Fault File
All models / All cars / Small SUVs / Kia Stonic

Kia Stonic

All generations and engines together · 28,062 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 53k

Reliability verdict
BBy age
BBy miles

Graded against its peers

Better than most small SUVs, by age and by mileage. Watch steering and brakes. A solid used buy, provided its MOT history has no repeating steering advisories.

First-time failure at age 7
16.1%
Across 3,066 tests. The average for small SUVs is 20.5%.
First-time failure at 50-60k miles
16.4%
Across 2,901 tests. The average for small SUVs is 21.1%.
Rank in its class
17 of 52
1 = lowest failure rate among the 52 small SUVs we can rank.
Typical mileage at age 7
53k miles
How far the average car has gone by seven years old. Low-mileage models can look better by age than they are.

What owners report

Reported

Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press, with how well each report stands up. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.

Brake vacuum pump recall (reduced braking assistance)

Confirmed pattern

On cars built between June 2019 and April 2020, the mesh filter inside the tandem vacuum pump can block, starving the brake servo of vacuum assistance and lengthening stopping distance. Kia issued an official recall for this in September 2023, so any car in that build window should show the work done in the service history. If you're buying one from that window and it hasn't been done, get it sorted before you drive it hard.

Builds June 2019-April 2020 · sources: official UK recall data (autoinsider.co.uk recall listing), DVSA

Turbo hesitation and whistling on the 1.0 T-GDi

Emerging

Owners of the 1.0-litre turbo petrol report a flat spot or whistle under acceleration from around 60,000 miles, usually on cars used mostly for short urban runs. The likely cause is carbon build-up on the turbo and inlet side from repeated cold starts and stop-start driving rather than a design fault, and it tends to show up gradually rather than as a sudden failure. No manufacturer statement or recall covers it, and a full turbo replacement can run to several hundred pounds if it's left too long.

From 60k miles, worse on short journeys · sources: Kia Owners Club forum, Kia Motors Poland forum, owner write-ups

Timing chain tensioner rattle on early 1.0 T-GDi cars

Emerging

Some pre-2020 1.0 T-GDi Stonics develop a rattle from the timing chain area on cold start-up that clears once oil pressure builds. Hyundai-Kia revised the tensioner, guides and recommended oil spec for this engine family around 2020, which owners take as a tacit admission of the problem, but there's no Stonic-specific recall and dealers vary in how they diagnose it. Left unaddressed for a long time it can mean a costly chain and tensioner replacement rather than an adjustment.

Pre-2020 build cars, noise from cold · sources: Kia Owners Club forum, Kia Stonic Forum, Kia Motors Poland forum

Electric power steering (EPS) faults

Partly in the MOT data

Owners report the EPS warning light coming on with the steering suddenly going heavy, sometimes with no fault code stored, traced in individual cases to a faulty sensor, a bad steering motor, or a failed rubber coupler on the column. This lines up with the measured MOT data for this segment, where steering is the standout fault category for small SUVs generally; the Stonic doesn't stand out as worse than the class, but where it does fail, EPS-related faults are the sort of thing owners describe. Repairs range from a simple sensor or coupler swap up to a full rack, so cost varies a lot.

Reported at various ages, no clear mileage pattern · sources: Kia Owners Club forum, Kia Forums (US), owner reports on MyCarly community

DPF blocking and black smoke on the diesel

EmergingDiesel only

On the 1.4 and 1.6 CRDi diesel versions (early generation only), owners describe the DPF warning light coming on, black smoke under acceleration and reduced power, usually on cars doing a lot of short, low-speed trips that never get the filter hot enough to regenerate. A forced regeneration or filter clean can sort it early on, but a fully blocked filter usually means replacement, which is an expensive job on a small car like this. Doesn't apply to the far more common 1.0 T-GDi petrol.

Worse on stop-start/urban use · sources: Kia Owners Club forum, owner reports (MyCarly community)

DCT automatic gearbox shudder

EmergingAutomatics only

Cars fitted with the 7-speed dual-clutch automatic can develop a shudder or hesitation pulling away from a stop or in slow traffic, a known trait of this dry-clutch DCT design shared across the Hyundai-Kia range rather than a Stonic-specific fault. It's more of a driving-experience niggle than a guaranteed failure, but persistent judder can point to clutch pack wear, which is a costly transmission job out of warranty. Doesn't apply to manual cars.

Reported across ages, worse in stop-start traffic · sources: Kia Owners Club forum, Honest John Back Room Forum

What to check on this car

Ranked from this model’s own MOT record, then from what owners report.

Saveable checklist

From this model’s MOT record

The physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.

Steering playRuns high on this model With the engine running and the car parked, waggle the wheel lightly about the straight-ahead. The wheels should respond almost at once. A dead zone before anything happens means wear in the rack or the track rod ends.Recorded on 2.0% of tests at age 6-9 · class average 1.1%
A binding brakeRuns high on this model After the test drive, hold the back of your hand near each wheel hub. One wheel running much hotter than the rest is a sticking caliper. A car that slows itself down when you lift off on a flat road is saying the same thing.Recorded on 1.7% of tests at age 6-9 · class average 0.7%
Lights and horn walkroundRuns high on this model With a helper, run every light: dipped, main beam, indicators, brake lights including the high-level one, reverse, fog, and the horn. On newer cars a dead LED section can mean replacing the whole lamp unit rather than a bulb.Recorded on 1.3% of tests at age 6-9 · class average 0.8%
Bushes and ball joints Drive slowly over broken tarmac with the windows down and listen for clonks from either end. Back at the car, have someone rock the steering wheel while you rest a hand on each front wheel; play you can feel through the tyre is a worn joint.Recorded on 1.1% of tests at age 6-9 · class average 5.9%
Leaks Look at the ground where the car usually stands, then glance under the engine after your test drive. Fresh drips of oil or coolant are the cheapest warning you will ever get about a car.Recorded on 1.1% of tests at age 6-9 · class average 2.0%
Rubber boots and gaiters On full steering lock, look in behind each front wheel at the concertina rubber boots on the driveshafts and steering rack. Splits, or grease flung around the arch, mean dirt is getting into a joint that costs far more than the boot protecting it.Recorded on 0.8% of tests at age 6-9 · class average 0.3%

Worth doing on any used car

These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.

Tyres, all four Check the tread across the full width of each tyre, inner edge included, and look for cracking and mismatched brands. A set of decent tyres is £500 or more on most cars, which makes this the easiest money to take off a price. If the pressure warning light is on, budget for sensors too.Recorded on 24.6% of tests at age 6-9 · class average 20.1%
Pads and discsRuns high on this model Look through the wheel spokes at the brake disc. A pronounced lip on its outer edge, or a rusty and scored face, means discs and pads are due all round, a few hundred pounds on most cars. A haggling point rather than a reason to walk away.Recorded on 15.8% of tests at age 6-9 · class average 8.7%
Windscreen and wipers Scan the glass in daylight for chips, especially in the driver's line of sight where even a small one can fail the MOT. Run the washers and check the wipers clear without smearing.Recorded on 1.7% of tests at age 6-9 · class average 1.7%

Because of what owners report

Drawn from the reports above rather than the MOT data. These are the model-specific ones.

Check the service history/VIN against the recall for a brake vacuum pump fix on 2019-2020 build cars. If it's not been done and the car's in that build window, get it checked before relying on hard braking.
Start the engine stone cold and listen for a rattle from the front of the engine for the first few seconds. A rattle that clears as it warms up points to timing chain tensioner wear, more common on pre-2020 1.0 T-GDi cars.
On the test drive, floor it briefly from low revs and listen for whistling or a flat spot. Turbo hesitation or whistle, especially on a car used mostly for short trips, suggests carbon build-up on the turbo.
Turn the wheel lock to lock at a standstill and watch for the EPS warning light or sudden heavy steering. Either is a sign of an electric power steering fault, the fault type that shows up most in this segment's MOT data.
On a diesel, watch the exhaust on a hard pull and check for a DPF warning light. Black smoke or a lit DPF light means the filter isn't regenerating properly, expensive to sort if fully blocked.
On an automatic, drive it in slow, stop-start traffic rather than just a clear road. Shudder or hesitation pulling away is the DCT clutch judder owners report; a smooth motorway test drive can hide it.
Pull up the full MOT history rather than just the pass/fail. Repeated advisories for the same thing, especially steering or brakes, mean it's being ignored rather than fixed.

Open the saveable checklist, tick it off at the car

The MOT data

Measured

Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.

How this model wears

Kia StonicClass average, all tracked models

What testers flag

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.

Faults with the car itself

The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 10,526 tests in this band.

Play in steering rack inner joint(s)
Advisory
2.0%class 1.1%
A headlamp or light source missing, inoperative or more than ½ not functioning in the case of LED
Fail
2.0%class 1.0%
Significant brake effort recorded with no brake applied indicating a binding brake
Advisory
1.7%class 0.7%
A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play
Advisory
1.4%class 0.4%
A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn
Advisory
1.1%class 5.9%
Fluid leaking excessively and likely to harm the environment or to pose a safety risk to other road users
Advisory
1.1%class 2.0%
A suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc
Fail
0.8%class 0.3%
A suspension joint dust cover severely deteriorated
Minor
0.7%class 0.6%
Excessive fluctuation in brake effort through each wheel revolution.
Advisory
0.6%class 0.6%

Wear, upkeep and luck

Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.

Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements
Advisory
27.4%class 22.9%
A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm
Advisory
15.8%class 8.7%
Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured
Advisory
13.2%class 10.1%
A tyre seriously damaged
Advisory
13.0%class 12.7%
Brake disc or drum significantly and obviously worn
Advisory
5.9%class 3.4%
A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm
Fail
3.6%class 1.6%
Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt
Advisory
3.6%class 2.2%
Nail in tyre
Advisory
2.8%class 1.6%

Others in its class

Same segment (Small SUVs), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.

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