Mitsubishi Outlander MOT pass rate & common failures

At a glance

Pass rate, adjusted for age and mileage

The Outlander is 1.5 percentage points above the national pass rate once age and mileage are accounted for, which is above average. The unadjusted figure is 76.3%; the difference is what the age and mileage of this model’s fleet was hiding.

DVSA recorded wording

Most common failure items

Share of failed Mitsubishi Outlander tests in which each item was recorded. One failed test often lists several items, so these do not sum to 100%.

1. 1.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm15.4%

   2,235 occurrencesBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

2. 2.A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play12.4%

   1,802 occurrencesBall joint worn explained

3. 3.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements11.0%

   1,597 occurrencesTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

4. 4.A tyre seriously damaged10.6%

   1,535 occurrencesTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

5. 5.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn9.5%

   1,383 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

6. 6.A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning9.3%

   1,348 occurrencesLamp not working explained

7. 7.Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen7.3%

   1,058 occurrencesWiper or washer not working properly explained

8. 8.Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded7.1%

   1,032 occurrencesBrake pipe corroded explained

9. 9.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn5.9%

   859 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

10. 10.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened5.9%

    852 occurrencesRoad spring broken or fractured explained

Warnings without a failure

Most common advisories

Share of all Mitsubishi Outlander tests carrying each advisory. The denominator differs from the failure list above because an advisory can be issued on a car that passed.

1. 1.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements25.0%

   18,817 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

2. 2.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm13.7%

   10,319 testsBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

3. 3.Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured13.3%

   9,994 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

4. 4.A tyre seriously damaged9.5%

   7,126 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

5. 5.Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded8.8%

   6,621 testsBrake pipe corroded explained

6. 6.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened5.1%

   3,869 testsRoad spring broken or fractured explained

7. 7.A suspension component excessively damaged or corroded4.4%

   3,329 testsSuspension mounting corroded or insecure explained

8. 8.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn3.6%

   2,689 testsSuspension arm bush worn explained

How wear changes the picture

Pass rate by vehicle age

Bands holding too few tests to be meaningful are omitted rather than shown as a rate.

What gets tested

The Outlander fleet

Average mileage recorded at test

85,694

Across examples of every age, so this is a description of the fleet rather than an annual figure.

Fuel mix of tested cars

Hybrid64.9%

Diesel24.1%

Petrol6.9%

Electric4.2%

Compare within the range

Other Mitsubishi models

• Mitsubishi L200 — 72.0% adjusted
• Mitsubishi Asx — 75.0% adjusted
• Mitsubishi Shogun — 75.4% adjusted
• Mitsubishi Colt — 54.1% unadjusted
• Mitsubishi Mirage — 77.3% adjusted
• Mitsubishi Eclipse — 85.7% unadjusted
• All Mitsubishi models →

Similar test volumes

Compare against other makes

• Toyota Hilux — 71.2% adjusted, ranked 158
• Skoda Yeti — 72.3% adjusted, ranked 143
• Volvo XC90 — 77.6% adjusted, ranked 78
• Mercedes-Benz CLA — 78.6% adjusted, ranked 67

Common questions

Is the Mitsubishi Outlander reliable?

On MOT evidence the Mitsubishi Outlander is above average. It passes 73.8% of tests once age and mileage are accounted for, against a national average of 72.3%, which ranks it 124 of 262 models with enough data for a fair comparison. This measures how often the car meets the MOT standard, not how often it breaks down or what a repair costs.

What is the most common MOT failure on a Mitsubishi Outlander?

The item recorded most often is "a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm", which appears in 15.4% of failed Mitsubishi Outlander tests. Because one failed test can list several items, these shares do not add up to 100%.

What do testers most often warn about on a Mitsubishi Outlander?

The most common advisory is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", noted on 25.0% of all Mitsubishi Outlander tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.

What mileage does a Mitsubishi Outlander usually have at its MOT?

The average odometer reading recorded at test is 85,694 miles. This is the mileage across all tested examples of every age, not an annual figure, so treat it as a description of the fleet rather than a target for one car.

Does a Mitsubishi Outlander get harder to pass as it ages?

Yes. At 3 to 5 years old, 86.6% of Mitsubishi Outlander tests pass. By fifteen years or more, that falls to 54.5%. Nearly every model follows this pattern, which is why comparing raw pass rates between models is misleading unless age is accounted for.

Are most Mitsubishi Outlander models petrol or diesel?

Of the Mitsubishi Outlander cars tested, 65% are hybrid, 24% are diesel, 7% are petrol. Fuel type affects which items tend to fail, particularly emissions and exhaust components.

How this was worked out

Method and limits

Figures come from the DVSA anonymised MOT testing dataset, published under the Open Government Licence. Only class 4 initial tests are counted: retests are excluded so a car appears once, and abandoned tests are excluded entirely. The adjusted rate is directly standardised across twenty-five age and mileage bands and reweighted onto the national distribution, so this model is compared against cars that have lived a similar life rather than against a younger or lighter-used fleet.

An MOT measures whether a car met a legal standard on the day. It is not a breakdown record, a service history or a running-cost estimate, and a pass rate is a property of a fleet rather than a prediction about one car.

Further reading

Make sense of the numbers

• How to judge reliability from evidence rather than reputation
• What counts as high or low mileage for a car’s age
• The most common MOT failures and how to avoid them
• What to check before buying a used Mitsubishi