Kia Picanto: MOT pass rate and reliability data

The Kia Picanto fails its first MOT more often than the average UK car, by 1 percentage points. These figures come from the DVSA's full year of anonymised MOT results, covering 181,656 individual Kia Picanto tests. Nothing here is an estimate or a survey.

The numbers

What this means if you are buying one

A 75.7% first-time pass rate means roughly 24 in every 100 Kia Picantos presented for MOT fail on the first attempt. That is worse than average, so budget for remedial work and treat a fresh 12-month MOT as a genuine selling point rather than a given. The average Kia Picanto tested had covered 47,425 miles and was built around 2014.

What this means at salvage auction

Pass rate is a proxy for what a car costs to keep on the road. On a Kia Picanto bought as a repairable salvage, assume the mechanical side needs more than the visible accident damage, and pad your repair estimate accordingly.

Before you bid: run the lot through the analyzer, check the car's own record, check the mileage, decode the VIN, and if it carries a marker use the write-off value calculator. See how it stacks up against the Ford Fiesta.

Looking at a specific Kia Picanto rather than the model in general? The free check covers its MOT and mileage history, and the full HPI report confirms the insurance write-off category, outstanding finance and whether it is recorded stolen, from licensed data for 5 credits. Already own one that has been damaged? Work out whether fixing it beats selling it with the repair or scrap calculator, and see what damaged Kia Picantos actually sold for at UK salvage auction, from 8 real settled sales.

Most common MOT failures on a Kia Picanto

1. Parking brake inoperative on one side, 1.9% of tests (4.24x the national rate for this defect)
2. Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement, 3% of tests (3.04x the national rate for this defect)
3. Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded, 2% of tests (2.39x the national rate for this defect)
4. Significant brake effort recorded with no brake applied indicating a binding brake, 1.7% of tests (2.17x the national rate for this defect)
5. Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen, 2.2% of tests (1.59x the national rate for this defect)
6. A suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc, 2.1% of tests (1.58x the national rate for this defect)
7. Exhaust system leaking or insecure, 1.2% of tests (1.58x the national rate for this defect)
8. A tyre seriously damaged, 3% of tests (1.51x the national rate for this defect)
9. A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning, 2.5% of tests (1.51x the national rate for this defect)
10. Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen, 1.8% of tests (1.42x the national rate for this defect)

From 255,734 DVSA-tracked Kia Picanto tests, 2024. DVSA testers marked 5.36% of these flagged Kia Picanto defects as "dangerous", meaning the tester judged the car unsafe to drive away, against 4.97% nationally.

Kia Picanto pass rate by model year

Pass rates fall steadily as cars age, so the model year matters as much as the model. First-time pass rate for each Kia Picanto year:

• 2004 Kia Picanto - 60.6% first-time pass, 1,724 tests
• 2005 Kia Picanto - 57% first-time pass, 3,467 tests
• 2006 Kia Picanto - 56.4% first-time pass, 3,909 tests
• 2007 Kia Picanto - 60.1% first-time pass, 2,692 tests
• 2008 Kia Picanto - 59.8% first-time pass, 3,203 tests
• 2009 Kia Picanto - 62.6% first-time pass, 12,703 tests
• 2010 Kia Picanto - 63.3% first-time pass, 12,969 tests
• 2011 Kia Picanto - 63.7% first-time pass, 10,557 tests
• 2012 Kia Picanto - 67.9% first-time pass, 13,208 tests
• 2013 Kia Picanto - 71.3% first-time pass, 12,794 tests
• 2014 Kia Picanto - 76.7% first-time pass, 14,555 tests
• 2015 Kia Picanto - 78.7% first-time pass, 13,691 tests
• 2016 Kia Picanto - 80.1% first-time pass, 12,646 tests
• 2017 Kia Picanto - 84.4% first-time pass, 13,307 tests
• 2018 Kia Picanto - 88.4% first-time pass, 16,349 tests
• 2019 Kia Picanto - 89.4% first-time pass, 16,293 tests
• 2020 Kia Picanto - 91.7% first-time pass, 7,908 tests
• 2021 Kia Picanto - 92.9% first-time pass, 8,482 tests
• 2022 Kia Picanto - 93.8% first-time pass, 352 tests

Other Kia models

• Kia Sportage - 79.4%
• Kia Ceed - 71.6%
• Kia Rio - 74.3%
• Kia Niro - 90.3%
• Kia Venga - 78.4%
• Kia Sorento - 72.6%
• Kia Soul - 73.7%
• Kia Stonic - 89.9%

Models with a similar pass rate

• Smart Fortwo Passion Mhd Auto - 75.9%
• MINI Cooper D - 75.8%
• Mercedes-Benz 200 - 75.8%
• Hyundai I40 - 75.7%
• Mitsubishi Unclassified - 75.7%
• Mercedes Motorhome - 75.7%

If this car is a salvage or write-off

• What does Cat N mean? Category N explained
• What does Cat S mean? Category S explained
• Cat S vs Cat N: the real differences

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All 2,005 models ranked by MOT pass rate