2021 Volkswagen California Coast MOT pass rate

Pass rate

94.0%

Above average — 2.8 pts ahead of the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 417 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £37–£91

Which year to buy

  • Best 2022 94.6% pass
  • Avoid 2020 91.8% pass

Across the 3 years on record, a spread of 2.8 points. See every year →

First-attempt pass
93.7%
Typical mileage
24k mi

The 2021 Volkswagen California Coast MOT pass rate is 94.0% of its MOT tests — 2.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 42.3% of what testers record.

MOT PASS RATES

The 2021 Volkswagen California Coast on the real record

94.0% of 2021 Volkswagen California Coast MOTs passed — 417 tests, 2023–2025

Pass rate

The answer from the DVSA's class-4 MOT records.

Check your postcode

MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volkswagen California Coast does in your corner of the country.

How one model's pass rate varies by postcode →

Expert verdict

Tyres: 2.1× the national share

Tyres make up 42.3% of everything recorded on the 2021 Volkswagen California Coast, against 19.8% nationally — 22.5 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.

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 Volkswagen California Coast? Get an email when these numbers change .

How does the 2021 Volkswagen California Coast compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 2.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 93.7%. The median 2021 Volkswagen California Coast in this dataset had covered 23,783 mi.

Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 92.8% of the time, April–September 95.2%.

The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 1.68% of tests.

  • 417 recorded tests behind this page.
  • 94.0% overall pass rate, 93.7% on a first attempt.
  • Across every year of the Volkswagen California Coast, the average is 93.3% — best year 2022 (94.6%), worst 2020 (91.8%).

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
417
Typical mileage (median)
23,783 mi
Make and model
Volkswagen California Coast
Updated
2026-11-05

Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.

Top part to budget for

Windscreen

Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.

Does mileage affect the California Coast MOT pass rate?

0-30k 97.3%
30-60k 86.0%
60-90k 88.9%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 78% so small gaps stay visible.

Regional pass rates for the California Coast

Region Tests Pass rate
South East 97 90.7%
South West 71 95.8%
North West 53 92.5%
East of England 38 94.7%
Scotland 35 94.3%
Yorkshire 31 100.0%
Wales 31 90.3%
West Midlands 25 96.0%
East Midlands 18 100.0%

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 California Coast

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.

Tyres 42.3%
+22.5 pts vs national national 19.8% Compare tyre prices
Suspension 20.4%
−0.6 pts vs national national 21.0% Price suspension parts
Brakes 12.0%
−8.9 pts vs national national 20.9% Price brakes parts
Visibility 9.9%
+4.9 pts vs national national 5.0% Order bulbs & wipers
Show the other 6 fault categories
  • Lamps & electrics 3.5%
  • Identification 3.5%
  • Advisories 2.8%
  • Emissions & leaks 2.1%
  • Seat belts 2.1%
  • Body & chassis 0.7%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2021 Volkswagen California Coast tests — a composition, so they add to 100% across all sections, not per test.

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 California Coast

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.

  1. Check the windscreen 1.7% 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.

  2. Check the shock absorbers 1.2% of tests

    “shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak”

    Press down hard on each corner of the car and let go. It should settle in one bounce; if it keeps rocking, or you can see oil weeping down a shock absorber, that is the fault a tester will find.

  3. Check the wipers and washers 1.2% of tests

    “wipers blade defective”

    Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the 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 2021 California Coast through its MOT

Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £37–£91 — and 18% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 10 common items
£37–£91
Cheapest common item: wipers blade defective
£8–£22
Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
£80–£200
Common items a careful owner can do at home
80%
Repairs that still cost under £30
18%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 417 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 California Coast, side by side

3 model years on record, from 2020 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 91.8% to 94.6% — a spread of 2.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.

  1. 2020 91.8% shock absorbers has a serious…
  2. 2021 94.0%
    windscreen damaged but not…
  3. 2022 94.6% 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 2021 Volkswagen California Coast 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.

Compare 2021 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

Other 2021 motorhomes with a similar record

Closest pass rates among 2021 motorhomes with at least 150 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. Full rankings: best motorhomes and worst motorhomes for MOT pass rates.

The full DVSA record for the 2021 Volkswagen California Coast 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 141 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 60 42.30% 19.76% +22.54
Suspension 29 20.40% 20.98% −0.58
Brakes 17 12.00% 20.89% −8.89
Visibility 14 9.90% 4.97% +4.93
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 5 3.50% 12.21% −8.71
Identification of the vehicle 5 3.50% 1.76% +1.74
Non-component advisories 4 2.80% 4.18% −1.38
Noise, emissions and leaks 3 2.10% 5.52% −3.42
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems 3 2.10% 0.82% +1.28
Body, chassis, structure 1 0.70% 5.57% −4.87

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 417 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost Part
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility Minor 1.7% £80–200 Windscreen →
Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension Major 1.2% £30–75 Shock Absorber →
Wipers blade defective Visibility Minor 1.2% £8–22 Wiper Blade →
Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres Major 0.96% £45–95 Tyres →
Has ply or cords exposed Tyres Major 0.96% £45–95 Tyres →
Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Rectified 0.96% £30–80 Headlight Alignment →
Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension Major 0.72% £25–65 Coil Spring →
Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension Major 0.48% £18–45 Ball Joint →
Shock absorbers has negligible damping effect Suspension Major 0.48% £30–75 Shock Absorber →
Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility Rectified 0.48% £8–22 Wiper Blade →

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.

Items recorded as advisory on this vehicle
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Advisory 4.8% £45–95
Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres Advisory 3.8% £45–95
Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes Advisory 3.4% £18–45
Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension Advisory 2.4% £30–75
Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres Advisory 1.9% £45–95
Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Advisory 1.2% £40–150

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage Tests Pass rate Median odometer
0-30k 294 97.3% 18,965 mi
30-60k 114 86.0% 38,754 mi
60-90k 9 88.9% 68,790 mi

Source: 417 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 California Coast MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 Volkswagen California Coast?

94.0% of the 417 2021 Volkswagen California Coast tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 93.7%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 Volkswagen California Coast?

The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (1.68%), shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (1.20%), wipers blade defective (1.20%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2021 Volkswagen California Coast MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 97.3% of the time, falling to 88.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 Volkswagen California Coast in this dataset had covered 23,783 mi.

Does the season affect the 2021 Volkswagen California Coast MOT pass rate?

Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 92.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 95.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.