DS DS 3 MOT pass rates & common failures

Every completed first-attempt MOT on a DS DS 3 in Great Britain in 2025 — 33,317 tests. Figures cover every DS 3 first-tested in 2025, all trims grouped. How the DS 3 ages, what it fails on, and what mileage is normal, computed directly from the official DVSA record of every test.

Pass rate 2025
65.6%
6.7 points below the class-4 average (72.3%); unadjusted for age — the age-matched comparison is below
Tests analysed
33,317
first tests, 2025
Arrived with a dangerous fault
7.7%
of DS 3 first tests; national 7.3%
Typical mileage at 10 years
66,250
middle half: 51,250–81,250 miles (2,500-mile-band midpoints)

How many DS DS 3 cars are still on the road?

At the end of 2025, DVLA's register held 37,155 DS DS 3 cars that were taxed or on SORN: 36,306 taxed and 849 on SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification — kept, but declared off the road by the keeper). The MOT figures above count tests; these count cars, across the whole United Kingdom, cars only. DS DS 3 vans, where they exist, are counted by DVLA as goods vehicles and are not in these figures. DVLA's count for the DS 3 also includes the DS 3 Crossback, which the licensing data does not record under a name of its own, so it is wider than the MOT figures above.

Still taxed, end of 2025
36,306
97.7% of the 37,155 DS 3 cars taxed or on SORN; 101 model variants grouped
On SORN, end of 2025
849
declared off the road by their keepers — 2.3% of that total

How the numbers are moving

The number of taxed DS 3 cars peaked at 37,119 at the end of 2023 and has since fallen by 813 (2.2%) to 36,306 at the end of 2025. Cars on SORN went from 52 at the end of 2015 to 849 at the end of 2025, up 1532.7%. A car leaves the taxed count when it is scrapped, exported or declared off the road; the year-end counts do not say which.

Taxed DS 3 cars, year by year

Cars of this model taxed and on the road at the end of each year, 2014–2025.

010k20k30k40k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)Taxed DS 3 cars, year 2014: 0Taxed DS 3 cars, year 2015: 7kTaxed DS 3 cars, year 2016: 19kTaxed DS 3 cars, year 2017: 26kTaxed DS 3 cars, year 2018: 29kTaxed DS 3 cars, year 2019: 32kTaxed DS 3 cars, year 2020: 33kTaxed DS 3 cars, year 2021: 35kTaxed DS 3 cars, year 2022: 37kTaxed DS 3 cars, year 2023: 37kTaxed DS 3 cars, year 2024: 37kTaxed DS 3 cars, year 2025: 36k36k
View this chart as a table
YearTaxed DS 3 cars
20140
20157,081
201619,108
201725,984
201828,523
201931,862
202032,894
202135,040
202236,875
202337,119
202437,054
202536,306

DS 3 cars on SORN, year by year

Cars of this model declared off the road at the end of each year, 2014–2025. Its own scale — SORN counts are a fraction of the taxed count.

02004006008001k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)DS 3 cars on SORN, year 2014: 0DS 3 cars on SORN, year 2015: 52DS 3 cars on SORN, year 2016: 225DS 3 cars on SORN, year 2017: 369DS 3 cars on SORN, year 2018: 253DS 3 cars on SORN, year 2019: 189DS 3 cars on SORN, year 2020: 362DS 3 cars on SORN, year 2021: 229DS 3 cars on SORN, year 2022: 313DS 3 cars on SORN, year 2023: 378DS 3 cars on SORN, year 2024: 536DS 3 cars on SORN, year 2025: 849849
View this chart as a table
YearDS 3 cars on SORN
20140
201552
2016225
2017369
2018253
2019189
2020362
2021229
2022313
2023378
2024536
2025849

Which model years survive

Taxed DS 3 cars at the end of 2025 by year of manufacture, and each year's share of the 36,306 taxed in all. Every build year holding at least 1% has its own row; the rest share one. A build year's count depends on how many were sold that year as well as how many have lasted.

Year of manufacture Taxed, end of 2025Share of taxed DS 3 cars
20238112.2%
20221,7174.7%
20211,5814.4%
20201,6324.5%
20192,4616.8%
20183,2869.1%
20176,95519.2%
201611,22730.9%
20156,25717.2%
All other build years (two years, each under 1%)3791.0%

Population source: Department for Transport / DVLA vehicle licensing statistics, table VEH0124, updated 15 July 2026; counts of the cars on DVLA's register that were taxed or on SORN at the end of each year shown, United Kingdom, cars only, excluding cars recorded with no model name. SortedCars groups DVLA's model name DS3 under this model. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. SortedCars is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, DVLA or the Department for Transport.

How the DS 3 ages

First-time pass rate by vehicle age, DS 3 vs all cars, 2025.

DS DS 3All cars
50%60%70%80%90%100%3579111315171920Vehicle age (years)DS DS 3, vehicle age 4: 81.8%DS DS 3, vehicle age 5: 79.2%DS DS 3, vehicle age 6: 82%DS DS 3, vehicle age 7: 69.8%DS DS 3, vehicle age 8: 66.5%DS DS 3, vehicle age 9: 61.8%DS DS 3, vehicle age 10: 56.6%All cars, vehicle age 3: 88.5%All cars, vehicle age 4: 87.2%All cars, vehicle age 5: 86%All cars, vehicle age 6: 83.5%All cars, vehicle age 7: 80.9%All cars, vehicle age 8: 78.2%All cars, vehicle age 9: 74.9%All cars, vehicle age 10: 71.9%All cars, vehicle age 11: 68.6%All cars, vehicle age 12: 65.8%All cars, vehicle age 13: 63.5%All cars, vehicle age 14: 61.2%All cars, vehicle age 15: 59.3%All cars, vehicle age 16: 58.3%All cars, vehicle age 17: 57.2%All cars, vehicle age 18: 57.4%All cars, vehicle age 19: 57%All cars, vehicle age 20: 57.6%All cars 57.6%DS DS 3 56.6%
View this chart as a table
Age (years)DS 3 testsDS 3 pass rateAll cars
471481.8%87.2%
51,19579.2%86.0%
62,50982.0%83.5%
73,43369.8%80.9%
87,16366.5%78.2%
911,51361.8%74.9%
106,30756.6%71.9%

Better or worse than the average car?

The DS 3's pass rate minus the all-cars pass rate at each age, in percentage points. Bars above zero: the DS 3 beats the average car of that age. Below zero: it trails.

DS 3 behind
-16-8+0+8+16Age 4: -5.4 points vs the average carAge 5: -6.8 points vs the average car5Age 6: -1.5 points vs the average carAge 7: -11.1 points vs the average car7Age 8: -11.7 points vs the average carAge 9: -13.1 points vs the average car9Age 10: -15.3 points vs the average carVehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Gap (points)
4-5.4
5-6.8
6-1.5
7-11.1
8-11.7
9-13.1
10-15.3

The DS 3 fleet on the road, by age

How many took a first MOT in 2025 at each age — the shape of the DS 3 fleet still in use.

05k10k15k20kAge 4: 7144Age 5: 1kAge 6: 2k6Age 7: 3kAge 8: 7k8Age 9: 11kAge 10: 6k10Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)First tests
4714
51,195
62,509
73,433
87,163
911,513
106,307

What a DS 3 fails on

Where the failure items land when a DS 3 fails or needs a fix at test, 2025. Use it as a pre-purchase checklist: these are the areas to look at first.

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment23.3%
Suspension18.1%
Body, chassis, structure14.6%
Tyres13.3%
Brakes12.2%
Visibility8.4%
Noise, emissions and leaks5.0%
Steering3.8%

Share of all failure items, 2025 — the 8 biggest categories shown (98.7% of the items); smaller categories are not listed.

The advisories to watch

Where testers most often write "keep an eye on this" for a DS 3, 2025 — the faults in the post.

Tyres: 34.1% of advisories34.1%Brakes: 32.6% of advisories32.6%Suspension: 13.3% of advisories13.3%Body, chassis, structure: 7.2% of advisories7.2%Noise, emissions and leaks: 4.1% of advisoriesNon-component advisories: 3.9% of advisories
TyresBrakesSuspensionBody, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaksNon-component advisories
View this chart as a table
CategoryShare of advisories
Tyres34.1%
Brakes32.6%
Suspension13.3%
Body, chassis, structure7.2%
Noise, emissions and leaks4.1%
Non-component advisories3.9%

Petrol, diesel or hybrid DS 3?

First-time pass rate for the two most-tested DS 3 fuel types, 2025, against the all-cars average. Fleet ages differ by fuel — newer fleets help the electrified bars.

50%60%70%80%90%100%all cars 72.3%Petrol: 68.2% of 24,207 tests68.2%Petrol24,207 testsDiesel: 58.7% of 9,098 tests58.7%Diesel9,098 tests
View this chart as a table
FuelTestsPass rate
Petrol24,20768.2%
Diesel9,09858.7%

What mileage is normal for a DS 3?

Mileage recorded at test by vehicle age, 2025. The line is the typical (median) DS 3; the shaded band holds the middle half. A car far outside the band, in either direction, is worth questions the recorded history can answer.

Typical DS 3 (median)
0k25k50k75k100k46810Vehicle age (years)Age 4: typical 28,750 miles (middle half 21,250–36,250)Age 5: typical 33,750 miles (middle half 26,250–43,750)Age 6: typical 38,750 miles (middle half 28,750–48,750)Age 7: typical 43,750 miles (middle half 31,250–58,750)Age 8: typical 51,250 miles (middle half 36,250–63,750)Age 9: typical 58,750 miles (middle half 43,750–73,750)Age 10: typical 66,250 miles (middle half 51,250–81,250)66k mi

Mileage values are midpoints of 2,500-mile bands.

View this chart as a table
Age (years)Lower quarterTypical (median)Upper quarter
421,25028,75036,250
526,25033,75043,750
628,75038,75048,750
731,25043,75058,750
836,25051,25063,750
943,75058,75073,750
1051,25066,25081,250

What fails at each age

The DS 3's failure mix by age band, 2025 — each band's top categories at their true share of that band's failure items; the pale remainder is everything else. How the mix shifts with age is the point of the chart.

SuspensionTyresBrakesVisibilityLamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentBody, chassis, structureEverything else
View this chart as a table
Age bandCategoryShare of the band's failure items
3-5 yrsSuspension29.1%
3-5 yrsTyres19.1%
3-5 yrsBrakes18.7%
3-5 yrsVisibility18.4%
3-5 yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment8.5%
3-5 yrsEverything else6.2%
6-9 yrsSuspension19.6%
6-9 yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment16.2%
6-9 yrsTyres15.8%
6-9 yrsBody, chassis, structure15.5%
6-9 yrsBrakes13.9%
6-9 yrsEverything else19.0%
10-13 yrsSuspension23.0%
10-13 yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment18.3%
10-13 yrsBody, chassis, structure16.8%
10-13 yrsBrakes13.2%
10-13 yrsTyres11.8%
10-13 yrsEverything else16.9%
How these figures are computed. Every number on this page is calculated by SortedCars from the DVSA anonymised MOT results dataset (every MOT test in Great Britain — 2025 for single-year figures; trend figures state their span, currently 2023–2025). Where a figure comes from a sample or uses banded values (mileage is banded to 2,500 miles), the page says so beside the figure. Test class 4 only, first tests only — retests are excluded. Class 4 is the car MOT class and also covers car-derived vans, pickups and motorhomes tested to the same standard; where this page says "cars" it means class 4. Pass rate = passes ÷ (passes + failures + pass-after-rectification): a vehicle that failed and was fixed during the visit counts as a fail. Pass rates describe fleets, not individual machines: they reflect how cars were driven, maintained and used as well as how they were built, and beyond recorded mileage none of that is in the data. A well-kept example of a model with a weak average can still pass; a neglected example of a strong one can still fail. No figure is shown for any group with fewer than 500 tests. Alias spellings of a make in the DVSA file are counted under one make name, and all trims and variants of a model are grouped under one model name, using SortedCars' grouping tables. The taxed and SORN counts on this page are the one exception: they are not computed from MOT records but taken from the Department for Transport's vehicle licensing statistics (DfT/DVLA table VEH0124, updated 15 July 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0), which count the cars on DVLA's register that were taxed or on SORN at the end of each year shown, UK-wide, cars only. They describe a model as a whole, grouped under SortedCars' model names, and say nothing about any one car. “Dangerous” is DVSA's statutory defect category (in force since May 2018): a defect posing an immediate risk to road safety — driving the vehicle before repair is an offence. What these figures are for. These statistics are general information about groups of vehicles. They are not advice, a valuation or a recommendation to buy, avoid or price any particular vehicle, and no decision about one car should rest on them alone — check the car itself and its own records. We take care over the calculations, but we cannot guarantee they are complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for loss arising from reliance on them. This does not limit any liability that cannot lawfully be limited — see our Terms & Conditions. If you believe any figure on this page is inaccurate, contact us. SortedCars is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the DVSA or DVLA. DVSA publishes the raw test records; the statistics on this page are SortedCars' own calculations from them. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.