Nissan X-Trail MOT pass rate & common failures

At a glance

Pass rate, adjusted for age and mileage

The X-Trail is 1.8 percentage points below the national pass rate once age and mileage are accounted for, which is below average. The unadjusted figure is 69.5%; 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 Nissan X-Trail tests in which each item was recorded. One failed test often lists several items, so these do not sum to 100%.

1. 1.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn30.3%

   7,158 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

2. 2.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm18.8%

   4,441 occurrencesBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

3. 3.A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play17.0%

   4,012 occurrencesBall joint worn explained

4. 4.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements11.1%

   2,637 occurrencesTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

5. 5.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn10.9%

   2,578 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

6. 6.A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc7.2%

   1,711 occurrencesDriveshaft CV joint gaiter split or missing explained

7. 7.Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen6.8%

   1,599 occurrencesWiper or washer not working properly explained

8. 8.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn6.6%

   1,560 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

9. 9.A tyre seriously damaged6.1%

   1,450 occurrencesTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

10. 10.A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning5.8%

    1,372 occurrencesLamp not working explained

Warnings without a failure

Most common advisories

Share of all Nissan X-Trail 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 requirements24.3%

   21,423 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

2. 2.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm19.8%

   17,471 testsBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

3. 3.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn17.8%

   15,669 testsSuspension arm bush worn explained

4. 4.Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured16.5%

   14,506 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

5. 5.A tyre seriously damaged12.5%

   10,974 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

6. 6.A suspension component excessively damaged or corroded9.1%

   8,047 testsSuspension mounting corroded or insecure explained

7. 7.Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded7.7%

   6,806 testsBrake pipe corroded explained

8. 8.A suspension component excessively damaged or corroded6.1%

   5,381 testsSuspension mounting corroded or insecure 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 X-Trail fleet

Average mileage recorded at test

82,735

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

Fuel mix of tested cars

Diesel82.0%

Petrol17.0%

Hybrid0.9%

Compare within the range

Other Nissan models

• Nissan Qashqai — 67.4% adjusted
• Nissan Juke — 66.5% adjusted
• Nissan Micra — 63.8% adjusted
• Nissan Note — 65.9% adjusted
• Nissan Navara — 68.6% adjusted
• Nissan Leaf — 72.0% adjusted
• All Nissan models →

Similar test volumes

Compare against other makes

• Land Rover Range Rover — 82.4% adjusted, ranked 33
• Mazda MX-5 — 77.2% adjusted, ranked 85
• Mercedes-Benz Vito — 71.0% adjusted, ranked 161
• Renault Megane — 63.3% adjusted, ranked 238

Common questions

Is the Nissan X-Trail reliable?

On MOT evidence the Nissan X-Trail is below average. It passes 70.5% of tests once age and mileage are accounted for, against a national average of 72.3%, which ranks it 167 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 Nissan X-Trail?

The item recorded most often is "A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn", which appears in 30.3% of failed Nissan X-Trail 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 Nissan X-Trail?

The most common advisory is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", noted on 24.3% of all Nissan X-Trail tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.

What mileage does a Nissan X-Trail usually have at its MOT?

The average odometer reading recorded at test is 82,735 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 Nissan X-Trail get harder to pass as it ages?

Yes. At 3 to 5 years old, 86.6% of Nissan X-Trail tests pass. By fifteen years or more, that falls to 52.7%. Nearly every model follows this pattern, which is why comparing raw pass rates between models is misleading unless age is accounted for.

Are most Nissan X-Trail models petrol or diesel?

Of the Nissan X-Trail cars tested, 82% are diesel, 17% are petrol, 1% are hybrid. 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 Nissan