Volvo C30 MOT pass rates & common failures

Every completed first-attempt MOT on a Volvo C30 in Great Britain in 2025 — 20,617 tests. Figures cover every C30 first-tested in 2025, all trims grouped. How the C30 ages, what it fails on, and what mileage is normal, computed directly from the official DVSA record of every test.

Pass rate 2025
58.4%
13.9 points below the class-4 average (72.3%); unadjusted for age — the age-matched comparison is below
Tests analysed
20,617
first tests, 2025
Arrived with a dangerous fault
12.3%
of C30 first tests; national 7.3%

How many Volvo C30 cars are still on the road?

At the end of 2025, DVLA's register held 21,468 Volvo C30 cars that were taxed or on SORN: 19,325 taxed and 2,143 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. Volvo C30 vans, where they exist, are counted by DVLA as goods vehicles and are not in these figures.

Still taxed, end of 2025
19,325
90.0% of the 21,468 C30 cars taxed or on SORN; 94 model variants grouped
On SORN, end of 2025
2,143
declared off the road by their keepers — 10.0% of that total

How the numbers are moving

The number of taxed C30 cars peaked at 29,925 at the end of 2014 and has since fallen by 10,600 (35.4%) to 19,325 at the end of 2025. Cars on SORN went from 131 at the end of 2014 to 2,143 at the end of 2025, up 1535.9%. 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 C30 cars, year by year

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

010k20k30k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)Taxed C30 cars, year 2014: 30kTaxed C30 cars, year 2015: 30kTaxed C30 cars, year 2016: 29kTaxed C30 cars, year 2017: 29kTaxed C30 cars, year 2018: 28kTaxed C30 cars, year 2019: 27kTaxed C30 cars, year 2020: 27kTaxed C30 cars, year 2021: 26kTaxed C30 cars, year 2022: 25kTaxed C30 cars, year 2023: 23kTaxed C30 cars, year 2024: 21kTaxed C30 cars, year 2025: 19k19k
View this chart as a table
YearTaxed C30 cars
201429,925
201529,565
201629,304
201728,912
201828,200
201927,493
202026,652
202125,792
202224,579
202323,108
202421,335
202519,325

C30 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.

05001k2k2k2k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)C30 cars on SORN, year 2014: 131C30 cars on SORN, year 2015: 202C30 cars on SORN, year 2016: 271C30 cars on SORN, year 2017: 382C30 cars on SORN, year 2018: 550C30 cars on SORN, year 2019: 707C30 cars on SORN, year 2020: 926C30 cars on SORN, year 2021: 1kC30 cars on SORN, year 2022: 1kC30 cars on SORN, year 2023: 2kC30 cars on SORN, year 2024: 2kC30 cars on SORN, year 2025: 2k2k
View this chart as a table
YearC30 cars on SORN
2014131
2015202
2016271
2017382
2018550
2019707
2020926
20211,071
20221,216
20231,507
20241,788
20252,143

Which model years survive

Taxed C30 cars at the end of 2025 by year of manufacture, and each year's share of the 19,325 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 C30 cars
20139404.9%
20122,72114.1%
20112,85114.8%
20104,29522.2%
20094,30422.3%
20082,40012.4%
20071,7258.9%
All other build years (three years, each under 1%)890.5%

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 C30 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 C30 ages

First-time pass rate by vehicle age, C30 vs all cars, 2025.

Volvo C30All cars
50%60%70%80%90%100%3579111315171920Vehicle age (years)Volvo C30, vehicle age 12: 63.7%Volvo C30, vehicle age 13: 61.7%Volvo C30, vehicle age 14: 60%Volvo C30, vehicle age 15: 58.6%Volvo C30, vehicle age 16: 57.2%Volvo C30, vehicle age 17: 54.1%Volvo C30, vehicle age 18: 56.2%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%Volvo C30 56.2%
View this chart as a table
Age (years)C30 testsC30 pass rateAll cars
1296163.7%65.8%
132,79761.7%63.5%
142,98560.0%61.2%
154,57558.6%59.3%
164,63857.2%58.3%
172,63254.1%57.2%
181,93256.2%57.4%

Better or worse than the average car?

The C30's pass rate minus the all-cars pass rate at each age, in percentage points. Bars above zero: the C30 beats the average car of that age. Below zero: it trails.

C30 behind
-4-2+0+2+4Age 12: -2.1 points vs the average carAge 13: -1.8 points vs the average car13Age 14: -1.2 points vs the average carAge 15: -0.7 points vs the average car15Age 16: -1.1 points vs the average carAge 17: -3.1 points vs the average car17Age 18: -1.2 points vs the average carVehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Gap (points)
12-2.1
13-1.8
14-1.2
15-0.7
16-1.1
17-3.1
18-1.2

The C30 fleet on the road, by age

How many took a first MOT in 2025 at each age — the shape of the C30 fleet still in use.

01k2k3k5kAge 12: 96112Age 13: 2kAge 14: 2k14Age 15: 4kAge 16: 4k16Age 17: 2kAge 18: 1k18Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)First tests
12961
132,797
142,985
154,575
164,638
172,632
181,932

What a C30 fails on

Where the failure items land when a C30 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 equipment28.3%
Suspension22.8%
Brakes12.8%
Tyres11.6%
Body, chassis, structure7.7%
Visibility6.0%
Noise, emissions and leaks4.8%
Steering3.8%

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 C30, 2025 — the faults in the post.

Suspension: 29.8% of advisories29.8%Tyres: 27.4% of advisories27.4%Brakes: 21.5% of advisories21.5%Noise, emissions and leaks: 5.1% of advisoriesBody, chassis, structure: 4.6% of advisoriesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment: 3.5% of advisories
SuspensionTyresBrakesNoise, emissions and leaksBody, chassis, structureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
View this chart as a table
CategoryShare of advisories
Suspension29.8%
Tyres27.4%
Brakes21.5%
Noise, emissions and leaks5.1%
Body, chassis, structure4.6%
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment3.5%

Petrol, diesel or hybrid C30?

First-time pass rate for the two most-tested C30 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: 57.4% of 11,897 tests57.4%Diesel11,897 testsPetrol: 59.6% of 8,719 tests59.6%Petrol8,719 tests
View this chart as a table
FuelTestsPass rate
Diesel11,89757.4%
Petrol8,71959.6%

What mileage is normal for a C30?

Mileage recorded at test by vehicle age, 2025. The line is the typical (median) C30; 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 C30 (median)
0k25k50k75k100k125k150k12141618Vehicle age (years)Age 12: typical 86,250 miles (middle half 63,750–108,750)Age 13: typical 91,250 miles (middle half 68,750–116,250)Age 14: typical 106,250 miles (middle half 81,250–128,750)Age 15: typical 108,750 miles (middle half 83,750–131,250)Age 16: typical 106,250 miles (middle half 81,250–131,250)Age 17: typical 113,750 miles (middle half 88,750–136,250)Age 18: typical 106,250 miles (middle half 81,250–133,750)106k mi

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

View this chart as a table
Age (years)Lower quarterTypical (median)Upper quarter
1263,75086,250108,750
1368,75091,250116,250
1481,250106,250128,750
1583,750108,750131,250
1681,250106,250131,250
1788,750113,750136,250
1881,250106,250133,750

What fails at each age

The C30'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.

SuspensionLamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentBrakesTyresBody, chassis, structureEverything else
View this chart as a table
Age bandCategoryShare of the band's failure items
10-13 yrsSuspension24.9%
10-13 yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment23.7%
10-13 yrsBrakes14.7%
10-13 yrsTyres14.7%
10-13 yrsBody, chassis, structure9.9%
10-13 yrsEverything else12.1%
14+ yrsSuspension25.1%
14+ yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment23.3%
14+ yrsBrakes13.8%
14+ yrsTyres12.3%
14+ yrsBody, chassis, structure8.0%
14+ yrsEverything else17.5%

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.