Performance by cohort

3 year bands · 40,381 tests

Pass rate climbs 23.7 points across the cohorts — newer C5 examples clear the test more reliably than the early cars.

Pre-2018 cohort 15,257

Pass

66.9%

Fail

26.6%

PRS

5.6%

Avg mileage at test

115,952 mi

2018–2020 cohort 22,747

Pass

86.3%

Fail

9.5%

PRS

3.9%

Avg mileage at test

33,892 mi

2021+ cohort 2,377

Pass

90.6%

Fail

7.6%

PRS

1.5%

Avg mileage at test

25,060 mi

Cohort = vehicle's first-registration year band. Same model, different generations of build.

Generations on file · 2

Citroen C5 · UK market

Photos: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA / CC BY / public domain.

The picture

Citroen C5: mixed MOT record across 25,909 tests

The Citroën C5 is a large family car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 2000 and 2018 in France, and between 2008 and 2022 in China, over two generations.

MOT data from 25,909 tests puts this car on a 76.1% first-time pass rate, roughly in line with the UK fleet average. Average mileage at test is 70,282 miles. The most common fail item is failed number plate light, followed by transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc.

The C5 Aircross is the first vehicle to be equipped with a new suspension system with Progressive Hydraulic Cushions. This delivers improved damping for exceptional ride comfort that is synonymous with Citroën.

Buyers weighing up a used C5 should treat the failure breakdown as a pre-purchase checklist. The pass rate is reasonable, but the gap between first attempt and a clean sheet narrows with age and mileage.

ABI Insurance Group

Group 18–28

Around the UK fleet average for insurance cost. Lower groups cost less to insure; UK fleet average is around Group 22.

Source: ABI Group Rating Panel · administered by Thatcham Research · groups cover standard variants; performance trims may sit higher. Browse all insurance groups →

18–28

out of 50

Compare quotes →

Top ten reasons for rejection.

Filter failures:

Hide wear items to see the model's real defects.

01

A rear registration plate lamp or light source missing or inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources

2,110 occurrences · 5.2% of tests
02

A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot severely deteriorated

1,190 occurrences · 2.9% of tests
03

A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc

1,111 occurrences · 2.8% of tests
04

Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements

784 occurrences · 1.9% of tests
05

a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm

732 occurrences · 1.8% of tests
06

A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn

661 occurrences · 1.6% of tests
07

A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning

602 occurrences · 1.5% of tests
08

A tyre seriously damaged

565 occurrences · 1.4% of tests
09

Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view

540 occurrences · 1.3% of tests
10

A rear registration plate lamp or light source missing or inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps

519 occurrences · 1.3% of tests

Counts cover Major and Dangerous defects logged at test. Advisory items excluded so this shows why a car was rejected, not just what the tester flagged in passing.

Worst-case fix budget · top 3 failures

£148–£290

If every one of this C5's most-logged Major fails hit at the same MOT, that's the real-world UK garage range. Reality is usually one or two items, not all of them. Open the estimator →

Try the calculator

Build your own retest budget.

Year-band analysis

Best year to buy. Worst to avoid.

First-time MOT pass rate split by registration band. A 23.7-point gap between bands means the year you buy Citroen C5 has a real effect on what turns up at the garage.

Best band to buy

90.6%

2021+ registration

the 2021-on band climbs to 90.6% — a 23.7-point improvement. Tests in this band average 25,060 miles — roughly 91K miles fewer on the clock than the older band. Failures here are mostly wear items: has a cut in excess of the…, tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm — the structural issues that drag down older examples don't appear in the top-10 for this band. Post-2020 examples are early in their MOT life and generally show the cleanest records.

Band to be cautious about

66.9%

Pre-2018 registration

On the older band (pre-2018), the data shows a 66.9% pass rate against a fleet average of 90.6% on the newer band. The main culprits logged at test: constant velocity boot split or insecure, no…, constant velocity boot severely deteriorated, and inoperative in the case of multiple lamps…. Average mileage on test for this band is 115,952 miles — high-mileage wear items are a recurring theme.

Best band to buy: 2021+ (90.6% first-time pass). Worst band to avoid: pre-2018 (66.9% pass). That's a 23.7-point spread across 15,257 older tests and 2,377 newer ones — year of build makes a material difference on this model.

Year-spread leaderboard →

Tools that pre-empt a retest.

Picked against this car's top failure patterns. Affiliate links to Amazon UK — we earn a small cut at no cost to you. Disclosed up-front, doesn't shape the data.

Item 01 · Amazon UK

H7 / W21W bulb pack

A spare-bulb kit lives in the boot. Test morning is not the time to find your stop-lamp's gone.

Search Amazon UK

Item 02 · Amazon UK

Digital tyre-tread depth gauge

Five quid for a gauge beats £150 for a retest. UK MOT minimum is 1.6mm — most testers fail anything below 2mm to be safe.

Search Amazon UK

Item 03 · Amazon UK

Brake pad measurement gauge

Testers fail pads under 1.5mm. A wear gauge tells you if you've got two months left or two weeks.

Search Amazon UK

My Motor World · affiliate

Parts & supplies for this fix

Affiliate links — small commission, no extra cost to you.

Summit

Summit ADRG-169 Citroen Replacement Stick-On Tinted Mirror Glass RHS

£9.89

View at My Motor World →

Summit

Summit ADRG-170 Citroen Replacement Stick-On Tinted Mirror Glass LHS

£9.89

View at My Motor World →

Summit

Summit ADRG-48 Citroen Replacement Stick-On Tinted Mirror Glass RHS

£9.89

View at My Motor World →

Summit

Summit ADRG-49 Citroen Replacement Stick-On Tinted Mirror Glass LHS

£9.89

View at My Motor World →

Click Mechanic · affiliate

Book a mobile mechanic

Affiliate links — small commission, no extra cost to you.

Mobile mechanic · UK-wide

Book a mechanic at your door.

Fixed-price quotes upfront. No garage needed. Click Mechanic sends a vetted local mechanic to you — home, work, or roadside.

Get a quote →

Owner reports · Honest John

What owners actually report.

Verbatim faults logged by owners on honestjohn.co.uk over recent years. We didn't summarise — these are the words people typed in.

What's good

Equipped with a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and an 8-inch HD touchscreen, the C5 Aircross features a wireless inductive charging function for smartphones as well as an array of cutting-edge driving aids, including Active Safety Brake, Active Lane Departure Warning and Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop Function.

Where it falls short

Prices start at £23,225 MRRP OTR. The official UK ‘on sale’ date for New C5 Aircross SUV was 4-2-2019, with order books opening across the Citroën dealer network on 3-12-2018\.

Recall history

24 UK recalls on record.

The C5 has 24 official UK vehicle recalls covering defect details, remedies, and affected build dates.

See all recalls

Buying or keeping a C5?

Use the failure ranking as a pre-test checklist or a haggling lever. Treat the headline pass rate as a fleet-wide trend, not a guarantee on any individual car.

If you own a C5 and your last MOT looked nothing like the ranked failures above, that's normal — individual cars vary widely. The ranking shows the patterns testers flag most often across the country.