All generations and engines together · 31,025 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 60k
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. 11,187 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.
On 2011-2013 CT200h cars with halogen headlamps, the low-beam bulbs can burn out well before their rated life because the wiring feeds them too much voltage. Lexus ran a Customer Support Program fitting a corrected wiring harness and swapping both bulbs, even when only one side had failed, though that programme has since expired. The measured MOT data for this segment flags lights and electrics as the standout fault too; this harness issue is a real, documented slice of that, but most of the wider signature is probably down to everyday bulb wear rather than this specific fix.
The naturally aspirated 1.8 petrol engine, shared with the Prius and Auris of the same era, can use noticeably more oil than it should, sometimes needing a top-up between scheduled services. Toyota and Lexus acknowledged it with a service bulletin covering a redesigned piston and ring set, and dealers would run an oil consumption test if an owner reported the symptom. Worth checking on any secondhand CT, since ignoring it on top of infrequent oil changes is what turns a manageable issue into worn bores.
Owners repeatedly report the small 12V battery draining if the car is left for a couple of weeks, which can leave the whole car dead because the hybrid system needs that battery to wake up, even with a perfectly healthy main drive battery. It isn't treated as a design fault, more a parasitic-drain quirk, and Lexus's own guidance is to disconnect the negative terminal for long-term storage. A jump-start or trickle charge usually clears it, and battery age is the main variable.
The main hybrid battery pack is generally long-lived, these Toyota-derived units routinely run past 150,000 miles, but on higher-mileage or neglected cars it can lose capacity. That shows up as flatter acceleration and mpg slipping under 50. A dealer or specialist state-of-health check costs roughly £100-150, and a replacement pack (new or reconditioned) runs about £900-2,500 depending on supplier. Only really a concern once a car is well past Lexus's 8-year/100,000-mile hybrid warranty.
A recurring forum complaint is water pooling in the boot or spare wheel well, traced by dealers to a loose drain line that should carry sunroof water down to the rear wheel arch; when it comes adrift it dumps water into the boot and 12V battery area instead. Symptoms are a musty smell, damp carpet or visible pooling after rain. It's a seal/hose fix rather than a manufacturer campaign, cheap once found, but a boot left wet for months can corrode the battery tray underneath.
The screen and mouse-style Remote Touch controller are widely criticised as fiddly and dated, even against rivals from the same era, and the built-in sat-nav is slow to use on the move. It isn't a fault so much as Lexus's electronics ageing badly against smartphone mirroring, and owners are split: some fit a phone holder and ignore it, others rate it as a genuine annoyance day to day. Try it before you buy, since it can't be retrofitted to anything newer.
Built from the two sections above.
Same segment (Family hatchbacks), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.