Pass rate
81.4%
Around average — 4.2 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 3,144 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £48–£121
2012 Suzuki Jimny MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 56,935 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
32.1% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£55 for Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded. What fitting it takes →
13.8 pts down across model years — 14.5% in 2000, 0.7% in 2019.
Which year to buy
- Best 2024 100.0% pass
- Avoid 2006 71.8% pass
Across the 22 years on record, a spread of 28.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 77.9%
- Typical mileage
- 57k mi
The 2012 Suzuki Jimny MOT pass rate is 81.4% of its MOT tests — 4.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 32.1% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.5× the national share
Brakes make up 32.1% of everything recorded on the 2012 Suzuki Jimny, against 20.9% nationally — 11.2 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- 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 81.4% — 4.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 25% 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 Suzuki Jimny? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 Suzuki Jimny compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 4.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 77.9%. The median 2012 Suzuki Jimny in this dataset had covered 56,935 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 81.3% of the time, April–September 81.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 4.45% of tests.
- 3,144 recorded tests behind this page.
- 81.4% overall pass rate, 77.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Suzuki Jimny, the average is 78.3% — best year 2024 (100.0%), worst 2006 (71.8%).
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
- 3,144
- Typical mileage (median)
- 56,935 mi
- Make and model
- Suzuki Jimny
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Coil Spring
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Jimny MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 64% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Suzuki Jimny is most common
Across all Jimny model years on record (2000–2024): 33,791 Suzuki Jimny cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 81,779 tests. Exeter (EX) has the most, with 1,164 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 | Exeter (EX) | 1,164 | 76.5% |
| 2 | Ashford (TN) | 829 | 79.4% |
| 3 | Sheffield (S) | 799 | 82.1% |
| 4 | Plymouth (PL) | 768 | 73.4% |
| 5 | Bradford (BD) | 695 | 80.1% |
| 6 | Portsmouth (PO) | 616 | 78.1% |
| 7 | Newton Abbot (TQ) | 613 | 73.9% |
| 8 | Gloucester (GL) | 571 | 76.8% |
| 9 | Wrexham (LL) | 561 | 76.4% |
| 10 | Shrewsbury (SY) | 546 | 77.8% |
| 11 | Norwich (NR) | 531 | 76.6% |
| 12 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 529 | 79.0% |
| 13 | Birmingham (B) | 512 | 82.6% |
| 14 | Cardiff (CF) | 506 | 74.7% |
| 15 | Swansea (SA) | 501 | 74.1% |
| 16 | Guildford (GU) | 496 | 79.7% |
| 17 | Yeovil (BA) | 492 | 75.3% |
| 18 | Peterborough (PE) | 488 | 79.4% |
| 19 | Bristol (BS) | 471 | 75.5% |
| 20 | Maidstone (ME) | 458 | 84.5% |
The twenty areas with the most Suzuki Jimny 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 Jimny
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 598 | 82.8% |
| South East | 512 | 85.7% |
| Scotland | 363 | 68.3% |
| Yorkshire | 310 | 82.6% |
| West Midlands | 292 | 84.6% |
| North West | 261 | 80.8% |
| Wales | 225 | 80.0% |
| East of England | 222 | 82.0% |
| East Midlands | 170 | 84.7% |
| North East | 153 | 79.1% |
| London | 35 | 97.1% |
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 Jimny
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 Jimny
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 4.5% 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 windscreen 2.4% 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 lights 2.0% 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 2012 Jimny through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £48–£121 — and 25% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £48–£121
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: chassis condition or chassis has excessive…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 25%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 3,144 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 Jimny, side by side
22 model years on record, from 2000 to 2024. Across them the pass rate runs from 71.8% to 100.0% — a spread of 28.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 72.9% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2001 72.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2002 73.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 73.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 72.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2005 72.7% chassis condition or chassis has…
- 2006 71.8% chassis condition or chassis has…
- 2007 72.8% chassis condition or chassis has…
- 2008 76.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2009 78.2% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2010 77.7% chassis condition or chassis has…
- 2011 79.7% service brake performance…
- 2012 81.4%coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 83.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 84.2% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2015 83.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2016 85.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 86.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2018 88.1% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2019 94.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 96.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2024 100.0% no single leading item
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 Suzuki Jimny 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
- Land Rover Freelander 81.4%
- Land Rover Defender 81.4%
- MINI COOPER Sd 81.5%
- SEAT Mii 81.6%
- Land Rover Discovery 81.2%
- Mercedes-Benz Slk 81.2%
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 Suzuki Jimny 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 4,598 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 | 1,486 | 32.10% | 20.89% | +11.21 |
| Suspension | 941 | 20.40% | 20.98% | −0.58 |
| Tyres | 630 | 13.60% | 19.76% | −6.16 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 397 | 8.60% | 5.57% | +3.03 |
| Non-component advisories | 350 | 7.60% | 4.18% | +3.42 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 311 | 6.70% | 12.21% | −5.51 |
| Visibility | 232 | 5.00% | 4.97% | +0.03 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 129 | 2.80% | 5.52% | −2.72 |
| Steering | 80 | 1.70% | 2.57% | −0.87 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 42 | 0.90% | 1.76% | −0.86 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 4.5% | £25–65 |
| Service brake performance efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 4.1% | £60–150 |
| Service brake imbalance across an axle Brakes | Major | 3.7% | £45–110 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.4% | £80–200 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.0% | £5–20 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 1.6% | £80–180 |
| Chassis condition or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of a body mounting Body, chassis, structure | Major | 1.4% | £180–450 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.4% | £5–25 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.3% | £8–22 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.2% | £5–25 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 13.1% | £80–180 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 10.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.1% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 6.9% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Fuel Pipe/s corroded Non-component advisories | Advisory | 6.5% | £180–450 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 3.9% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 448 | 89.5% | 21,295 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,239 | 84.3% | 45,675 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,020 | 78.1% | 73,299 mi |
| 90-120k | 348 | 73.0% | 101,445 mi |
| 120k+ | 86 | 72.1% | 135,349 mi |
Source: 3,144 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 Jimny MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Suzuki Jimny?
81.4% of the 3,144 2012 Suzuki Jimny tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 77.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Suzuki Jimny?
The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (4.45%), service brake performance efficiency below requirements (4.07%), service brake imbalance across an axle (3.66%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Suzuki Jimny MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 89.5% of the time, falling to 72.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Suzuki Jimny in this dataset had covered 56,935 mi.
Does the season affect the 2012 Suzuki Jimny MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 81.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 81.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.