Pass rate
85.9%
Above average — 1.9 pts ahead of the 84.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 43,501 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £38–£120
2016 Volkswagen Up MOT pass rate
- 2016
- 2 trims combined
- typical 40,180 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
30.5% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 95.8% pass
- Avoid 2012 83.8% pass
Across the 12 years on record, a spread of 12 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 83.8%
- Typical mileage
- 40k mi
The 2016 Volkswagen Up MOT pass rate is 85.9% of its MOT tests — 1.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 30.5% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volkswagen Up does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.5× the national share
Tyres make up 30.5% of everything recorded on the 2016 Volkswagen Up, against 19.8% nationally — 10.7 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 Up? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Volkswagen Up first registered in 2016 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2016 Volkswagen Up compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 84.0%, so this figure is 1.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 83.8%. The median 2016 Volkswagen Up in this dataset had covered 40,180 mi.
100% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 85.9% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 86.1% of the time, April–September 85.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn", noted on 1.92% of tests.
- 43,501 recorded tests behind this page.
- 85.9% overall pass rate, 83.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volkswagen Up, the average is 87.0% — best year 2023 (95.8%), worst 2012 (83.8%).
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
- 43,501
- Typical mileage (median)
- 40,180 mi
- Make and model
- Volkswagen Up
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Suspension Component
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Up MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 66% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (100% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Up
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 9,116 | 88.6% |
| South West | 5,249 | 85.3% |
| Scotland | 4,604 | 79.1% |
| North West | 4,471 | 85.5% |
| East of England | 4,248 | 88.2% |
| Yorkshire | 3,943 | 84.8% |
| West Midlands | 3,864 | 87.6% |
| East Midlands | 2,453 | 86.5% |
| Wales | 2,178 | 86.6% |
| North East | 2,095 | 83.7% |
| London | 1,270 | 88.0% |
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 2016 Up
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 2016 Up
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 suspension joints 1.9% 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 lights 1.6% of tests
“position lamp not working”
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 windscreen 1.4% 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.
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 2016 Up through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £38–£120 — and 40% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £38–£120
- Cheapest common item: wipers does not clear the windscreen…
- £8–£22
- Dearest common item: fuel cap/sealing device ineffective
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 40%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 43,501 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 Up, side by side
12 model years on record, from 2012 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 83.8% to 95.8% — a spread of 12 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2012 83.8% service brake performance…
- 2013 85.1% service brake performance…
- 2014 85.9% service brake performance…
- 2015 86.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 85.9%pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2017 88.3% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2018 90.1% wipers does not clear the…
- 2019 93.0% headlamp aim too low
- 2020 93.6% has a bulge, caused by separation…
- 2021 92.9% has a bulge, caused by separation…
- 2022 93.2% has a bulge, caused by separation…
- 2023 95.8% linkage ball joint dust cover…
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 2016 Volkswagen Up 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 2016 cars with a similar record
- Audi Q3 85.9%
- Jaguar Xe 85.9%
- BMW X3 85.9%
- MINI Clubman 85.9%
- Skoda Superb 86.0%
- Mitsubishi Outlander 85.8%
Closest pass rates among 2016 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 2016 Volkswagen Up 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 42,751 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 | 13,163 | 30.50% | 19.76% | +10.74 |
| Brakes | 10,073 | 23.30% | 20.89% | +2.41 |
| Suspension | 5,577 | 12.90% | 20.98% | −8.08 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 3,814 | 8.80% | 12.21% | −3.41 |
| Visibility | 2,672 | 6.20% | 4.97% | +1.23 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2,590 | 6.00% | 5.52% | +0.48 |
| Non-component advisories | 2,521 | 5.80% | 4.18% | +1.62 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1,354 | 3.10% | 5.57% | −2.47 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 680 | 1.60% | 1.76% | −0.16 |
| Road Wheels | 307 | 0.70% | 0.75% | −0.05 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.9% | £40–150 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.6% | £5–25 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.4% | £5–25 |
| Fuel cap/sealing device ineffective Body, chassis, structure | Major | 1.4% | £80–250 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.4% | £80–200 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.3% | £60–250 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.3% | £8–22 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 1.1% | £60–150 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.95% | £30–80 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.92% | £8–22 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 15.0% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 9.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.5% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 6.5% | £40–150 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 4.0% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 2.6% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 13,667 | 90.8% | 19,903 mi |
| 30-60k | 21,017 | 85.2% | 43,827 mi |
| 60-90k | 7,286 | 80.8% | 71,402 mi |
| 90-120k | 1,239 | 77.2% | 100,209 mi |
| 120k+ | 281 | 74.0% | 139,554 mi |
Source: 43,501 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.
2016 Up MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2016 Volkswagen Up?
85.9% of the 43,501 2016 Volkswagen Up tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 84.0% for cars first used in 2016. First-attempt pass rate: 83.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2016 Volkswagen Up?
The three most recorded items are pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn (1.92%), position lamp not working (1.62%), position lamp not working (1.45%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2016 Volkswagen Up MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 90.8% of the time, falling to 74.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2016 Volkswagen Up in this dataset had covered 40,180 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2016 Volkswagen Up?
Petrol: 85.9% pass rate across 43,446 tests. Electric: 90.9% pass rate across 55 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2016 Volkswagen Up MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 86.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 85.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.