Hyundai
47,760 MOT tests analysed. lands in the middle of the pack — here's where Ix20s pass, fail, and end up on the retest sheet.
That's 1.5 points below the UK fleet average across our 1,984 tracked models — buyers should expect more first-time fails than the typical UK car.
Pass
76.0%
Pass-after-fix
5.0%
Fail
18.6%
Avg miles
54,125
Pass + Pass-after-fix + Fail = 100%
Petrol cars first registered from January 2006 meet Euro 4 — compliant in London ULEZ, Birmingham CAZ, Bristol CAZ, and Glasgow LEZ.
Performance by cohort
2 year bands · 47,760 tests
Pass rate climbs 15.3 points across the cohorts — newer Ix20 examples clear the test more reliably than the early cars.
Pass
74.7%
Fail
19.8%
PRS
5.2%
Avg mileage at test
56,935 mi
Pass
90.0%
Fail
6.3%
PRS
3.3%
Avg mileage at test
25,195 mi
Cohort = vehicle's first-registration year band. Same model, different generations of build.
The picture
The Hyundai ix20 is a car manufactured and marketed by Hyundai, which debuted at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. A mini MPV, the ix20 is a rebadged variant of the Kia Venga, sharing platforms with the Hyundai i20 and Kia Soul.
MOT data from 35,297 tests puts this car on a 77.1% first-time pass rate, roughly in line with the UK fleet average. Average mileage at test is 49,396 miles. The most common fail item is steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play, followed by parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement.
The epitome of common sense family driving, the Hyundai ix20 doesn’t offer much in the way of excitement, but it is extremely practical.
Buyers weighing up a used Ix20 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
Below the fleet average — generally reasonable to insure. 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 →
8–15
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A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play
1,734 occurrences · 3.6% of tests
Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement
1,489 occurrences · 3.1% of tests
A rear registration plate lamp or light source missing or inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources
1,204 occurrences · 2.5% of tests
a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm
1,097 occurrences · 2.3% of tests
A suspension joint dust cover severely deteriorated
1,070 occurrences · 2.2% of tests
Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning
929 occurrences · 1.9% of tests
Parking brake inoperative on one side
925 occurrences · 1.9% of tests
A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning
798 occurrences · 1.7% of tests
A suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc
637 occurrences · 1.3% of tests
Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements
632 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 4 failures
£248–£675
If every one of this Ix20'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
First-time MOT pass rate split by registration band. A 15.3-point gap between bands means the year you buy Hyundai Ix20 has a real effect on what turns up at the garage.
Best band to buy
90.0%
2018–2020 registration
the 2018–2020 band climbs to 90.0% — a 15.3-point improvement. Tests in this band average 25,195 miles — roughly 32K miles fewer on the clock than the older band. Failures here are mostly wear items: does not clear the windscreen effectively, less than 1.5 mm thick — the structural issues that drag down older examples don't appear in the top-10 for this band. The stricter post-2018 MOT test rules meant manufacturers had to tighten up emissions and electrical checks, but this band still shows far fewer major failures on suspension and bodywork than the older fleet.
Band to be cautious about
74.7%
Pre-2018 registration
On the older band (pre-2018), the data shows a 74.7% pass rate against a fleet average of 90.0% on the newer band. The main culprits logged at test: ball joint has excessive play, efficiency below requirements, and inoperative in the case of multiple lamps…. Average mileage on test for this band is 56,935 miles — high-mileage wear items are a recurring theme.
Best band to buy: 2018-2020 (90.0% first-time pass). Worst band to avoid: pre-2018 (74.7% pass). That's a 15.3-point spread across 43,529 older tests and 4,231 newer ones — year of build makes a material difference on this model.
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
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
Affiliate links — small commission, no extra cost to you.
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Hycote Touch Up Colour Paint Brush Hyundai Polar White 12.5ml
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Hycote Touch Up Colour Paint Brush Hyundai Electric Red 12.5ml
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Click Mechanic · affiliate
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.
Owner reports · Honest John
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
The epitome of common sense family driving, the Hyundai ix20 doesn’t offer much in the way of excitement, but it is extremely practical.
Recall history
The Ix20 has 1 official UK vehicle recall covering defect details, remedies, and affected build dates.
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 an Ix20 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.
