Renault Captur MOT pass rate & common failures

At a glance

Pass rate, adjusted for age and mileage

The Captur is 1.5 percentage points below the national pass rate once age and mileage are accounted for, which is below average. The unadjusted figure is 76.0%; 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 Renault Captur 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 worn17.0%

   5,472 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

2. 2.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements14.2%

   4,559 occurrencesTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

3. 3.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened13.9%

   4,470 occurrencesRoad spring broken or fractured explained

4. 4.Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen10.1%

   3,239 occurrencesWiper or washer not working properly explained

5. 5.A tyre cords visible or damaged9.1%

   2,934 occurrencesTyre ply or cord exposed, or the casing separating explained

6. 6.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn7.5%

   2,412 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

7. 7.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm7.3%

   2,339 occurrencesBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

8. 8.A tyre seriously damaged7.2%

   2,318 occurrencesTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

9. 9.Significant brake effort recorded with no brake applied indicating a binding brake6.3%

   2,010 occurrencesBrake binding or imbalanced across an axle explained

10. 10.A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc5.7%

    1,820 occurrencesDriveshaft CV joint gaiter split or missing explained

Warnings without a failure

Most common advisories

Share of all Renault Captur 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 requirements24.9%

   40,533 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

2. 2.A tyre seriously damaged19.8%

   32,119 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

3. 3.Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured8.3%

   13,549 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

4. 4.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm6.8%

   11,126 testsBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

5. 5.Brake disc or drum significantly and obviously worn4.0%

   6,579 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

6. 6.Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt3.3%

   5,322 tests

7. 7.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements3.0%

   4,862 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

8. 8.Nail in tyre2.4%

   3,934 tests

The rest of the record

Everything else recorded on the Renault Captur

The 21 other defects testers recorded on this model, beyond the most common listed above. Each links to what it means and what it takes to put right.

• Parking brake efficiency too low5.6%
• Suspension joint dust cover missing or split5.4%
• Stop lamp not working4.8%
• Lamp not working3.7%
• Headlamp aim incorrect2.6%
• Ball joint worn2.4%
• Shock absorber defective2.3%
• Tyre pressure monitoring system inoperative2.1%
• Engine management light on, or not working2.0%
• Lamp of the wrong colour, position or intensity1.6%
• Exhaust leaking or insecure1.5%
• Parking brake lever or cable travel excessive1.4%
• Headlamp not working1.3%
• Suspension mounting corroded or insecure1.2%
• Road wheel damaged, distorted or cracked1.1%
• Registration plate missing, insecure or illegible1.0%
• Emissions above the permitted limit1.0%
• Wheel bearing has excessive play or is rough0.2%
• Brake hose deteriorated, damaged or chafing0.2%
• Brake fluid level below minimum0.2%
• Brake pipe corroded0.1%

How wear changes the picture

Captur pass rate by age and registration year

How often the Renault Captur passes at each age, with the years those cars were first registered. Tests are from 2025, so a car aged 3 to 5 was first used in 2020–2022.

Read this as an age curve rather than a verdict on particular model years. Nearly every car passes less often as it gets older, so a newer Captur outscoring an older one says more about wear than about how that year’s cars were built. Bands holding too few tests to be meaningful are omitted rather than shown as a rate.

What gets tested

The Captur fleet

Average mileage recorded at test

51,617

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

Fuel mix of tested cars

Petrol57.7%

Diesel39.8%

Hybrid2.5%

Compare within the range

Other Renault models

• Renault Clio — 59.1% adjusted
• Renault Trafic — 62.9% adjusted
• Renault Megane — 63.3% adjusted
• Renault Kadjar — 74.0% adjusted
• Renault Kangoo — 59.0% adjusted
• Renault Scenic — 61.8% adjusted
• All Renault models →

Similar test volumes

Compare against other makes

• Citroen C1 — 68.7% adjusted, ranked 184
• Ford Transit Connect — 68.4% adjusted, ranked 192
• Toyota Prius — 81.4% adjusted, ranked 45
• Hyundai Tucson — 74.8% adjusted, ranked 115

Common questions

Is the Renault Captur reliable?

On MOT evidence the Renault Captur is below average. It passes 70.8% of tests once age and mileage are accounted for, against a national average of 72.3%. That figure covers 77% of the national age and mileage range, which is enough to quote but not to rank. 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 Renault Captur?

The item recorded most often is "A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn", which appears in 17.0% of failed Renault Captur 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 Renault Captur?

The most common advisory is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", noted on 24.9% of all Renault Captur tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.

What mileage does a Renault Captur usually have at its MOT?

The average odometer reading recorded at test is 51,617 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.

Which Renault Captur years are the most reliable?

Going by MOT pass rate, Renault Captur cars first registered 2020–2022 do best at 89.3%, and those registered 2011–2013 do worst at 55.2%. But that ordering is mostly age, not build year: almost every model passes less often as it wears, so the newest cars top this list whatever they are. A specific year looking strong here means little on its own; the failure items above, and the individual car's own MOT history, tell you far more.

Does a Renault Captur get harder to pass as it ages?

Yes. At 3 to 5 years old, 89.3% of Renault Captur tests pass. By 12 to 14 years, that falls to 55.2%. Nearly every model follows this pattern, which is why comparing raw pass rates between models is misleading unless age is accounted for.

Are most Renault Captur models petrol or diesel?

Of the Renault Captur cars tested, 58% are petrol, 40% are diesel, 2% 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 Renault