All generations and engines together · 19,840 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 89k
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. 8,878 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.
Owners of manual i40s report clutch trouble surfacing well before you'd expect normal wear, with a supplier change around 2014 blamed for a run of cars needing early replacement (some owners were left waiting on backordered parts). The symptom is notchy or resistant gear selection, especially reverse, first and second, sometimes needing more than one dip of the pedal. No manufacturer TSB or recall covers this; a clutch and dual-mass flywheel job is a proper bill, roughly £500-£1,200 depending on the garage.
The dual-clutch automatic gets recurring reports of jerky, delayed changes and a shunt pulling away from a stop, with owners noting it gets worse from roughly 50,000 to 75,000 miles. One early case even had the car refuse to select D, N or R out of Park. There's no public recall for it; a mechatronic unit or clutch-pack repair on this type of gearbox typically runs well over £1,000. Doesn't affect manual cars.
Short-run driving on the CRDi diesels brings on the usual DPF trouble: a check-engine light that clears for a few dozen miles then comes straight back, and in worse cases visible smoke on start-up. It's turned up even after fuel pump or injector work, which points to driving pattern and filter condition rather than one faulty part. No TSB was found; sorting it ranges from a forced regeneration for not much money to a four-figure filter replacement if it's badly clogged.
Bubbling paint and rust above the windscreen and along roof and door-top seams gets mentioned often enough by owners to look like a real pattern, with one owner of a 2016 car calling it 'a common problem on both sides.' Dealers have pushed back on some claims, putting it down to stone chips rather than a paint or seam defect, so whether it's a manufacturing weak spot or bad luck is genuinely argued over. Cost to fix varies hugely, from a local touch-up to a full panel respray.
A genuine safety recall covers i40s built between December 2018 and May 2019 for a brake booster that can fail, reducing braking assistance and stopping performance; Hyundai issued a free fix for affected cars. The measured MOT data for this model already flags brakes as the standout failure area, so this recall lines up with a real, above-average pattern rather than being an isolated scare. Check the VIN against the recall register before buying a car from that build window.
Cars fitted with Idle Stop & Go can develop a battery that reads as too weak for the system even though it still starts the car fine day to day, causing ISG to switch itself off. One owner was quoted around £329 for a replacement AGM battery, and in at least one case the dealer couldn't get stop-start working again afterwards. It's an expense and a nuisance rather than a breakdown risk, and only applies to trims and years with ISG fitted.
Built from the two sections above.
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