Volvo 300 MOT reliability

Volvo 300s passed their MOT first time 71% of the time across 206 tests in 2025.

First-time pass rate

71%

MOTs analysed

206

Still licensed (GB)

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Body type

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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

1989 petrol

48 MOTs

These figures come from 48 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 73%. Typical mileage 65,229 (most between 42,854 and 99,609).

2021: 70% → 2022: 73% → 2023: 52% → 2024: 67% → 2025: 73%

Most common failures

Service brake imbalance: across an axle (8.3%)
Rbt (sp): efficiency less than 50% of the required value (6.3%)
Parking brake performance: inoperative on one side (6.3%)
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (6.3%)
Exhaust system: has a major leak of exhaust gases (4.2%)

Where 1989 300s fail

Brakes

14.6%

Lights & electrics

8.3%

Suspension & axles

8.3%

Body, structure & corrosion

6.3%

Wheels & tyres

6.3%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

6.3%

Seat belts & other equipment

2.1%

Visibility & wipers

2.1%

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.