2012 Volkswagen Up: MOT pass rate and reliability

80% of 2012 Volkswagen Ups pass the MOT first time, measured across 13,917 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 69,500 miles.

How the 2012 compares

  • Against all Volkswagen Ups (84.7%, 121,174 tests): -4.7 points
  • Against all 2012 cars (70.8%): +9.2 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every Volkswagen Up 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 Up:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
2012 80% 13,917 69,500
2013 82.6% 20,054 62,158
2014 83.3% 20,917 55,950
2015 83.5% 16,211 49,205
2016 83.5% 12,795 42,933
2017 86.5% 13,208 38,603
2018 88.7% 12,892 31,880
2019 92.5% 8,294 25,877
2020 94.6% 1,883 19,589
2021 95.6% 945 17,312

What this means if you are buying a 2012 Up

The 2012 is a weaker year for this model, passing 4.7 points less often than the Volkswagen Up 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 a shade above the middle of the range, still ordinary wear rather than a red flag, but worth checking against the service book for the car's age. On a 2012 Volkswagen Up the average at test was 69,500 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 2021 at 95.6%, and the weakest in our data is 2012 at 80%. That 15.6 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 Up MOT data · Every model