Pass rate
75.2%
Around average — 2.7 pts ahead of the 72.5% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 113 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £76–£214
2006 Suzuki Vitara MOT pass rate
- 2006
- typical 99,760 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
33.9% 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 2023 96.5% pass
- Avoid 2002 67.9% pass
Across the 22 years on record, a spread of 28.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 69.9%
- Typical mileage
- 100k mi
The 2006 Suzuki Vitara MOT pass rate is 75.2% of its MOT tests — 2.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 33.9% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.6× the national share
Suspension accounts for 33.9% of everything recorded on the 2006 Suzuki Vitara, against 21.0% nationally — 12.9 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 19% 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.
- Based on a small sample. 113 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
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 Vitara? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2006 Suzuki Vitara compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.5%, so this figure is 2.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 69.9%. The median 2006 Suzuki Vitara in this dataset had covered 99,760 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 66% of tests, with a 74.7% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 74.3% of the time, April–September 76.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength", noted on 7.08% of tests.
- 113 recorded tests behind this page.
- 75.2% overall pass rate, 69.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Suzuki Vitara, the average is 90.9% — best year 2023 (96.5%), worst 2002 (67.9%).
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
- 113
- Typical mileage (median)
- 99,760 mi
- Make and model
- Suzuki Vitara
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Corrosion Welding Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Vitara MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 60% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (66% of tests).
Where the Suzuki Vitara is most common
Across all Vitara model years on record (2000–2023): 92,705 Suzuki Vitara cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 206,994 tests. Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) has the most, with 2,380 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 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 2,380 | 91.9% |
| 2 | Sheffield (S) | 2,270 | 92.5% |
| 3 | Glasgow (G) | 1,800 | 90.3% |
| 4 | Exeter (EX) | 1,779 | 92.0% |
| 5 | Peterborough (PE) | 1,736 | 92.6% |
| 6 | Birmingham (B) | 1,686 | 90.9% |
| 7 | Cardiff (CF) | 1,664 | 88.2% |
| 8 | Brighton (BN) | 1,590 | 90.8% |
| 9 | Newport (NP) | 1,578 | 91.4% |
| 10 | Bradford (BD) | 1,529 | 91.4% |
| 11 | Portsmouth (PO) | 1,466 | 89.9% |
| 12 | Aberdeen (AB) | 1,449 | 88.4% |
| 13 | Gloucester (GL) | 1,418 | 90.7% |
| 14 | Leeds (LS) | 1,417 | 89.6% |
| 15 | Nottingham (NG) | 1,390 | 90.9% |
| 16 | Southampton (SO) | 1,382 | 92.5% |
| 17 | Edinburgh (EH) | 1,339 | 88.7% |
| 18 | Doncaster (DN) | 1,266 | 91.6% |
| 19 | Northampton (NN) | 1,251 | 89.1% |
| 20 | Swansea (SA) | 1,239 | 88.6% |
The twenty areas with the most Suzuki Vitara 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 Vitara
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 29 | 65.5% |
| South East | 21 | 85.7% |
| Wales | 15 | 86.7% |
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 2006 Vitara
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 2006 Vitara
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 corrosion 7.1% of tests
“component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength”
Look under the sills, around the jacking points and where the suspension mounts meet the body. Flaking, holed or crumbly metal fails; a brown stain on sound metal does not.
-
Check the lights 5.3% 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 4.4% of tests
“ball joint excessively worn”
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 2006 Vitara through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £76–£214 — and 19% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £76–£214
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 30%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 19%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 113 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 Vitara, side by side
22 model years on record, from 2000 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 67.9% to 96.5% — a spread of 28.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 68.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2001 72.7% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2002 67.9% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 71.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 69.7% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 68.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 75.2%component mounting prescribed…
- 2007 70.4% component mounting prescribed…
- 2008 79.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 78.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 78.9% stop lamp not working
- 2011 74.0% position lamp not working
- 2012 83.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 87.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2016 88.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 89.6% tread depth below requirements of…
- 2018 90.9% tread depth below requirements of…
- 2019 93.2% wipers blade defective
- 2020 95.1% wipers blade defective
- 2021 96.0% wipers blade defective
- 2022 95.6% wipers blade defective
- 2023 96.5% headlamp aim too high
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 2006 Suzuki Vitara 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 2006 cars with a similar record
- Toyota Avensis 75.2%
- Jaguar S-Type 75.3%
- Volvo S60 75.3%
- Saab 9-5 75.1%
- BMW 118 75.4%
- Chrysler Jeep 300 75.0%
Closest pass rates among 2006 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 2006 Suzuki Vitara 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 270 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 | 92 | 33.90% | 20.98% | +12.92 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 37 | 13.70% | 5.57% | +8.13 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 35 | 12.90% | 12.21% | +0.69 |
| Tyres | 31 | 11.40% | 19.76% | −8.36 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 28 | 10.30% | 5.52% | +4.78 |
| Brakes | 27 | 10.00% | 20.89% | −10.89 |
| Non-component advisories | 8 | 3.00% | 4.18% | −1.18 |
| Visibility | 7 | 2.60% | 4.97% | −2.37 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3 | 1.10% | 1.76% | −0.66 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 2 | 0.70% | 0.82% | −0.12 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 7.1% | £180–450 |
| 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 | 5.3% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.4% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 4.4% | £80–250 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.5% | £40–150 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.6% | £60–250 |
| Chassis condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.6% | £180–450 |
| Exhaust system system insecure Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.6% | £45–120 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.6% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 18.6% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 15.9% | £40–150 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 15.0% | £180–450 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 11.5% | £80–180 |
| Suspension arm corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 11.5% | £35–85 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 10.6% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 3 | 100.0% | 53,458 mi |
| 60-90k | 36 | 83.3% | 78,157 mi |
| 90-120k | 52 | 71.2% | 102,297 mi |
| 120k+ | 22 | 68.2% | 139,274 mi |
Source: 113 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.
2006 Vitara MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2006 Suzuki Vitara?
75.2% of the 113 2006 Suzuki Vitara tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.5% for cars first used in 2006. First-attempt pass rate: 69.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2006 Suzuki Vitara?
The three most recorded items are component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (7.08%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (6.19%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (5.31%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2006 Suzuki Vitara MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 68.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2006 Suzuki Vitara in this dataset had covered 99,760 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2006 Suzuki Vitara?
Petrol: 74.7% pass rate across 75 tests. Diesel: 76.3% pass rate across 38 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2006 Suzuki Vitara MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 74.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 76.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.