370 mi |
| 60-90k | 16 | 87.5% | 80,083 mi |
| 90-120k | 28 | 82.1% | 105,604 mi |
| 120k+ | 2 | 100.0% | 124,587 mi |
Source: 63 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 Xv I MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Subaru Xv I?
84.1% of the 63 2012 Subaru Xv I tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 81.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Subaru Xv I?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (6.35%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (4.76%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (4.76%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Subaru Xv I MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 75.0% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Subaru Xv I in this dataset had covered 87,913 mi.