Vauxhall Combo Life MOT pass rates & common failures

Every completed first-attempt MOT on a Vauxhall Combo Life in Great Britain in 2025 — 5,518 tests. Figures cover every Combo Life first-tested in 2025, all trims grouped. How the Combo Life ages, what it fails on, and what mileage is normal, computed directly from the official DVSA record of every test.

Pass rate 2025
80.2%
7.9 points above the class-4 average (72.3%); unadjusted for age — the age-matched comparison is below
Tests analysed
5,518
first tests, 2025
Arrived with a dangerous fault
5.1%
of Combo Life first tests; national 7.3%

How the Combo Life ages

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

Vauxhall Combo LifeAll cars
50%60%70%80%90%100%3579111315171920Vehicle age (years)Vauxhall Combo Life, vehicle age 3: 77.4%Vauxhall Combo Life, vehicle age 4: 81.4%Vauxhall Combo Life, vehicle age 5: 81%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 Combo Life 81%All cars 57.6%
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Combo Life testsCombo Life pass rateAll cars
31,12477.4%88.5%
42,08981.4%87.2%
51,95681.0%86.0%

Better or worse than the average car?

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

Combo Life behind
-12-6+0+6+12Age 3: -11.1 points vs the average car3Age 4: -5.8 points vs the average carAge 5: -5.0 points vs the average car5Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Gap (points)
3-11.1
4-5.8
5-5.0

The Combo Life fleet on the road, by age

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

07501k2k3kAge 3: 1k3Age 4: 2kAge 5: 1k5Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)First tests
31,124
42,089
51,956

What a Combo Life fails on

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

Visibility27.2%
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment26.1%
Tyres23.4%
Brakes11.0%
Body, chassis, structure3.1%
Noise, emissions and leaks2.8%
Suspension2.6%
Steering1.7%

Share of all failure items, 2025 — the 8 biggest categories shown (97.9% of the items); smaller categories are not listed.

The advisories to watch

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

Tyres: 51.0% of advisories51.0%Brakes: 29.6% of advisories29.6%Non-component advisories: 12.4% of advisories12.4%Suspension: 2.8% of advisoriesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment: 1.6% of advisoriesNoise, emissions and leaks: 0.7% of advisories
TyresBrakesNon-component advisoriesSuspensionLamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentNoise, emissions and leaks
View this chart as a table
CategoryShare of advisories
Tyres51.0%
Brakes29.6%
Non-component advisories12.4%
Suspension2.8%
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment1.6%
Noise, emissions and leaks0.7%

Petrol, diesel or hybrid Combo Life?

First-time pass rate for the two most-tested Combo Life 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%Diesel: 78.5% of 3,592 tests78.5%Diesel3,592 testsPetrol: 83.3% of 1,900 tests83.3%Petrol1,900 tests
View this chart as a table
FuelTestsPass rate
Diesel3,59278.5%
Petrol1,90083.3%

What mileage is normal for a Combo Life?

Mileage recorded at test by vehicle age, 2025. The line is the typical (median) Combo Life; 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 Combo Life (median)
0k25k50k35Vehicle age (years)Age 3: typical 21,250 miles (middle half 13,750–31,250)Age 4: typical 28,750 miles (middle half 18,750–41,250)Age 5: typical 33,750 miles (middle half 21,250–48,750)33k mi

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

View this chart as a table
Age (years)Lower quarterTypical (median)Upper quarter
313,75021,25031,250
418,75028,75041,250
521,25033,75048,750

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. “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.