2011 Volkswagen Jetta MOT pass rate

Pass rate

76.7%

Around average — 0.8 pts ahead of the 75.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 3,374 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £37–£103

Most common fault

Suspension

34.3% 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 →

3.6 pts down across model years — 10.4% in 2006, 6.8% in 2017.

Every failure, with what it costs →

Which year to buy

  • Best 2017 82.4% pass
  • Avoid 2005 68.4% pass

Across the 14 years on record, a spread of 14 points. See every year →

First-attempt pass
70.4%
Typical mileage
109k mi

The 2011 Volkswagen Jetta MOT pass rate is 76.7% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 34.3% of what testers record.

MOT PASS RATES

The 2011 Volkswagen Jetta on the real record

76.7% of 2011 Volkswagen Jetta MOTs passed — 3,374 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 Jetta does in your corner of the country.

How one model's pass rate varies by postcode →

Expert verdict

Suspension: 1.6× the national share

Suspension accounts for 34.3% of everything recorded on the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta, against 21.0% nationally — 13.3 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.

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 Jetta? Get an email when these numbers change .

How does the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 75.9%, so this figure is 0.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 70.4%. The median 2011 Volkswagen Jetta in this dataset had covered 109,070 mi.

93% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 76.8% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 76.4% of the time, April–September 77.0%.

The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 5.45% of tests.

  • 3,374 recorded tests behind this page.
  • 76.7% overall pass rate, 70.4% on a first attempt.
  • Across every year of the Volkswagen Jetta, the average is 76.4% — best year 2017 (82.4%), worst 2005 (68.4%).

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
3,374
Typical mileage (median)
109,070 mi
Make and model
Volkswagen Jetta
Updated
2026-11-05

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 Jetta MOT pass rate?

0-30k 100.0%
30-60k 78.9%
60-90k 78.4%
90-120k 75.6%
120k+ 76.0%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.

Fuel type and reliability

Diesel 76.8%
Petrol 74.8%

Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (93% of tests).

Regional pass rates for the Jetta

Region Tests Pass rate
South East 558 77.2%
Yorkshire 462 79.7%
North West 392 80.6%
Scotland 364 70.1%
West Midlands 362 76.2%
East of England 350 78.0%
South West 289 76.5%
East Midlands 222 73.9%
North East 164 75.6%
Wales 161 73.9%
London 50 80.0%

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 2011 Jetta

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.

Suspension 34.3%
+13.3 pts vs national national 21.0% Price suspension parts
Brakes 19.5%
−1.4 pts vs national national 20.9% Price brakes parts
Tyres 19.0%
−0.8 pts vs national national 19.8% Compare tyre prices
Lamps & electrics 8.7%
−3.5 pts vs national national 12.2% Order bulbs & wipers
Show the other 6 fault categories
  • Body & chassis 4.5%
  • Visibility 4.3%
  • Emissions & leaks 3.0%
  • Advisories 2.5%
  • Identification 1.9%
  • Seat belts 1.0%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2011 Volkswagen Jetta 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 2011 Jetta

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 coil springs 5.5% 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.

  2. Check the suspension joints 4.1% of tests

    “pins and bushes pin or bush 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.

  3. Check the windscreen 3.3% 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 2011 Jetta through its MOT

Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £37–£103 — and 9% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 10 common items
£37–£103
Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
£5–£20
Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
£80–£250
Common items a careful owner can do at home
70%
Repairs that still cost under £30
9%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 3,374 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 Jetta, side by side

14 model years on record, from 2005 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 68.4% to 82.4% — a spread of 14 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.

  1. 2005 68.4% windscreen damaged but not…
  2. 2006 73.3% joints constant velocity boot…
  3. 2007 73.5% joints constant velocity boot…
  4. 2008 74.3% joints constant velocity boot…
  5. 2009 76.3% joints constant velocity boot…
  6. 2010 76.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
  7. 2011 76.7%
    coil spring fractured or broken
  8. 2012 76.9% coil spring fractured or broken
  9. 2013 76.9% coil spring fractured or broken
  10. 2014 78.3% coil spring fractured or broken
  11. 2015 80.2% pins and bushes pin or bush…
  12. 2016 81.7% coil spring fractured or broken
  13. 2017 82.4% pins and bushes pin or bush…
  14. 2018 82.4% pins and bushes pin or bush…

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 2011 Volkswagen Jetta 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 2011 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

Other 2011 cars with a similar record

Closest pass rates among 2011 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 2011 Volkswagen Jetta 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 6,079 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 2,113 34.30% 20.98% +13.32
Brakes 1,199 19.50% 20.89% −1.39
Tyres 1,171 19.00% 19.76% −0.76
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 533 8.70% 12.21% −3.51
Body, chassis, structure 277 4.50% 5.57% −1.07
Visibility 263 4.30% 4.97% −0.67
Noise, emissions and leaks 186 3.00% 5.52% −2.52
Non-component advisories 155 2.50% 4.18% −1.68
Identification of the vehicle 118 1.90% 1.76% +0.14
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems 64 1.00% 0.82% +0.18

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 3,374 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost Part
Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension Major 5.5% £25–65 Coil Spring →
Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Major 4.1% £40–150 Suspension Component →
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility Minor 3.3% £80–200 Windscreen →
Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension Major 3.1% £18–45 Ball Joint →
Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 2.5% £5–20 Number Plate Lamp →
Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure Minor 2.0% £80–250 Body Panel Repair →
Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension Minor 1.9% £18–45 Ball Joint →
Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension Major 1.7% £18–45 Ball Joint →
Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes Major 1.6% £45–110 Brake Discs and Pads Set →
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Major 1.4% £45–95 Tyres →

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 19.6% £45–95
Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Advisory 12.8% £40–150
Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes Advisory 11.9% £45–110
Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension Advisory 7.0% £25–65
Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres Advisory 6.1% £45–95
Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes Advisory 5.6% £18–45

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage Tests Pass rate Median odometer
0-30k 13 100.0% 26,124 mi
30-60k 227 78.9% 49,677 mi
60-90k 745 78.4% 76,605 mi
90-120k 1,013 75.6% 104,528 mi
120k+ 1,369 76.0% 156,794 mi

Source: 3,374 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.

2011 Jetta MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2011 Volkswagen Jetta?

76.7% of the 3,374 2011 Volkswagen Jetta tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 75.9% for cars first used in 2011. First-attempt pass rate: 70.4%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2011 Volkswagen Jetta?

The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (5.45%), pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn (4.09%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.32%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 76.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2011 Volkswagen Jetta in this dataset had covered 109,070 mi.

Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2011 Volkswagen Jetta?

Diesel: 76.8% pass rate across 3,152 tests. Petrol: 74.8% pass rate across 222 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.

Does the season affect the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta MOT pass rate?

Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 76.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 77.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.