Volvo S90 MOT pass rates & common failures

Every completed first-attempt MOT on a Volvo S90 in Great Britain in 2025 — 7,814 tests. Figures cover every S90 first-tested in 2025, all trims grouped. How the S90 ages, what it fails on, and what mileage is normal, computed directly from the official DVSA record of every test.

Pass rate 2025
86.8%
14.5 points above the class-4 average (72.3%); unadjusted for age — the age-matched comparison is below
Tests analysed
7,814
first tests, 2025
Arrived with a dangerous fault
6.5%
of S90 first tests; national 7.3%

How many Volvo S90 cars are still on the road?

At the end of 2025, DVLA's register held 7,742 Volvo S90 cars that were taxed or on SORN: 7,535 taxed and 207 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 S90 vans, where they exist, are counted by DVLA as goods vehicles and are not in these figures.

Still taxed, end of 2025
7,535
97.3% of the 7,742 S90 cars taxed or on SORN; 56 model variants grouped
On SORN, end of 2025
207
declared off the road by their keepers — 2.7% of that total

How the numbers are moving

The number of taxed S90 cars peaked at 7,701 at the end of 2024 and has since fallen by 166 (2.2%) to 7,535 at the end of 2025. Cars on SORN went from 32 at the end of 2014 to 207 at the end of 2025, up 546.9%. 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 S90 cars, year by year

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

02k4k6k8k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)Taxed S90 cars, year 2014: 186Taxed S90 cars, year 2015: 174Taxed S90 cars, year 2016: 453Taxed S90 cars, year 2017: 2kTaxed S90 cars, year 2018: 5kTaxed S90 cars, year 2019: 6kTaxed S90 cars, year 2020: 7kTaxed S90 cars, year 2021: 7kTaxed S90 cars, year 2022: 8kTaxed S90 cars, year 2023: 8kTaxed S90 cars, year 2024: 8kTaxed S90 cars, year 2025: 8k8k
View this chart as a table
YearTaxed S90 cars
2014186
2015174
2016453
20171,737
20184,508
20196,456
20207,195
20217,350
20227,645
20237,698
20247,701
20257,535

S90 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.

0501001502002502014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)S90 cars on SORN, year 2014: 32S90 cars on SORN, year 2015: 35S90 cars on SORN, year 2016: 39S90 cars on SORN, year 2017: 116S90 cars on SORN, year 2018: 79S90 cars on SORN, year 2019: 108S90 cars on SORN, year 2020: 122S90 cars on SORN, year 2021: 96S90 cars on SORN, year 2022: 120S90 cars on SORN, year 2023: 175S90 cars on SORN, year 2024: 160S90 cars on SORN, year 2025: 207207
View this chart as a table
YearS90 cars on SORN
201432
201535
201639
2017116
201879
2019108
2020122
202196
2022120
2023175
2024160
2025207

Which model years survive

Taxed S90 cars at the end of 2025 by year of manufacture, and each year's share of the 7,535 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 S90 cars
20231502.0%
20222363.1%
20212082.8%
202094412.5%
20191,98426.3%
20182,35431.2%
20171,31917.5%
20162723.6%
All other build years (five years, each under 1%)680.9%

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 S90 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 S90 ages

First-time pass rate by vehicle age, S90 vs all cars, 2025.

Volvo S90All cars
50%60%70%80%90%100%3579111315171920Vehicle age (years)Volvo S90, vehicle age 5: 88.4%Volvo S90, vehicle age 6: 87.9%Volvo S90, vehicle age 7: 87.6%Volvo S90, vehicle age 8: 83.3%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%Volvo S90 83.3%All cars 57.6%
View this chart as a table
Age (years)S90 testsS90 pass rateAll cars
51,00688.4%86.0%
62,09487.9%83.5%
72,46087.6%80.9%
81,38083.3%78.2%

Better or worse than the average car?

The S90's pass rate minus the all-cars pass rate at each age, in percentage points. Bars above zero: the S90 beats the average car of that age. Below zero: it trails.

S90 ahead
-8-4+0+4+8Age 5: +2.4 points vs the average car5Age 6: +4.4 points vs the average carAge 7: +6.7 points vs the average car7Age 8: +5.1 points vs the average carVehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Gap (points)
5+2.4
6+4.4
7+6.7
8+5.1

The S90 fleet on the road, by age

How many took a first MOT in 2025 at each age — the shape of the S90 fleet still in use.

07501k2k3kAge 5: 1k5Age 6: 2kAge 7: 2k7Age 8: 1k8Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)First tests
51,006
62,094
72,460
81,380

What an S90 fails on

Where the failure items land when an S90 fails or needs a fix at test, 2025. Use it as a pre-purchase checklist: these are the areas to look at first.

Tyres34.3%
Brakes26.0%
Suspension11.0%
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment7.9%
Steering6.0%
Visibility5.0%
Body, chassis, structure3.8%
Noise, emissions and leaks3.1%

Share of all failure items, 2025 — the 8 biggest categories shown (97.2% of the items); smaller categories are not listed.

The advisories to watch

Where testers most often write "keep an eye on this" for a S90, 2025 — the faults in the post.

Tyres: 44.2% of advisories44.2%Brakes: 32.6% of advisories32.6%Suspension: 9.1% of advisories9.1%Non-component advisories: 6.3% of advisoriesSteering: 2.6% of advisoriesNoise, emissions and leaks: 2.5% of advisories
TyresBrakesSuspensionNon-component advisoriesSteeringNoise, emissions and leaks
View this chart as a table
CategoryShare of advisories
Tyres44.2%
Brakes32.6%
Suspension9.1%
Non-component advisories6.3%
Steering2.6%
Noise, emissions and leaks2.5%

Petrol, diesel or hybrid S90?

First-time pass rate for the three most-tested S90 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: 86.0% of 5,447 tests86.0%Diesel5,447 testsPetrol: 88.2% of 1,573 tests88.2%Petrol1,573 testsHybrid electric: 89.6% of 792 tests89.6%Hybrid792 tests
View this chart as a table
FuelTestsPass rate
Diesel5,44786.0%
Petrol1,57388.2%
Hybrid electric79289.6%

What mileage is normal for an S90?

Mileage recorded at test by vehicle age, 2025. The line is the typical (median) S90; 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 S90 (median)
0k25k50k75k100k125k578Vehicle age (years)Age 5: typical 43,750 miles (middle half 33,750–61,250)Age 6: typical 56,250 miles (middle half 43,750–76,250)Age 7: typical 71,250 miles (middle half 53,750–91,250)Age 8: typical 76,250 miles (middle half 58,750–101,250)76k mi

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

View this chart as a table
Age (years)Lower quarterTypical (median)Upper quarter
533,75043,75061,250
643,75056,25076,250
753,75071,25091,250
858,75076,250101,250

What fails at each age

The S90'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.

TyresBrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSuspensionVisibilitySteeringBody, chassis, structureEverything else
View this chart as a table
Age bandCategoryShare of the band's failure items
3-5 yrsTyres51.3%
3-5 yrsBrakes28.6%
3-5 yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment5.0%
3-5 yrsSuspension4.5%
3-5 yrsVisibility3.5%
3-5 yrsEverything else7.1%
6-9 yrsTyres36.0%
6-9 yrsBrakes27.5%
6-9 yrsSuspension12.6%
6-9 yrsSteering7.4%
6-9 yrsBody, chassis, structure4.3%
6-9 yrsEverything else12.2%

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.