Pass rate
77.4%
Around average — 0.2 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 53,223 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £38–£109
2012 Volkswagen Passat MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 130,662 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
34.7% 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 →
7.1 pts down across model years — 7.7% in 2000, 0.6% in 2018.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 95.3% pass
- Avoid 2000 71.5% pass
Across the 24 years on record, a spread of 23.8 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 71.2%
- Typical mileage
- 131k mi
The 2012 Volkswagen Passat MOT pass rate is 77.4% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 34.7% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volkswagen Passat does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.7× the national share
Suspension accounts for 34.7% of everything recorded on the 2012 Volkswagen Passat, against 21.0% nationally — 13.7 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 24% 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 Volkswagen Passat? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 Volkswagen Passat compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 0.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 71.2%. The median 2012 Volkswagen Passat in this dataset had covered 130,662 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 98% of tests, with a 77.3% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 77.4% of the time, April–September 77.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 4.12% of tests.
- 53,223 recorded tests behind this page.
- 77.4% overall pass rate, 71.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volkswagen Passat, the average is 80.2% — best year 2023 (95.3%), worst 2000 (71.5%).
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
- 53,223
- Typical mileage (median)
- 130,662 mi
- Make and model
- Volkswagen Passat
- 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 Passat MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 68% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (98% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Passat
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 8,576 | 77.6% |
| South West | 6,951 | 73.0% |
| North West | 6,190 | 78.6% |
| West Midlands | 5,959 | 79.7% |
| Yorkshire | 5,857 | 79.0% |
| East of England | 5,640 | 79.7% |
| East Midlands | 4,290 | 78.6% |
| Scotland | 4,047 | 72.3% |
| Wales | 2,831 | 74.5% |
| North East | 2,222 | 77.8% |
| London | 660 | 86.1% |
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 Passat
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 Passat
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 4.1% 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 suspension joints 4.0% 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.
-
Check the windscreen 3.9% 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 2012 Passat through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £38–£109 — and 24% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £38–£109
- Cheapest common item: srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp…
- £3–£12
- 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
- 24%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 53,223 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 Passat, side by side
24 model years on record, from 2000 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 71.5% to 95.3% — a spread of 23.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 71.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2001 72.8% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2002 73.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 73.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 74.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 74.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 72.4% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 73.7% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2008 74.7% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 75.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 75.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 76.8% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2012 77.4%coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 78.7% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2014 80.0% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2015 84.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 85.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 86.9% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2018 88.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 89.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 90.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 90.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2022 90.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2023 95.3% 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 Volkswagen Passat 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
- Fiat Panda 77.4%
- Ford Ka 77.5%
- Ford B-Max 77.6%
- SEAT Altea 77.6%
- SEAT Exeo 77.6%
- Vauxhall Insignia 77.2%
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 Volkswagen Passat 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 104,802 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 | 36,939 | 34.70% | 20.98% | +13.72 |
| Tyres | 22,445 | 21.10% | 19.76% | +1.34 |
| Brakes | 17,778 | 16.70% | 20.89% | −4.19 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 8,916 | 8.40% | 12.21% | −3.81 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 4,248 | 4.00% | 5.57% | −1.57 |
| Visibility | 3,761 | 3.50% | 4.97% | −1.47 |
| Non-component advisories | 3,134 | 2.90% | 4.18% | −1.28 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2,797 | 2.60% | 1.76% | +0.84 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2,674 | 2.50% | 5.52% | −3.02 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 2,110 | 2.00% | 0.82% | +1.18 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 4.1% | £25–65 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.0% | £40–150 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.9% | £80–200 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.1% | £80–250 |
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 2.8% | £3–12 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.2% | £5–25 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 2.0% | £45–95 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.0% | £18–45 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.8% | £45–95 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.6% | £3–12 |
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 | 23.9% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 20.6% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 12.8% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 9.2% | £18–45 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 6.3% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 6.2% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 119 | 85.7% | 22,343 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,578 | 83.7% | 49,858 mi |
| 60-90k | 6,606 | 80.5% | 77,850 mi |
| 90-120k | 12,883 | 77.4% | 105,999 mi |
| 120k+ | 31,875 | 76.3% | 164,370 mi |
Source: 53,223 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 Passat MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Volkswagen Passat?
77.4% of the 53,223 2012 Volkswagen Passat tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 71.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Volkswagen Passat?
The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (4.12%), pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn (3.95%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.92%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Volkswagen Passat MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 85.7% of the time, falling to 76.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Volkswagen Passat in this dataset had covered 130,662 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2012 Volkswagen Passat?
Diesel: 77.3% pass rate across 52,149 tests. Petrol: 81.9% pass rate across 1,074 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2012 Volkswagen Passat MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 77.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 77.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.