Kia
78,735 MOT tests analysed. lands in the middle of the pack — here's where Vengas pass, fail, and end up on the retest sheet.
That's in line with the UK fleet average across our 1,984 tracked models.
Pass
77.4%
Pass-after-fix
5.0%
Fail
17.2%
Avg miles
56,106
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 · 78,735 tests
Pass rate climbs 14.7 points across the cohorts — newer Venga examples clear the test more reliably than the early cars.
Pass
76.0%
Fail
18.3%
PRS
5.2%
Avg mileage at test
59,232 mi
Pass
90.7%
Fail
6.1%
PRS
3.0%
Avg mileage at test
24,887 mi
Cohort = vehicle's first-registration year band. Same model, different generations of build.
The picture
The Kia Venga is a car manufactured by Kia for the European market across a single generation between 2009 and 2019, with a high-roof mini MPV design.
MOT data from 57,198 tests puts this car on a 77.5% first-time pass rate, roughly in line with the UK fleet average. Average mileage at test is 52,031 miles. The most common fail item is steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play, followed by failed number plate light.
Honest John owner records point to brake component wear as the recurring problems to check before buying used.
Buyers weighing up a used Venga 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 →
8–14
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A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play
3,272 occurrences · 4.2% of tests
A rear registration plate lamp or light source missing or inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources
1,957 occurrences · 2.5% of tests
A suspension joint dust cover severely deteriorated
1,768 occurrences · 2.2% of tests
A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning
1,636 occurrences · 2.1% of tests
a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm
1,222 occurrences · 1.6% of tests
Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view
1,068 occurrences · 1.4% of tests
A suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc
1,035 occurrences · 1.3% of tests
Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements
1,017 occurrences · 1.3% of tests
Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning
967 occurrences · 1.2% of tests
Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen
648 occurrences · 0.8% 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 Venga'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 14.7-point gap between bands means the year you buy Kia Venga has a real effect on what turns up at the garage.
Best band to buy
90.7%
2018–2020 registration
the 2018–2020 band climbs to 90.7% — a 14.7-point improvement. Tests in this band average 24,887 miles — roughly 34K miles fewer on the clock than the older band. Failures here are mostly wear items: does not clear the windscreen effectively, has a cut in excess of the… — 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
76.0%
Pre-2018 registration
On the older band (pre-2018), the data shows a 76.0% pass rate against a fleet average of 90.7% on the newer band. The main culprits logged at test: ball joint has excessive play, inoperative in the case of multiple lamps…, and ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated. Average mileage on test for this band is 59,232 miles — high-mileage wear items are a recurring theme.
Best band to buy: 2018-2020 (90.7% first-time pass). Worst band to avoid: pre-2018 (76.0% pass). That's a 14.7-point spread across 71,579 older tests and 7,156 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
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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.
2010 Venga reported as having an intermittently sticking starter motor, forcing the owner to rock the car in gear to free it off. Never happens at the dealers and dealer diagnosts cannot show anything unless the fault is pre
Fuel gauge of 2 year old Venga became unreliable, then failed.
Second failure of electric power steering of 2010 Kia Venga reported. Fixed under 7 year warranty.
Complaint of gear shifter of 2010 Kia Venga automatic sticking. Owner found had to use more force to engage reverse, then later found that in the Park position the car would not start. KIA dealer diagnosed stretched cable and fixed it but problem returned in 2018.
Complaint of front brake pads rattling in their calipers and the solution of a sticky pad to hold them in place lasting no more than a few days.
Bundle of problems reported on 1.4 diesel by a reader who claimed to have done 25k miles in two of them, so 50k miles altogether: 1st stank of diesel in the cab. Found a loose screw on the filler cap housing, tightened, gone. Electrical problems, ISG off, Power steering off, no dash lights: remedied by turning engine off an on. Radio jammed, very common again: switch off on to fix it. Very common complaint of putting your foot down and nothing happening. Most complaints on the Kia website about this. It goes after 15k. Kia initially blamed it on supermarket diesel (understandable) but since admitted the problem. Done away with ISG which only worked sporadically and never in London traffic jams for some reason. Parcel shelf collapsed.
Informed by Kia that brake parts shortage is being rectified.
11 Reg Hyundai iX20 1.4 CRDi Style with 8,500 miles (basically same as Venga). Rear brake caliper jammed in the 'handbrake on' position. Car taken to Benfield Hyundai, Newcastle on 8-8-2012 but told calipers and discs on back-order, to arrive 14th September. Numerous complaints of this.
Incurable "throttle lag" reported on 1.4 CRDi diesel.
With the automatic, over-sensitive software means that the slighterst touch on the brake pedal causes the engine to lose power.
Report of repeated problems with the power steering.
One report of a central locking fault with the rear doors preventing them from being opened from the inside (nothing to do with the child locks).
Source: honestjohn.co.uk · 12 reports indexed
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 Venga 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.
