Fiat Idea MOT reliability

Fiat Ideas passed their MOT first time 52% of the time across 223 tests in 2025. 152 are still licensed in Great Britain.

First-time pass rate

52%

MOTs analysed

223

Still licensed (GB)

152

Body type

Mpv

Pass rate by year of first registration

Older cars fail more often, so compare a car with others of the same age.

In detail:

First registered

2004 petrol

47 MOTs

These figures come from 47 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 62%. Typical mileage 74,609 (most between 54,990 and 87,275).

2006: 84% → 2007: 79% → 2008: 75% → 2009: 69% → 2010: 68% → 2011: 61% → 2012: 59% → 2013: 57% → 2014: 54% → 2015: 52% → 2016: 52% → 2017: 52% → 2018: 51% → 2019: 45% → 2020: 49% → 2021: 47% → 2022: 53% → 2023: 49% → 2024: 44% → 2025: 62%

Most common failures

Joints: constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (8.5%)
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (6.4%)
Headlamp aim: projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.3%)
Headlamp aim: too low (4.3%)
Has excessive free play detected at the steering wheel (steering rack fitted) (4.3%)

2004 diesel

15 MOTs

These figures come from only 15 MOT tests. With so few cars, a single pass or fail changes the percentages a lot, so treat them as a rough guide rather than a true average.

Passed first time 53%. Typical mileage 104,495 (most between 77,317 and 108,974).

2006: 100% → 2007: 78% → 2008: 73% → 2009: 68% → 2010: 66% → 2011: 61% → 2012: 58% → 2013: 52% → 2014: 51% → 2015: 54% → 2016: 48% → 2017: 51% → 2018: 47% → 2019: 48% → 2020: 49% → 2021: 49% → 2022: 45% → 2023: 53% → 2024: 37% → 2025: 53%

Most common failures

Component mounting prescribed areas: prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (20.0%)
Headlamp aim: projected beam image is obviously incorrect (13.3%)
Horn: not working (6.7%)
Malfunction indicator lamp: inoperative or indicates a malfunction (6.7%)
Integral vehicle structure condition: corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced (6.7%)

Where 2004 Ideas fail

Lights & electrics

23.4%

Body, structure & corrosion

14.9%

Wheels & tyres

8.5%

Steering

8.5%

Suspension & axles

8.5%

Visibility & wipers

8.5%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

6.4%

Seat belts & other equipment

4.3%

Looking at a particular car?

See its own MOT history, mileage and red flags, compared with these figures. Free.

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.