Which new cars are already failing their MOT at 3 years old?

The Hyundai i10 appears twice in the worst table: automatic and manual variants. With 10,406 tests and an 84.1% average pass rate, this is not a small-sample anomaly. One in six i10s is failing its first ever MOT.

The pattern is specific. Multiple owner reports on r/CarTalkUK describe rear brakes binding at the three-to-four year mark. One post states: “The dealer says this is a common problem on Hyundai i10s and i20s around 3-4 years old, caused by the factory not properly lubricating the brake caliper slide pins.” ClickMechanic also flags brake issues and suspension concerns as common i10 problems.

This is not owner neglect. It is a manufacturing issue: factory lubrication that does not last three years. The Kia Picanto (which shares a platform with the i10) shows a similar pattern. If you own an i10 approaching its first MOT, have the rear brake calipers inspected. A pre-MOT check through BookMyGarage can catch binding brakes before they become a formal failure.

The Tesla Model 3 has 50,491 first MOT tests: one of the largest samples in the dataset. Its 86.2% pass rate sits below average for a three-year-old car, with a failPer10k of 3.62% to 3.94% depending on trim.

The reason is specific. A Tesla Model 3 weighs roughly 1,800kg, compared to about 1,300kg for a VW Golf. That extra 500kg grinds through tyres. Tesla owners on r/TeslaUK report rear tyres lasting as little as 18,600 miles. One post titled “First MOT fail on tyres” notes that “uneven tyre wear is a characteristic of the Model 3.”

But the Tesla has an advantage that most petrol cars lack: regenerative braking means the physical brake pads barely get used. Brake failures are almost absent from Tesla MOT data. It is a mixed picture: worse on tyres, better on brakes. If you are buying a used Model 3, budget for more frequent tyre replacements and check tread depth before the MOT.

The LEVC TX is a London black cab. It averages 72,688 miles at its first MOT. That is nearly three times the national average for a three-year-old car. These vehicles spend their days in stop-start city traffic, crawling over speed bumps, mounting kerbs, and carrying passengers around the clock.

Its failure rate: 2.06% per 10,000 miles. That puts it in the top ten, ahead of the Porsche Macan, the Mercedes GLC, and the BMW 5 Series. A taxi covering 72,000 miles in three years has a lower mileage-adjusted failure rate than most premium cars covering half that distance.

The TX is a plug-in hybrid built by the London EV Company (owned by Geely). It was engineered specifically for the London taxi trade, where vehicle downtime costs the driver money every day. That design brief, build it to survive the hardest urban use case, shows clearly in the MOT data.