1990 Volkswagen Transporter: MOT pass rate and reliability

67.7% of 1990 Volkswagen Transporters pass the MOT first time, measured across 1,136 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 132,872 miles.

How the 1990 compares

  • Against all Volkswagen Transporters (71.5%, 286,264 tests): -3.8 points
  • Against all 1990 cars (76%): -8.3 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every Volkswagen Transporter model year

Pass rates fall as cars age, so the only fair comparison for a 1990 car is other cars of the same age. The full run for the Volkswagen Transporter:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
1990 67.7% 1,136 132,872
1991 68.2% 783 147,042
1992 61.5% 1,041 138,468
1993 62.6% 1,006 135,381
1994 61.8% 1,761 146,983
1995 59.9% 2,062 163,033
1996 60.1% 2,499 169,250
1997 60% 2,929 164,389
1998 60.9% 3,754 172,535
1999 61.8% 4,103 177,076
2000 60% 4,621 174,880
2001 60% 6,435 176,110
2002 59.5% 6,321 176,535
2003 59.7% 6,931 173,124
2004 61.5% 9,101 177,563
2005 61% 10,053 172,054
2006 61.3% 11,465 166,864
2007 64.4% 13,594 159,500
2008 63.8% 12,943 151,330
2009 66.7% 9,217 140,709
2010 68.8% 11,101 139,696
2011 71.6% 12,558 133,324
2012 73.3% 12,911 124,521
2013 76% 15,135 116,860
2014 75% 16,751 105,670
2015 76.9% 19,132 95,152
2016 80% 21,301 87,053
2017 81% 22,049 77,498
2018 82.4% 22,271 69,289
2019 85.1% 15,364 57,094
2020 86% 771 43,992

What this means if you are buying a 1990 Transporter

The 1990 is a weaker year for this model, passing 3.8 points less often than the Volkswagen Transporter average. Some of that is simply age, so compare it against the 1990 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 36-year-old car fails on

A 1990 car is 36 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 1990 Volkswagen Transporter the average at test was 132,872 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 86%, and the weakest in our data is 2002 at 59.5%. That 26.5 point spread across the model's life is why comparing a 1990 car against a newer one tells you very little.

Nearby model years

All Volkswagen Transporter MOT data · Every model