Kia Picanto Zest: MOT pass rate and reliability data

The Kia Picanto Zest passes its MOT first time more often than the average UK car, by 16.5 percentage points. These figures come from the DVSA's full year of anonymised MOT results, covering 585 individual Kia Picanto Zest tests. Nothing here is an estimate or a survey.

The numbers

What this means if you are buying one

A 93.2% first-time pass rate means roughly 7 in every 100 Kia Picanto Zests presented for MOT fail on the first attempt. That is better than average, so a well-kept example is a reasonably safe used buy. The average Kia Picanto Zest tested had covered 19,069 miles and was built around 2020.

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 Zest bought as a repairable salvage, the mechanical side is less likely to spring surprises, so your repair estimate should hold up reasonably well.

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. Or compare it against another model.

Looking at a specific Kia Picanto Zest 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 Picanto Zests actually sold for at UK salvage auction.

Most common MOT failures on a Kia Picanto Zest

1. Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen, 2.2% of tests (1.64x the national rate for this defect)
2. A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn, 0.8% of tests
3. A tyre seriously damaged, 0.7% of tests
4. A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened, 0.2% of tests
5. Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen, 0.2% of tests
6. Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements, 0.2% of tests
7. Actuator leaking and braking performance not affected, 0.1% of tests (2.45x the national rate for this defect)
8. Brakes imbalance across an axle such that the braking effort from any wheel is less than 70% of the maximum effort recorded from the other wheel on the same axle., 0.1% of tests
9. Fluid leaking excessively and likely to harm the environment or to pose a safety risk to other road users, 0.1% of tests
10. Indicator or hazard warning switch inoperative, 0.1% of tests (2.73x the national rate for this defect)

From 846 DVSA-tracked Kia Picanto Zest tests, 2024. DVSA testers marked 1.68% of these flagged Kia Picanto Zest defects as "dangerous", meaning the tester judged the car unsafe to drive away, against 4.97% nationally.

Other Kia models

• Kia Sportage - 79.4%
• Kia Picanto - 75.7%
• Kia Ceed - 71.6%
• Kia Rio - 74.3%
• Kia Niro - 90.3%
• Kia Venga - 78.4%
• Kia Sorento - 72.6%
• Kia Soul - 73.7%

Models with a similar pass rate

• Volkswagen Golf Clubsport Gti Tsi S-A - 93.2%
• Volvo Xc40 Inscription T5 Recharge A - 93.2%
• Fiat Benimar - 93.2%
• Erwin Hymer Group Uk Unclassified - 93.2%
• Audi Sq5 Vorsprung Tdi Quattro Auto - 93.2%
• Lexus Nx - 93.1%

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