Pass rate
72.7%
Below average — 0.2 pts ahead of the 72.5% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 4,357 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £22–£69
2006 Volvo XC70 MOT pass rate
- 2006
- typical 148,850 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
28.4% 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 →
13.5 pts down across model years — 16.4% in 2003, 2.9% in 2016.
Which year to buy
- Best 2015 84.9% pass
- Avoid 2003 70.3% pass
Across the 16 years on record, a spread of 14.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 64.4%
- Typical mileage
- 149k mi
The 2006 Volvo XC70 MOT pass rate is 72.7% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 28.4% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volvo XC70 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.4× the national share
Suspension accounts for 28.4% of everything recorded on the 2006 Volvo Xc70, against 21.0% nationally — 7.4 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 Volvo XC70? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2006 Volvo XC70 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.5%, 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 64.4%. The median 2006 Volvo XC70 in this dataset had covered 148,850 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 91% of tests, with a 72.4% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 72.3% of the time, April–September 73.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp lens slightly defective", noted on 7.69% of tests.
- 4,357 recorded tests behind this page.
- 72.7% overall pass rate, 64.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volvo XC70, the average is 79.1% — best year 2015 (84.9%), worst 2003 (70.3%).
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
- 4,357
- Typical mileage (median)
- 148,850 mi
- Make and model
- Volvo XC70
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Headlight Bulb
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the XC70 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 63% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (91% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the XC70
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 721 | 75.2% |
| South West | 699 | 71.1% |
| Scotland | 498 | 68.7% |
| East of England | 459 | 71.0% |
| Yorkshire | 443 | 74.7% |
| North West | 396 | 73.5% |
| West Midlands | 321 | 71.0% |
| Wales | 253 | 70.4% |
| North East | 244 | 77.9% |
| East Midlands | 243 | 74.1% |
| London | 80 | 76.3% |
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 XC70
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 XC70
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 lights 7.7% of tests
“headlamp lens slightly defective”
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 3.9% 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 windscreen 2.7% 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.
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 XC70 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £22–£69 — and 52% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £22–£69
- 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
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 52%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 4,357 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 XC70, side by side
16 model years on record, from 2002 to 2017. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.3% to 84.9% — a spread of 14.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2002 74.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 70.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 71.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 72.2% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2006 72.7%headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2007 74.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 79.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 80.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 80.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 80.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 80.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 82.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 83.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2015 84.9% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2016 84.1% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 83.9% linkage ball joints ball joint…
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 Volvo XC70 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
- Honda Jazz 72.8%
- Toyota Rav-4 72.8%
- Suzuki Ignis 72.8%
- Smart Mcc City 72.8%
- Ford Fusion 72.6%
- Honda Cr-V 72.5%
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 Volvo XC70 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 12,531 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 | 3,594 | 28.40% | 20.98% | +7.42 |
| Brakes | 2,435 | 19.20% | 20.89% | −1.69 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 2,422 | 19.10% | 12.21% | +6.89 |
| Tyres | 1,342 | 10.60% | 19.76% | −9.16 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 612 | 4.80% | 5.57% | −0.77 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 583 | 4.60% | 5.52% | −0.92 |
| Steering | 499 | 3.90% | 2.57% | +1.33 |
| Non-component advisories | 485 | 3.80% | 4.18% | −0.38 |
| Visibility | 328 | 2.60% | 4.97% | −2.37 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 231 | 1.80% | 1.76% | +0.04 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 7.7% | £5–25 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.3% | £5–20 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.5% | £30–80 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.6% | £5–25 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.9% | £40–150 |
| Position lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.3% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.9% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.7% | £80–200 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 2.5% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 2.3% | £80–250 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 28.1% | £40–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 17.8% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 13.8% | £45–110 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 10.4% | £200–700 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 10.1% | £30–75 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 10.0% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1 | 100.0% | 17,588 mi |
| 30-60k | 60 | 81.7% | 49,321 mi |
| 60-90k | 269 | 81.8% | 77,342 mi |
| 90-120k | 653 | 76.4% | 107,145 mi |
| 120k+ | 3,369 | 71.1% | 167,026 mi |
Source: 4,357 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 XC70 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2006 Volvo XC70?
72.7% of the 4,357 2006 Volvo XC70 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.5% for cars first used in 2006. First-attempt pass rate: 64.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2006 Volvo XC70?
The three most recorded items are headlamp lens slightly defective (7.69%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (6.29%), headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (5.55%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2006 Volvo XC70 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 71.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2006 Volvo XC70 in this dataset had covered 148,850 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2006 Volvo XC70?
Diesel: 72.4% pass rate across 3,952 tests. Petrol: 75.6% pass rate across 398 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2006 Volvo XC70 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 72.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 73.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.