Volvo C30 MOT reliability

Volvo C30s passed their MOT first time 58% of the time across 20,618 tests in 2025. 17,762 are still licensed in Great Britain.

First-time pass rate

58%

MOTs analysed

20,618

Still licensed (GB)

17,762

Body type

Hatchback

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

2,292 MOTs

Passed first time 59%. Typical mileage 110,636 (most between 86,607 and 135,489).

2012: 0% → 2013: 86% → 2014: 75% → 2015: 76% → 2016: 72% → 2017: 67% → 2018: 63% → 2019: 64% → 2020: 62% → 2021: 61% → 2022: 58% → 2023: 60% → 2024: 58% → 2025: 59%

Most common failures

Joints: constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (9.9%)
Position lamp: not working (8.9%)
Coil spring: fractured or broken (4.6%)
Registration plate lamp(s): inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps (3.9%)
Pins and bushes: pin or bush excessively worn (3.9%)

2011 petrol

692 MOTs

Passed first time 65%. Typical mileage 88,488 (most between 67,491 and 109,966).

2011: 100% → 2013: 84% → 2014: 78% → 2015: 77% → 2016: 74% → 2017: 72% → 2018: 70% → 2019: 70% → 2020: 69% → 2021: 68% → 2022: 66% → 2023: 64% → 2024: 66% → 2025: 65%

Most common failures

Position lamp: not working (7.8%)
Pins and bushes: pin or bush excessively worn (4.2%)
Joints: constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (3.9%)
Coil spring: fractured or broken (3.0%)
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (2.6%)

2011 lpg

1 MOT

These figures come from only 1 MOT test. 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 100%. Typical mileage 199,124 (most between 199,124 and 199,124).

2017: 100% → 2018: 100% → 2019: 0% → 2020: 50% → 2021: 100% → 2023: 100% → 2025: 100%

Most common failures

Where 2011 C30s fail

Lights & electrics

20.7%

Suspension & axles

16.2%

Body, structure & corrosion

11.0%

Wheels & tyres

9.2%

Brakes

7.7%

Visibility & wipers

4.6%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

2.8%

Steering

1.8%

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.