2012 Honda Civic: MOT pass rate and reliability

79.1% of 2012 Honda Civics pass the MOT first time, measured across 13,174 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 93,845 miles.

How the 2012 compares

  • Against all Honda Civics (73.9%, 272,763 tests): +5.2 points
  • Against all 2012 cars (70.8%): +8.3 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every Honda Civic model year

Pass rates fall as cars age, so the only fair comparison for a 2012 car is other cars of the same age. The full run for the Honda Civic:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
1994 78.7% 216 92,433
1995 76.6% 329 97,752
1996 65.9% 577 99,021
1997 66.1% 841 97,347
1998 66.1% 1,025 98,332
1999 68.6% 1,389 97,230
2000 71.9% 1,574 95,162
2001 63.3% 4,510 102,050
2002 64.4% 6,617 108,139
2003 63.3% 7,651 106,563
2004 64.3% 10,616 111,200
2005 64.9% 12,736 109,170
2006 63.5% 14,555 124,418
2007 63.7% 22,875 121,542
2008 64.1% 21,047 117,563
2009 65.6% 19,130 110,721
2010 66.1% 16,770 104,325
2011 69% 11,199 92,378
2012 79.1% 13,174 93,845
2013 81.8% 15,279 91,213
2014 83.9% 14,428 81,571
2015 85.3% 15,010 73,333
2016 86.8% 16,242 63,474
2017 88% 14,640 51,521
2018 87.6% 13,597 46,536
2019 90.1% 12,668 38,660
2020 92% 3,323 32,287

What this means if you are buying a 2012 Civic

The 2012 is one of the stronger years for this model, passing 5.2 points more often than the Honda Civic average. That is a point in its favour, though condition and service history still matter more than the model year. Check the exact car with the free MOT history checker before you buy, and run its VIN and mileage through our free VIN decoder and clocking check.

What a 14-year-old car fails on

A 2012 car is 14 years old now, and age drives the failure mix more than the badge does. Across all cars tested, these are the categories that actually cause failures:

  • Lights and electrical: 10.36% of all cars tested
  • Suspension: 8.65% of all cars tested
  • Tyres: 6.23% of all cars tested
  • Brakes: 6.1% of all cars tested
  • Visibility: wipers, washers, glass: 4.65% of all cars tested
  • Body, chassis and structure: 3.18% of all cars tested

That is above average, the point where suspension bushes, drop links and exhaust corrosion start showing up as advisories before they become failures. On a 2012 Honda Civic the average at test was 93,845 miles, so treat anything far above that as a car that has worked harder than its peers, and anything far below as one worth checking for the faults that come from standing still.

The strongest year for this model is 2020 at 92%, and the weakest in our data is 2001 at 63.3%. That 28.7 point spread across the model's life is why comparing a 2012 car against a newer one tells you very little.

Nearby model years

All Honda Civic MOT data · Every model