Vauxhall Adam MOT pass rates & common failures

Every completed first-attempt MOT on a Vauxhall Adam in Great Britain in 2025 — 58,762 tests. Figures cover every Adam first-tested in 2025, all trims grouped. How the Adam ages, what it fails on, and what mileage is normal, computed directly from the official DVSA record of every test.

Pass rate 2025
65.7%
6.6 points below the class-4 average (72.3%); unadjusted for age — the age-matched comparison is below
Tests analysed
58,762
first tests, 2025
Arrived with a dangerous fault
6.6%
of Adam first tests; national 7.3%
Typical mileage at 10 years
58,750
middle half: 43,750–73,750 miles (2,500-mile-band midpoints)

How many Vauxhall Adam cars are still on the road?

At the end of 2025, DVLA's register held 56,689 Vauxhall Adam cars that were taxed or on SORN: 55,548 taxed and 1,141 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. Vauxhall Adam vans, where they exist, are counted by DVLA as goods vehicles and are not in these figures.

Still taxed, end of 2025
55,548
98.0% of the 56,689 Adam cars taxed or on SORN; 29 model variants grouped
On SORN, end of 2025
1,141
declared off the road by their keepers — 2.0% of that total

How the numbers are moving

The number of taxed Adam cars peaked at 58,171 at the end of 2019 and has since fallen by 2,623 (4.5%) to 55,548 at the end of 2025. Cars on SORN went from 53 at the end of 2014 to 1,141 at the end of 2025, up 2052.8%. 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 Adam cars, year by year

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

020k40k60k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)Taxed Adam cars, year 2014: 22kTaxed Adam cars, year 2015: 32kTaxed Adam cars, year 2016: 41kTaxed Adam cars, year 2017: 48kTaxed Adam cars, year 2018: 53kTaxed Adam cars, year 2019: 58kTaxed Adam cars, year 2020: 58kTaxed Adam cars, year 2021: 57kTaxed Adam cars, year 2022: 57kTaxed Adam cars, year 2023: 57kTaxed Adam cars, year 2024: 56kTaxed Adam cars, year 2025: 56k56k
View this chart as a table
YearTaxed Adam cars
201421,824
201532,060
201641,045
201748,375
201853,105
201958,171
202057,759
202157,345
202257,400
202356,952
202456,319
202555,548

Adam 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.

05001k2k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)Adam cars on SORN, year 2014: 53Adam cars on SORN, year 2015: 156Adam cars on SORN, year 2016: 232Adam cars on SORN, year 2017: 346Adam cars on SORN, year 2018: 506Adam cars on SORN, year 2019: 641Adam cars on SORN, year 2020: 430Adam cars on SORN, year 2021: 426Adam cars on SORN, year 2022: 492Adam cars on SORN, year 2023: 597Adam cars on SORN, year 2024: 880Adam cars on SORN, year 2025: 1k1k
View this chart as a table
YearAdam cars on SORN
201453
2015156
2016232
2017346
2018506
2019641
2020430
2021426
2022492
2023597
2024880
20251,141

Which model years survive

Taxed Adam cars at the end of 2025 by year of manufacture, and each year's share of the 55,548 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 Adam cars
20194,6348.3%
20185,2119.4%
20177,11712.8%
20168,95716.1%
201510,12918.2%
201412,44122.4%
20137,01712.6%
All other build years (one year, each under 1%)420.1%

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 ADAM 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 Adam ages

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

Vauxhall AdamAll cars
50%60%70%80%90%100%3579111315171920Vehicle age (years)Vauxhall Adam, vehicle age 6: 78%Vauxhall Adam, vehicle age 7: 71.5%Vauxhall Adam, vehicle age 8: 66.7%Vauxhall Adam, vehicle age 9: 65.3%Vauxhall Adam, vehicle age 10: 63.3%Vauxhall Adam, vehicle age 11: 61.9%Vauxhall Adam, vehicle age 12: 62.9%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%Vauxhall Adam 62.9%All cars 57.6%
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Adam testsAdam pass rateAll cars
64,83778.0%83.5%
75,46871.5%80.9%
87,53366.7%78.2%
99,43965.3%74.9%
1010,78863.3%71.9%
1113,19161.9%68.6%
127,46062.9%65.8%

Better or worse than the average car?

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

Adam behind
-12-6+0+6+12Age 6: -5.5 points vs the average carAge 7: -9.4 points vs the average car7Age 8: -11.5 points vs the average carAge 9: -9.6 points vs the average car9Age 10: -8.6 points vs the average carAge 11: -6.7 points vs the average car11Age 12: -2.9 points vs the average carVehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Gap (points)
6-5.5
7-9.4
8-11.5
9-9.6
10-8.6
11-6.7
12-2.9

The Adam fleet on the road, by age

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

05k10k15k20kAge 6: 4k6Age 7: 5kAge 8: 7k8Age 9: 9kAge 10: 10k10Age 11: 13kAge 12: 7k12Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)First tests
64,837
75,468
87,533
99,439
1010,788
1113,191
127,460

What an Adam fails on

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

Suspension30.3%
Steering17.0%
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment14.3%
Tyres11.5%
Brakes10.2%
Visibility7.3%
Noise, emissions and leaks4.6%
Body, chassis, structure3.7%

Share of all failure items, 2025 — the 8 biggest categories shown (99.1% of the items); smaller categories are not listed.

The advisories to watch

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

Tyres: 36.7% of advisories36.7%Suspension: 33.5% of advisories33.5%Brakes: 17.5% of advisories17.5%Non-component advisories: 4.3% of advisoriesNoise, emissions and leaks: 3.0% of advisoriesBody, chassis, structure: 2.5% of advisories
TyresSuspensionBrakesNon-component advisoriesNoise, emissions and leaksBody, chassis, structure
View this chart as a table
CategoryShare of advisories
Tyres36.7%
Suspension33.5%
Brakes17.5%
Non-component advisories4.3%
Noise, emissions and leaks3.0%
Body, chassis, structure2.5%

What mileage is normal for an Adam?

Mileage recorded at test by vehicle age, 2025. The line is the typical (median) Adam; 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 Adam (median)
0k25k50k75k100k681012Vehicle age (years)Age 6: typical 31,250 miles (middle half 21,250–41,250)Age 7: typical 38,750 miles (middle half 28,750–51,250)Age 8: typical 46,250 miles (middle half 36,250–61,250)Age 9: typical 51,250 miles (middle half 38,750–66,250)Age 10: typical 58,750 miles (middle half 43,750–73,750)Age 11: typical 66,250 miles (middle half 51,250–81,250)Age 12: typical 71,250 miles (middle half 53,750–88,750)71k mi

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

View this chart as a table
Age (years)Lower quarterTypical (median)Upper quarter
621,25031,25041,250
728,75038,75051,250
836,25046,25061,250
938,75051,25066,250
1043,75058,75073,750
1151,25066,25081,250
1253,75071,25088,750

What fails at each age

The Adam'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.

SuspensionSteeringTyresBrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentEverything else
View this chart as a table
Age bandCategoryShare of the band's failure items
6-9 yrsSuspension33.5%
6-9 yrsSteering20.1%
6-9 yrsTyres12.7%
6-9 yrsBrakes10.5%
6-9 yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment9.4%
6-9 yrsEverything else13.8%
10-13 yrsSuspension33.4%
10-13 yrsSteering17.6%
10-13 yrsTyres11.8%
10-13 yrsBrakes11.3%
10-13 yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment10.0%
10-13 yrsEverything else15.9%

More vehicles we've checked

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.