Performance by cohort

3 year bands · 422,075 tests

Pass rate climbs 16.5 points across the cohorts — newer Aygo examples clear the test more reliably than the early cars.

Pre-2018 cohort 318,956

Pass

75.7%

Fail

18.5%

PRS

5.2%

Avg mileage at test

63,071 mi

2018–2020 cohort 77,283

Pass

88.5%

Fail

7.4%

PRS

3.8%

Avg mileage at test

26,277 mi

2021+ cohort 25,836

Pass

92.2%

Fail

4.8%

PRS

2.6%

Avg mileage at test

17,299 mi

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

Generations on file · 3

Toyota Aygo · UK market

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

The picture

Aygo Tops 79% — MMT Gearbox Owners Beware

Toyota's city car passes first time 79.3% of the time, one of the stronger rates among small cars at this mileage bracket. Registration plate lamp failures, worn tyres, and binding brakes are the routine MOT pitfalls — cheap and straightforward to fix. The bigger risk is specific to the MMT automated manual gearbox: one owner reported 18 dated faults between 2011 and 2019, with a clutch replacement at £600 before the actuator finally gave up entirely.

Oil consumption is a separate thread worth pulling on. Multiple reports describe 2007-2012 petrol units burning through oil fast enough to trigger the warning light mid-corner. Manual gearbox Aygos avoid these problems entirely — prioritise one if low running costs matter.

ABI Insurance Group

Group 2–7

A low-group car — among the cheapest to insure in the UK. 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 →

2–7

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

8,228 occurrences · 1.9% of tests
02

Headlamp reflector or lens slightly defective

8,015 occurrences · 1.9% of tests
03

Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements

7,280 occurrences · 1.7% of tests
04

Significant brake effort recorded with no brake applied indicating a binding brake

6,922 occurrences · 1.6% of tests
05

The strength or continuity of the load bearing structure within 30cm of any sub-frame, spring or suspension component mounting (a 'prescribed area') is significantly reduced or inadequately repaired

6,809 occurrences · 1.6% of tests
06

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

5,154 occurrences · 1.2% of tests
07

Wiper blade defective

4,768 occurrences · 1.1% of tests
08

Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen

4,517 occurrences · 1.1% of tests
09

a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm

4,472 occurrences · 1.1% of tests
10

The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements

4,352 occurrences · 1.0% 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

£78–£210

If every one of this Aygo'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 16.5-point gap between bands means the year you buy Toyota Aygo has a real effect on what turns up at the garage.

Best band to buy

92.2%

2021+ registration

the 2021-on band climbs to 92.2% — a 16.5-point improvement. Tests in this band average 17,299 miles — roughly 46K 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

75.7%

Pre-2018 registration

On the older band (pre-2018), the data shows a 75.7% pass rate against a fleet average of 92.2% on the newer band. The main culprits logged at test: inoperative in the case of multiple lamps…, lens slightly defective, and excessively binding. Average mileage on test for this band is 63,071 miles — high-mileage wear items are a recurring theme. Honest John records: "Report of 2012 Toyota Aygo 1.0 Ice using a lot of oil. "The oil warning light flashed during a quick corner." "eats oil and getting a reading off the dipstick…"

Best band to buy: 2021+ (92.2% first-time pass). Worst band to avoid: pre-2018 (75.7% pass). That's a 16.5-point spread across 318,956 older tests and 25,836 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

Headlight restoration kit

Yellowed lenses fail the light-output test. A restoration kit lifts the haze in an afternoon for £20.

Search Amazon UK

Item 03 · 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

My Motor World · affiliate

Parts & supplies for this fix

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Click Mechanic · affiliate

Book a mobile mechanic

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

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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.

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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.

Recent owner-reported faults

17 Oct 2019
Report of MMT actuator finally failing on 2007 Toyota Aygo automated manual. Clutch replaced in 2017 at a cost of £600. Porous seals to rear windows. Rear windows that unglued themselves. Car now an economic write-off. 18 dated faults reported since January 2011
11 Apr 2019
Report of used 2007 Toyoga Aygo with 85,000 miles using oil at the rate of around 1,000 miles a litre. Might need new valve stem oil seals. See: 31-10-2016.
16 Oct 2018
Report of 2012 Toyota Aygo 1.0 Ice using a lot of oil. "The oil warning light flashed during a quick corner." "eats oil and getting a reading off the dipstick is impossible.Doesn't smoke at startup and most of the time I let it get some warmth into the oil before I set off, especially in autumn/winter."
5 Jul 2018
Report of problems with 2009 Toyota Aygo 1.0 MMT. Started beeping intermittently a couple of days ago then stopped, then started again. Now the clutch is slipping. Beeping stops foot off the accelerator while driving.
5 Feb 2018
Report of problemds with 2011 Toyota Aygo MMT automated manual. "M iss shifting with a noise as it was arising from slipping disk or from slipping synchronizer. This slippage noise and miss shifting occured most of the times when acceleration was increased. Local mechanic connected a scan tool and started clutch assembly calibration and after that the vehicle stopped moving from its place. The gear selection display from the combination meter has disappeared."
31 Oct 2016
Report of 2006 Toyota Aygo starting to use oil at the rate of around 0.5 litres per 1,000 miles. Probably needs a new set of valve stem oil seals.
3 Oct 2016
Report of clutch failing on 2013 Toyota Aygo used on a small island after 8,000 miles.
5 Apr 2016
Yet another report of water ingress, this time to the back seat of a 2012 Aygo, possibly via the pop-out rear window. Dealer said not covered by 5 year warranty.
4 Mar 2016
Another complaint of repeated water leaks through doors of March 2014 registered Aygo (not the new model).
5 Feb 2016
Report of rear light units of 2012 Aygo needing to be replaced 6 times due to water ingress. Also 2 faults where water was coming into the car via the speaker seals. Hatchback glass blew off entirely when opened in high wind.
27 Apr 2015
Complaint of 'bleeping' from 2006 Aygo automated manual.
9 Jun 2014
Automated manual of 2007 Aygo MMT "jerking and shaking" intermittently. Quoted £2,200 to fix by Toyota dealer and £1,500 by an independent. Best advice: get rid of the car.

Source: honestjohn.co.uk · 19 reports indexed, top 12 shown

Recall history

13 UK recalls on record.

The Aygo has 13 official UK vehicle recalls covering defect details, remedies, and affected build dates.

See all recalls

Buying or keeping an Aygo?

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 Aygo 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.