2012 Volkswagen Passat: MOT pass rate and reliability

71% of 2012 Volkswagen Passats pass the MOT first time, measured across 14,003 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 136,188 miles.

How the 2012 compares

  • Against all Volkswagen Passats (75.2%, 182,779 tests): -4.2 points
  • Against all 2012 cars (70.8%): +0.2 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every Volkswagen Passat 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 Volkswagen Passat:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
1998 63% 270 156,218
1999 63.1% 369 169,003
2000 61.5% 467 163,135
2001 64.7% 1,007 161,057
2002 65.7% 1,685 159,827
2003 64.6% 2,684 162,109
2004 66.4% 3,200 160,357
2005 66.2% 3,897 155,397
2006 64% 5,371 151,900
2007 66.1% 8,005 151,256
2008 67.5% 9,326 148,209
2009 69.8% 11,245 141,841
2010 68.4% 11,284 142,161
2011 70.1% 16,408 143,604
2012 71% 14,003 136,188
2013 72.7% 12,351 127,242
2014 75.7% 15,025 119,141
2015 82.1% 15,736 113,476
2016 83.4% 15,326 105,051
2017 84.8% 14,141 91,979
2018 87.8% 10,958 78,858
2019 88.3% 6,267 64,786
2020 90.5% 1,814 51,584
2021 87.2% 1,450 48,397

What this means if you are buying a 2012 Passat

The 2012 is a weaker year for this model, passing 4.2 points less often than the Volkswagen Passat average. Some of that is simply age, so compare it against the 2012 figure for all cars above rather than against newer examples. 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 high mileage, so timing belts, clutches, suspension bushes and corrosion are the items worth budgeting for rather than the MOT itself. On a 2012 Volkswagen Passat the average at test was 136,188 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 90.5%, and the weakest in our data is 2000 at 61.5%. That 29.0 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 Volkswagen Passat MOT data · Every model