All generations and engines together · 107,404 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 50k
Split by first-registration year. Cars registered in a changeover year can belong to either generation.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 53,769 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
Dacia recalled Sandero and Stepway models built in 2020-2021 over a high-pressure fuel hose in the engine bay that could leak and create a fire risk, alongside a separate recall for a bonnet lock striker that could let the bonnet fly open while driving. Both are free dealer fixes once matched against the VIN. If a car in this age bracket hasn't had the work logged, that's unfinished business, not just history.
Owners of the three-cylinder turbo petrol have reported sudden, intermittent power loss that feels like fuel starvation, put down to carbon clogging the turbo's oil feed pipe. It tends to show up a few years and several thousand miles in rather than from new, and separate reports mention hard-starting on the same engine. A pipe clean or replacement is cheap; ignore it and the turbo itself can go, which is a four-figure job.
Sandero automatics, CVT on the earlier cars and EDC dual-clutch on later ones, draw more complaints about jerky or hesitant changes and outright failures at higher mileage than the manual gearbox ever does. Manual cars aren't affected by any of this. A gearbox rebuild or replacement runs into four figures, so a fidgety test drive matters more here than on any other trim.
A recurring theme on owner-problem sites: the power steering assist cutting out or suddenly going heavy, sometimes with a warning light, sometimes without. Reports span several model years rather than one bad batch, and there's no public Dacia fix, so each case seems to get sorted individually at the dealer. Repairs range from a sensor reset to a replacement steering motor, roughly £300-800.
Owners and independent write-ups describe thinner paint and occasional early bubbling on wheel arches, sills and the tailgate seam, mostly on cars built before the 2021 redesign. It isn't universal and Dacia hasn't acknowledged a batch problem, but it lines up with the measured data: corrosion is the standout MOT failure category for this car within the supermini class, so the owner chatter and the numbers point the same way.
The 1.5 dCi is prone to DPF clogging if it only ever does short runs, showing up as a smoky exhaust or a dashboard warning; a forced regen or a filter clean/replace can run several hundred pounds. Separately, Honest John logged a case of a 1.5 dCi's internal coolant seal failing and mixing coolant with oil, wrecking the engine at under 40,000 miles. Only relevant if you're looking at a diesel; the petrol TCe/SCe engines don't have either issue.
Built from the two sections above.
Same segment (Superminis), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.