All generations and engines together · 12,577 MOT tests in the 2025 data
Middling among people carriers per mile driven. Watch suspension and lights & electrics. A fair used buy, provided its MOT history has no repeating suspension advisories.
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.
The pre-facelift 1.4 16v (shared with the Fabia and Polo of the same era) is known for bore and oil-control problems that show up as an engine warning light, low compression on a test, and heavy oil use, sometimes with barely 40-50k miles covered. Owners often chase it through catalytic converters, lambda sensors and EGR valves before someone points out the block itself is worn, at which point a rebuild or replacement engine is the only real fix. No recall or TSB covers it, it is treated as normal wear by dealers, and a rebuild can cost more than a tidy used car of this age is worth.
The three-cylinder 1.2 TSI (EA111, badged 86 or 105PS) can stretch its timing chain, most often noticed as a metallic rattle on cold start that fades after a few seconds. Left alone the chain can jump a tooth and wreck the engine, so a rattle is worth acting on fast rather than waiting for the next service. Reported from around 60-80k miles on cars serviced on long intervals; a chain, tensioner and guide replacement runs roughly £400-800, an engine after a jumped chain is £1,500 plus. Only affects 1.2 TSI cars, the 1.4/1.6 petrol and diesel engines use different arrangements.
Cars built with the 7-speed DSG (offered with the 1.2 TSI) can hesitate, judder or jerk when moving off, particularly from cold. Honest John's Ask HJ column has fielded this specifically for the Roomster, with owners told a software update and a shim adjustment inside the mechatronic unit can improve it, though Skoda has been inconsistent about offering the fix under goodwill once the car is out of warranty. Manual-gearbox Roomsters are not affected.
A recurring theme across owner reports: windows that stop working after rain and start again once things dry out, doors that lock with the windows stuck down, and stalk or door switches (window, mirror, light control) failing outright. It points to water getting into door wiring or the window control unit rather than one single part. Honest John also notes the Roomster has a higher-than-average MOT failure rate for indicator and stop lamp bulbs/circuits, which fits a car with generally weak electrics. Costs vary hugely, from a £20 switch to £150-300 for a window regulator or control module.
Rear wiper motors dying is reported often enough on owner forums to be a known weak point, sometimes on cars barely out of the showroom, other times well into ownership. The usual cause is worn brushes binding in the motor rather than anything more serious, and a replacement motor is a cheap fix at roughly £60-120 fitted. It is disputed how common it really is against the number of Roomsters sold, since forum threads naturally over-represent people with a problem.
Owners regularly report clonks and knocks from the front end, traced to worn anti-roll bar drop links, lower arm bushes or top mounts, usually from 60k miles on cars that have done a lot of pothole-strewn UK roads. This lines up with the measured MOT data for the Roomster, where suspension is the standout fault category for the class. It is a cheap-parts, fiddly-labour job, typically £80-150 a side for drop links or bushes, but a car with a bad knock at test drive may already be failing an MOT advisory on it.
Ranked from this model’s own MOT record, then from what owners report.
Saveable checklistThe physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
Drawn from the reports above rather than the MOT data. These are the model-specific ones.
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. 11,866 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.
Same segment (MPVs), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.