Volvo V60 MOT pass rate & common failures

At a glance

Pass rate, adjusted for age and mileage

The V60 is 6.0 percentage points above the national pass rate once age and mileage are accounted for, which is above average. The unadjusted figure is 77.1%; 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 Volvo V60 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 1.5mm17.5%

   1,351 occurrencesBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

2. 2.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements16.2%

   1,248 occurrencesTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

3. 3.A tyre cords visible or damaged15.1%

   1,168 occurrencesTyre ply or cord exposed, or the casing separating explained

4. 4.A tyre seriously damaged12.5%

   961 occurrencesTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

5. 5.A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc9.0%

   692 occurrencesDriveshaft CV joint gaiter split or missing explained

6. 6.A shock absorber damaged to the extent that it does not function or showing signs of severe leakage8.4%

   647 occurrencesShock absorber defective explained

7. 7.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened5.7%

   440 occurrencesRoad spring broken or fractured explained

8. 8.Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen5.7%

   437 occurrencesWiper or washer not working properly explained

9. 9.A tyre seriously damaged4.7%

   360 occurrencesTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

10. 10.A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play4.6%

    354 occurrencesBall joint worn explained

Warnings without a failure

Most common advisories

Share of all Volvo V60 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 requirements30.2%

   11,982 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

2. 2.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm13.8%

   5,488 testsBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

3. 3.Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured9.5%

   3,771 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

4. 4.A tyre seriously damaged8.2%

   3,267 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

5. 5.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened7.1%

   2,819 testsRoad spring broken or fractured explained

6. 6.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn4.9%

   1,924 testsSuspension arm bush worn explained

7. 7.Brake disc or drum significantly and obviously worn4.1%

   1,609 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

8. 8.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements3.9%

   1,565 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

The rest of the record

Everything else recorded on the Volvo V60

The 20 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.

• Engine management light on, or not working4.4%
• Registration plate missing, insecure or illegible3.0%
• Headlamp aim incorrect2.9%
• Headlamp not working2.5%
• Steering rack gaiter split, damaged or missing2.4%
• Lamp not working2.0%
• Brake system warning lamp on, or not working2.0%
• Suspension joint dust cover missing or split1.8%
• Road wheel damaged, distorted or cracked1.6%
• Suspension mounting corroded or insecure1.6%
• Direction indicator not working1.5%
• Brake binding or imbalanced across an axle1.5%
• Tyre pressure monitoring system inoperative1.2%
• Parking brake efficiency too low1.2%
• Airbag warning lamp on, or airbag missing1.2%
• Lamp of the wrong colour, position or intensity1.1%
• Brake pipe corroded0.3%
• Exhaust leaking or insecure0.3%
• Brake hose deteriorated, damaged or chafing0.2%
• Wheel bearing has excessive play or is rough0.2%

How wear changes the picture

V60 pass rate by age and registration year

How often the Volvo V60 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 V60 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 V60 fleet

Average mileage recorded at test

88,532

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

Fuel mix of tested cars

Diesel73.3%

Petrol12.1%

Hybrid11.5%

Diesel hybrid3.0%

Compare within the range

Other Volvo models

• Volvo XC60 — 79.1% adjusted
• Volvo V40 — 67.4% adjusted
• Volvo XC40 — 90.0% unadjusted
• Volvo XC90 — 77.6% adjusted
• Volvo V70 — 63.8% unadjusted
• Volvo V50 — 55.2% unadjusted
• All Volvo models →

Similar test volumes

Compare against other makes

• Volkswagen Beetle — 63.4% adjusted, ranked 237
• Honda Hr-V — 78.6% adjusted, ranked 66
• Fiat Doblo — 65.4% adjusted, ranked 218
• Suzuki SX4 — 70.7% adjusted, ranked 163

Common questions

Is the Volvo V60 reliable?

On MOT evidence the Volvo V60 is above average. It passes 78.3% of tests once age and mileage are accounted for, against a national average of 72.3%, which ranks it 73 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 Volvo V60?

The item recorded most often is "a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm", which appears in 17.5% of failed Volvo V60 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 Volvo V60?

The most common advisory is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", noted on 30.2% of all Volvo V60 tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.

What mileage does a Volvo V60 usually have at its MOT?

The average odometer reading recorded at test is 88,532 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 Volvo V60 years are the most reliable?

Going by MOT pass rate, Volvo V60 cars first registered 2020–2022 do best at 86.8%, and those registered 2010 and earlier do worst at 64.2%. 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 Volvo V60 get harder to pass as it ages?

Yes. At 3 to 5 years old, 86.8% of Volvo V60 tests pass. By fifteen years or more, that falls to 64.2%. Nearly every model follows this pattern, which is why comparing raw pass rates between models is misleading unless age is accounted for.

Are most Volvo V60 models petrol or diesel?

Of the Volvo V60 cars tested, 73% are diesel, 12% are petrol, 12% 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 Volvo