2018 Subaru Forester: MOT pass rate and reliability

88.4% of 2018 Subaru Foresters pass the MOT first time, measured across 936 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 47,276 miles.

How the 2018 compares

  • Against all Subaru Foresters (74.2%, 14,310 tests): +14.2 points
  • Against all 2018 cars (85.9%): +2.5 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every Subaru Forester model year

Pass rates fall as cars age, so the only fair comparison for a 2018 car is other cars of the same age. The full run for the Subaru Forester:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
2001 67% 215 123,358
2002 67.4% 273 124,496
2003 66.9% 611 134,932
2004 71.4% 796 125,017
2005 69% 962 123,502
2006 68.2% 893 118,978
2007 67.2% 830 111,495
2008 74.6% 539 109,668
2009 63.9% 443 108,187
2010 65.6% 749 110,445
2011 71.7% 785 110,447
2012 70.9% 278 104,407
2013 70.9% 718 95,706
2014 74.9% 1,139 85,986
2015 77.1% 984 74,481
2016 79.8% 1,196 67,871
2017 86% 904 58,795
2018 88.4% 936 47,276
2019 90.3% 589 39,369

What this means if you are buying a 2018 Forester

The 2018 is one of the stronger years for this model, passing 14.2 points more often than the Subaru Forester 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 an 8-year-old car fails on

A 2018 car is 8 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 below average for a car this age, worth a mileage-consistency check since an unusually low reading is sometimes clocking rather than luck. On a 2018 Subaru Forester the average at test was 47,276 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 2019 at 90.3%, and the weakest in our data is 2009 at 63.9%. That 26.4 point spread across the model's life is why comparing a 2018 car against a newer one tells you very little.

Nearby model years

All Subaru Forester MOT data · Every model