Volvo V50 MOT pass rates & common failures

Every completed first-attempt MOT on a Volvo V50 in Great Britain in 2025 — 26,141 tests. Figures cover every V50 first-tested in 2025, all trims grouped. How the V50 ages, what it fails on, and what mileage is normal, computed directly from the official DVSA record of every test.

Pass rate 2025
55.2%
17.1 points below the class-4 average (72.3%); unadjusted for age — the age-matched comparison is below
Tests analysed
26,141
first tests, 2025
Arrived with a dangerous fault
15.1%
of V50 first tests; national 7.3%

How many Volvo V50 cars are still on the road?

At the end of 2025, DVLA's register held 27,729 Volvo V50 cars that were taxed or on SORN: 23,916 taxed and 3,813 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 V50 vans, where they exist, are counted by DVLA as goods vehicles and are not in these figures.

Still taxed, end of 2025
23,916
86.2% of the 27,729 V50 cars taxed or on SORN; 134 model variants grouped
On SORN, end of 2025
3,813
declared off the road by their keepers — 13.8% of that total

How the numbers are moving

The number of taxed V50 cars peaked at 50,647 at the end of 2014 and has since fallen by 26,731 (52.8%) to 23,916 at the end of 2025. Cars on SORN went from 310 at the end of 2014 to 3,813 at the end of 2025, up 1130.0%. 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 V50 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 V50 cars, year 2014: 51kTaxed V50 cars, year 2015: 50kTaxed V50 cars, year 2016: 49kTaxed V50 cars, year 2017: 47kTaxed V50 cars, year 2018: 45kTaxed V50 cars, year 2019: 43kTaxed V50 cars, year 2020: 40kTaxed V50 cars, year 2021: 37kTaxed V50 cars, year 2022: 35kTaxed V50 cars, year 2023: 31kTaxed V50 cars, year 2024: 28kTaxed V50 cars, year 2025: 24k24k
View this chart as a table
YearTaxed V50 cars
201450,647
201549,783
201648,697
201747,163
201845,204
201942,659
202040,308
202137,463
202234,742
202331,340
202427,600
202523,916

V50 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.

01k2k3k4k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)V50 cars on SORN, year 2014: 310V50 cars on SORN, year 2015: 483V50 cars on SORN, year 2016: 774V50 cars on SORN, year 2017: 1kV50 cars on SORN, year 2018: 1kV50 cars on SORN, year 2019: 2kV50 cars on SORN, year 2020: 2kV50 cars on SORN, year 2021: 3kV50 cars on SORN, year 2022: 3kV50 cars on SORN, year 2023: 3kV50 cars on SORN, year 2024: 3kV50 cars on SORN, year 2025: 4k4k
View this chart as a table
YearV50 cars on SORN
2014310
2015483
2016774
20171,072
20181,481
20191,982
20202,405
20212,619
20222,765
20233,185
20243,487
20253,813

Which model years survive

Taxed V50 cars at the end of 2025 by year of manufacture, and each year's share of the 23,916 taxed in all. Every build year holding at least 1% has its own row; the rest share one. 1 taxed V50 car has no recorded year of manufacture and is not in the table, so the rows add up to 23,915. 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 V50 cars
20122,86812.0%
20113,71615.5%
20103,79315.9%
20093,66015.3%
20083,96816.6%
20072,0228.5%
20061,9988.4%
20051,3225.5%
20045612.3%
All other build years (two years, each under 1%)70.0%

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 V50 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 V50 ages

First-time pass rate by vehicle age, V50 vs all cars, 2025.

Volvo V50All cars
50%60%70%80%90%100%3579111315171920Vehicle age (years)Volvo V50, vehicle age 13: 59%Volvo V50, vehicle age 14: 56.7%Volvo V50, vehicle age 15: 57.1%Volvo V50, vehicle age 16: 55.4%Volvo V50, vehicle age 17: 52.2%Volvo V50, vehicle age 18: 54.6%Volvo V50, vehicle age 19: 52.8%Volvo V50, vehicle age 20: 51.6%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%Volvo V50 51.6%
View this chart as a table
Age (years)V50 testsV50 pass rateAll cars
133,00459.0%63.5%
143,88256.7%61.2%
154,08657.1%59.3%
164,01255.4%58.3%
174,43752.2%57.2%
182,30154.6%57.4%
192,27852.8%57.0%
201,49551.6%57.6%

Better or worse than the average car?

The V50's pass rate minus the all-cars pass rate at each age, in percentage points. Bars above zero: the V50 beats the average car of that age. Below zero: it trails.

V50 behind
-8-4+0+4+8Age 13: -4.5 points vs the average car13Age 14: -4.5 points vs the average carAge 15: -2.2 points vs the average car15Age 16: -2.9 points vs the average carAge 17: -5.0 points vs the average car17Age 18: -2.8 points vs the average carAge 19: -4.2 points vs the average car19Age 20: -6.0 points vs the average car20Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Gap (points)
13-4.5
14-4.5
15-2.2
16-2.9
17-5.0
18-2.8
19-4.2
20-6.0

The V50 fleet on the road, by age

How many took a first MOT in 2025 at each age — the shape of the V50 fleet still in use.

01k2k3k5kAge 13: 3k13Age 14: 3kAge 15: 4k15Age 16: 4kAge 17: 4k17Age 18: 2kAge 19: 2k19Age 20: 1k20Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)First tests
133,004
143,882
154,086
164,012
174,437
182,301
192,278
201,495

What a V50 fails on

Where the failure items land when a V50 fails or needs a fix at test, 2025. Use it as a pre-purchase checklist: these are the areas to look at first.

Suspension25.6%
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment22.3%
Brakes12.9%
Tyres12.1%
Body, chassis, structure10.0%
Noise, emissions and leaks5.2%
Visibility5.2%
Steering4.5%

Share of all failure items, 2025 — the 8 biggest categories shown (97.8% of the items); smaller categories are not listed.

The advisories to watch

Where testers most often write "keep an eye on this" for a V50, 2025 — the faults in the post.

Suspension: 30.6% of advisories30.6%Tyres: 25.8% of advisories25.8%Brakes: 20.0% of advisories20.0%Noise, emissions and leaks: 5.2% of advisoriesNon-component advisories: 4.6% of advisoriesBody, chassis, structure: 4.1% of advisories
SuspensionTyresBrakesNoise, emissions and leaksNon-component advisoriesBody, chassis, structure
View this chart as a table
CategoryShare of advisories
Suspension30.6%
Tyres25.8%
Brakes20.0%
Noise, emissions and leaks5.2%
Non-component advisories4.6%
Body, chassis, structure4.1%

Petrol, diesel or hybrid V50?

First-time pass rate for the two most-tested V50 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: 55.1% of 20,819 tests55.1%Diesel20,819 testsPetrol: 55.6% of 5,318 tests55.6%Petrol5,318 tests
View this chart as a table
FuelTestsPass rate
Diesel20,81955.1%
Petrol5,31855.6%

What mileage is normal for a V50?

Mileage recorded at test by vehicle age, 2025. The line is the typical (median) V50; 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 V50 (median)
0k25k50k75k100k125k150k175k1315171920Vehicle age (years)Age 13: typical 121,250 miles (middle half 91,250–148,750)Age 14: typical 131,250 miles (middle half 101,250–161,250)Age 15: typical 128,750 miles (middle half 101,250–153,750)Age 16: typical 128,750 miles (middle half 98,750–158,750)Age 17: typical 136,250 miles (middle half 111,250–163,750)Age 18: typical 138,750 miles (middle half 111,250–166,250)Age 19: typical 138,750 miles (middle half 108,750–171,250)Age 20: typical 136,250 miles (middle half 106,250–166,250)136k mi

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

View this chart as a table
Age (years)Lower quarterTypical (median)Upper quarter
1391,250121,250148,750
14101,250131,250161,250
15101,250128,750153,750
1698,750128,750158,750
17111,250136,250163,750
18111,250138,750166,250
19108,750138,750171,250
20106,250136,250166,250

What fails at each age

The V50'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.

SuspensionTyresLamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentBody, chassis, structureBrakesEverything else
View this chart as a table
Age bandCategoryShare of the band's failure items
10-13 yrsSuspension32.9%
10-13 yrsTyres16.3%
10-13 yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment14.0%
10-13 yrsBody, chassis, structure12.7%
10-13 yrsBrakes11.9%
10-13 yrsEverything else12.2%
14+ yrsSuspension26.7%
14+ yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment19.3%
14+ yrsBrakes14.0%
14+ yrsTyres12.4%
14+ yrsBody, chassis, structure10.3%
14+ yrsEverything else17.3%

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.