Performance by cohort

3 year bands · 1,004,500 tests

Pass rate climbs 18.7 points across the cohorts — newer Qashqai examples clear the test more reliably than the early cars.

Pre-2018 cohort 793,128

Pass

72.0%

Fail

23.5%

PRS

3.9%

Avg mileage at test

85,942 mi

2018–2020 cohort 181,813

Pass

87.8%

Fail

9.4%

PRS

2.4%

Avg mileage at test

38,877 mi

2021+ cohort 29,559

Pass

90.7%

Fail

6.0%

PRS

3.1%

Avg mileage at test

25,324 mi

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

Generations on file · 3

Nissan Qashqai · UK market

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

The picture

Qashqai Passes 75.5% — Suspension Is the Weak Link

With 683,919 MOT records to draw from, the Qashqai's 75.5% first-time pass rate sits around the family SUV average. Suspension joint dust covers, ball joints, and worn bushes dominate the failure list — all classic high-mileage wear items on a car averaging 71,251 miles at test. Early J11 1.2 DIG-T units drew complaints of oil loss between services, with 1.5 litres disappearing over 12 months unnoticed by owners who relied on service intervals alone.

Electrical gremlins — phantom warning sensors and door-lock failures after key removal — crop up regularly on 2014-2017 cars. Pre-purchase inspection should include a full suspension check and a close look at oil level history.

ABI Insurance Group

Group 15–29

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 →

15–29

out of 50

Compare quotes →

Top ten reasons for rejection.

Filter failures:

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

01

A suspension joint dust cover severely deteriorated

43,185 occurrences · 4.3% of tests
02

A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play

37,127 occurrences · 3.7% of tests
03

A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn

32,548 occurrences · 3.2% of tests
04

Steering rack gaiter or ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated

30,401 occurrences · 3.0% of tests
05

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

30,077 occurrences · 3.0% of tests
06

a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm

28,625 occurrences · 2.8% of tests
07

A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot severely deteriorated

26,096 occurrences · 2.6% of tests
08

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

23,279 occurrences · 2.3% of tests
09

Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements

22,372 occurrences · 2.2% of tests
10

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

21,836 occurrences · 2.2% 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 5 failures

£328–£995

If every one of this Qashqai'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 18.7-point gap between bands means the year you buy Nissan Qashqai has a real effect on what turns up at the garage.

Best band to buy

90.7%

2021+ registration

the 2021-on band climbs to 90.7% — a 18.7-point improvement. Tests in this band average 25,324 miles — roughly 61K miles fewer on the clock than the older band. Failures here are mostly wear items: blade defective, less than 1.5 mm thick — 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

72.0%

Pre-2018 registration

On the older band (pre-2018), the data shows a 72.0% pass rate against a fleet average of 90.7% on the newer band. The main culprits logged at test: ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated, ball joint has excessive play, and ball joint excessively worn. Average mileage on test for this band is 85,942 miles — high-mileage wear items are a recurring theme. Honest John records: "3rd service of 2014/64 Qashqai J11 1.2 DIG-T showed oil loss of 1.5 litres over 12 months (owner evidently did not check oil between services). Car now at 37,500 miles,…"

Best band to buy: 2021+ (90.7% first-time pass). Worst band to avoid: pre-2018 (72.0% pass). That's a 18.7-point spread across 793,128 older tests and 29,559 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.

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My Motor World · affiliate

Parts & supplies for this fix

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Summit

Summit ASRG-1005 Nissan Replacement Stick-On Wide Angle Mirror Glass RHS

£24.19

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Summit ASRG-1004BH Nissan Replacement Wide Angle Mirror Glass with Heated Backing Plate LHS

£32.99

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Summit ASRG-1005BH Nissan Replacement Wide Angle Mirror Glass with Heated Backing Plate RHS

£32.99

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Hycote

Hycote Touch Up Colour Paint Brush Nissan Intense Blue Metallic 12.5ml

£6.59

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Book a mobile mechanic

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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.

Where it falls short

Owner reports (49 entries) flag recurring issues with DSG/gearbox, electrical faults, air conditioning.

Recent owner-reported faults

15 Jan 2018
3rd service of 2014/64 Qashqai J11 1.2 DIG-T showed oil loss of 1.5 litres over 12 months (owner evidently did not check oil between services). Car now at 37,500 miles, still under warranty until February 2018. Owner told to bring it back for checks after 3,000 miles.
21 Dec 2017
Electrical glitches reported with 2014 Nissan Qashqai bought used from a Nissan dealer in August 2017. Front warning sensor sometimes goes of when driving, has been rectified once, but has now happened again. Sometimes when stopped and on taking the key out of the ignition the doors will not open and the alarm goes off, on putting the key back in and turning on the electrics the alarm stops and owner can open the door.
19 Dec 2017
Battery failure reported on 2016 Nissan Qashqai.
8 Dec 2017
Report of 2014 Nissan Qashqai J11 1.2 DIG-T Acenta Premium suffering excessive oil consumption and loss of power. Owner eventually told engine needs replacing due to piston ring slotting failure spotted from a compression test. Car went out of warranty Feb 2017 and Nissan has refused any liability. Owner advised to sue on the basis of a "fundamental fault" using the evidence of other reported failures.
4 Dec 2017
Report of 2015 Nissan Qashqai J11 1.2 DIG-T Tekna needing a new engine.
29 Nov 2017
Report of 2015/65 Nissan Qashqai J11 1.2 DIG-T Tekna on 19-inch 45 profile tyres needing new front tyres at 14,000 miles. (The 215/60 R17 tyres on 17-inch wheels last around 30,000 miles.) Also having used 3 litres of oil in 14,000 miles.
19 Nov 2017
Report of 2017 Nissan Qashqai burning out its clutch and damaging its flywheel after 3,000 miles. Owner blames the electromechanical parking brake 'auto-release' not releasing quickly enough.
14 Nov 2017
Problems with 2016/65 reg Nissan Qashqai 1.6 dCi 130 have included; corrosion under the lacquer of the diamond cut alloy wheels which saw two alloy wheels being replaced at just over 1 year old. The battery failed in summer 2017. In October it had the Mass Airflow Sensor replaced as it had started dropping power, and the air conditioning required regassing (R1234YF) at a cost of £150 as there was no gas left in the system, yet supposedly no leaks in the system either. Now the lacquer has stated to bubble on one of the two wheels not replaced last spring. In addition the air filter housing is held together with self tapping screws! These screws were fitted by the dealer in an apparently crude attempt to stop the air filter housing from vibrating and buzzing, something. The original plastic clips have now been fretted away to dust, and so the housing now needs replacing too.
13 Nov 2017
Report of engine of 2016 Nissan Qashqai J11 1.2 DIG-T cutting out completely at 60mph on two occasions. Dealer "re-booted" the ECU after the first time. Is now checking it a 2nd time. See: 11-3-2017 and 4-6-2017.
6 Sep 2017
Report of "smudgy blue line" appearing on the satnav screen of a 2015 Qashqai 1.5 dci Ntec.
5 Sep 2017
Report of 2014 Nissan Qashqai J11 1.2 DIG-T in for service found to have excessively noisy engine and high oil consumption. Dealer asked for it back next week for checks and may fit new engine.
1 Sep 2017
Report of burning smell and orange (engine shaped) warning light coming on in 2016 Nissan Qashqai J11 1.6 DIG-T at 3,000 miles. RAC tjought it was a problem with an exhaust lambda sensor. Nissan dealer thinks it might be the clutch, which would not be covered under warranty. Wants owner to guarantee to pay £800 to replace the clutch. Owner thinks the problem might be the electromechanical parking brake sticking on and causing excess clutch wear.

Source: honestjohn.co.uk · 30 reports indexed, top 12 shown

Buying or keeping a Qashqai?

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 Qashqai 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.