Nissan Sunny: MOT pass rate and reliability data

The Nissan Sunny fails its first MOT more often than the average UK car, by 6.9 percentage points. These figures come from the DVSA's full year of anonymised MOT results, covering 550 individual Nissan Sunny tests. Nothing here is an estimate or a survey.

The numbers

What this means if you are buying one

A 69.8% first-time pass rate means roughly 30 in every 100 Nissan Sunnies 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 Nissan Sunny tested had covered 79,751 miles and was built around 1992.

What this means at salvage auction

Pass rate is a proxy for what a car costs to keep on the road. On a Nissan Sunny 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. Or compare it against another model.

Looking at a specific Nissan Sunny 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 Nissan Sunnies actually sold for at UK salvage auction.

Most common MOT failures on a Nissan Sunny

1. The strength or continuity of the load bearing structure within 30cm of any sub-frame, spring or suspension component mounting (a 'prescribed area') is significantly reduced or inadequately repaired, 18.3% of tests (22.06x the national rate for this defect)
2. The strength or continuity of the load bearing structure within 30cm of any seat belt anchorage (a 'prescribed area') is significantly reduced or inadequately repaired, 2.6% of tests (11.46x the national rate for this defect)
3. Body, cab or chassis excessively corroded at a mounting point, 2.1% of tests (10.23x the national rate for this defect)
4. Vehicle structure corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is seriously reduced, 3.4% of tests (9.27x the national rate for this defect)
5. 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., 3.7% of tests (9.21x the national rate for this defect)
6. Emissions levels exceed default limits, 2.4% of tests (8.27x the national rate for this defect)
7. Steering rack gaiter or ball joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc, 3.3% of tests (5.97x the national rate for this defect)
8. A direction indicator lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning, 2.5% of tests (5.1x the national rate for this defect)
9. Significant brake effort recorded with no brake applied indicating a binding brake, 3.9% of tests (5.07x the national rate for this defect)
10. A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc, 5.2% of tests (4.64x the national rate for this defect)

From 1,365 DVSA-tracked Nissan Sunny tests, 2024. DVSA testers marked 2.89% of these flagged Nissan Sunny defects as "dangerous", meaning the tester judged the car unsafe to drive away, against 4.97% nationally.

Other Nissan models

• Nissan Qashqai - 72.7%
• Nissan Juke - 71.8%
• Nissan Micra - 71.7%
• Nissan Note - 72.1%
• Nissan X-Trail - 73.5%
• Nissan Navara - 72.9%
• Nissan Leaf - 83.1%
• Nissan Nv200 - 65.1%

Models with a similar pass rate

• Hyundai Ix35 - 69.8%
• Chrysler-Jeep Grand Cherokee - 69.8%
• Toyota Granvia - 69.8%
• Peugeot 107 - 69.7%
• Volkswagen Jetta - 69.7%
• Honda Prelude - 69.7%

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