Alfa Romeo 159 MOT reliability

Alfa Romeo 159s passed their MOT first time 57% of the time across 2,812 tests in 2025. 2,031 are still licensed in Great Britain.

First-time pass rate

57%

MOTs analysed

2,812

Still licensed (GB)

2,031

Body type

Sedan

Pass rate by year of first registration

Older cars fail more often, so compare a car with others of the same age. Years with very few MOTs can show extreme pass rates, even 0% or 100%, so give more weight to years with more tests.

In detail:

First registered

2011 diesel

329 MOTs

Passed first time 58%. Typical mileage 123,579 (most between 105,835 and 145,418).

2013: 53% → 2014: 70% → 2015: 68% → 2016: 67% → 2017: 67% → 2018: 62% → 2019: 66% → 2020: 60% → 2021: 60% → 2022: 61% → 2023: 56% → 2024: 57% → 2025: 58%

Most common failures

Rbt (sp): efficiency below requirements (9.4%)
Coil spring: fractured or broken (6.7%)
Position lamp: not working (6.1%)
Condition: has ply or cords exposed (5.8%)
Component mounting prescribed areas: prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (4.6%)

2011 petrol

67 MOTs

These figures come from 67 MOT tests. That's a fairly small number of cars, so they may not be typical of these cars as a whole.

Passed first time 84%. Typical mileage 86,563 (most between 74,982 and 99,389).

2013: 67% → 2014: 73% → 2015: 79% → 2016: 79% → 2017: 70% → 2018: 76% → 2019: 64% → 2020: 70% → 2021: 70% → 2022: 65% → 2023: 68% → 2024: 73% → 2025: 84%

Most common failures

Coil spring: fractured or broken (3.0%)
Malfunction indicator lamp: inoperative or indicates a malfunction (3.0%)
Headlamp aim: too high (3.0%)
Washers: provides insufficient washer liquid (1.5%)
Electronic stability control: warning lamp indicates a fault (1.5%)

Where 2011 159s fail

Lights & electrics

19.5%

Suspension & axles

17.9%

Brakes

14.6%

Wheels & tyres

10.9%

Visibility & wipers

5.8%

Body, structure & corrosion

5.2%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

5.2%

Steering

1.5%

Looking at a particular car?

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Based on 2025 initial MOT tests in DVSA's anonymised MOT dataset (cars and light vans). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Model details: Vehicle data by VehiclesDB.