All generations and engines together · 14,136 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. 14,116 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.
The Splash's ABS/ESP pump sits low down and corrodes internally once the brake fluid gets old and takes on moisture, usually showing up as a permanent ABS or ESP light and a fault code pointing at the pressure sensor. Honest John and brake-hydraulics specialists both call it the car's one genuinely expensive failure, typically from around 3 years old if the fluid's never been changed. A full pump from a dealer runs to roughly £1,700, though independent repairers who just fix the corroded sensor quote nearer £200-500. It lines up with the measured data too: brakes are this model's most common MOT failure category, and Honest John separately notes discs and pads wearing thin as early as 18-24 months.
The diesel's particulate filter struggles to regenerate on short, stop-start city trips, exactly the driving this car is usually bought for. When it can't burn off soot the engine injects extra fuel to try, and that fuel ends up diluting the engine oil, showing as the level creeping up the dipstick and smelling of diesel. Left unchecked, owners and independent write-ups link it to oil starvation and turbo wear. Doesn't affect the 1.0 or 1.2 petrol.
Most owners rate the Splash as a solid, low-drama city car, and it holds one of the best first-time MOT pass rates Honest John tracks. But a minority report the opposite: one detailed owner review describes needing a spring, driveshaft or brake component replaced every year and calls it the most repair-hungry car they've owned, despite only 60,000 miles covered. The split seems to come down to how the individual car was used and serviced rather than one design flaw.
Owners of automatic Splashes (the automated-manual AGS gearbox) report jerky, delayed gear changes, and Honest John's own fault notes flag unresolved cases of odd low-speed braking behaviour along with rear suspension or gasket problems specific to auto cars. Reports are fewer than for the brake and diesel issues above, so treat it as something to check for rather than a certainty. Doesn't apply to manual cars.
Early Splashes (2008-2010) seem more prone to bubbling paint and rust at the rear wheel arches and sills than the facelifted post-2011 cars, which got better underseal from the factory. It isn't manufacturer-acknowledged, just a repeated observation across owner and parts-trade write-ups, but it fits with this model's above-average MOT failure rates for body corrosion and exhaust-mounting rot.
Built from the two sections above.
Same segment (City cars), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.