All generations and engines together · 4,977 MOT tests in the 2025 data
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. 4,977 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 the 1.5 dCi diesel the EGR valve can stick open or shut. Stuck open it causes rough running and hesitation; stuck shut it lets exhaust gas temperatures climb, which can cook the turbo bearings and let oil into the induction system. Honest John notes Renault revised the valve design around 2007, after which reports dropped off sharply, so it's mainly an early-build issue. A replacement valve plus any turbo damage can run into four figures if it's been ignored.
An ageing 1.6 petrol engine can develop a rattly, knocking noise for the first second or two after a cold start, caused by a worn camshaft dephaser (the variable valve timing unit). It doesn't usually strand you, but Honest John quotes around £916 for a dealer replacement, which is a lot for what looks like a minor cold-start noise. Doesn't apply to the 1.4 petrol or dCi diesel engines.
The 1.5 dCi's automated manual (badged Quickshift/Quickshift 5) has a hydraulic actuator that operates the clutch and gear selection, and owners report it wearing out: one 59k-mile car lost a hydraulic piston, another had all gears drop out with a check-gearbox light and an unfindable fluid leak, and a separate Ask Honest John reader complained of a Grand Modus that wouldn't upshift cleanly. Repairs mean stripping the unit down, which isn't cheap and isn't a job for a general garage. Doesn't affect manual-gearbox cars.
Scattered reports of odd electrical behaviour: central locking clicking and trying to unlock itself (put down to moisture getting into the wiring or a door module), rear brake lights failing separately from the bulbs, and power steering losing its calibration if the battery is disconnected or jump-started, which then needs a dealer to recode it. None of this is officially acknowledged by Renault as a pattern, and each report is individually minor, but it fits this era of Renault's reputation for niggly electrics. Fixes are usually cheap once found, the annoying part is tracing the cause.
Honest John rates the Modus a middling 2 out of 5 for reliability, and Carbuyer's review says plainly that "engine problems are not unheard of" and the car "has experienced its fair share of issues." Neither source points to one dominant killer fault, which is why owners argue about it: plenty of Modus cars rack up six-figure mileages without drama, others seem to attract one small fault after another. Worth weighing against the fact this was a budget-positioned small MPV, not a premium car.
Built from the two sections above.
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