Volkswagen
32,609 MOT tests analysed. sits above the UK fleet average — here's where T Crosss pass, fail, and end up on the retest sheet.
That's 12.9 points above the UK fleet average across our 1,984 tracked models — a confident result.
Pass
90.4%
Pass-after-fix
1.3%
Fail
7.9%
Avg miles
27,069
Pass + Pass-after-fix + Fail = 100%
Could not determine Euro standard — check the V5C or use the government's online ULEZ checker.
Performance by cohort
2 year bands · 32,607 tests
Pass rate climbs 1.3 points across the cohorts — newer T Cross examples clear the test more reliably than the early cars.
Pass
90.0%
Fail
8.2%
PRS
1.4%
Avg mileage at test
29,152 mi
Pass
91.3%
Fail
7.1%
PRS
1.2%
Avg mileage at test
22,865 mi
Cohort = vehicle's first-registration year band. Same model, different generations of build.
The picture
The Volkswagen T Cross is a petrol-powered car sold in the UK market across multiple generations, covering a broad date range in the test population.
MOT data from 14,731 tests puts this car on an 90.3% first-time pass rate, well above the UK fleet average. Average mileage at test is 22,508 miles. The most common fail item is brake pads worn below 1.5mm, followed by damaged tyre sidewall or structure.
The Volkswagen T-Cross is comfortable and good to drive, as well as being fairly affordable by VW standards.
For used buyers, the T Cross's pass rate suggests it clears the MOT with fewer surprises than most — but the top failure items above are still worth a pre-purchase inspection, particularly on higher-mileage examples.
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 →
10–20
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Steering rack gaiter or ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated
923 occurrences · 2.8% of tests
a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm
596 occurrences · 1.8% of tests
A tyre seriously damaged
374 occurrences · 1.1% of tests
Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view
358 occurrences · 1.1% of tests
Brake disc or drum significantly and obviously worn
215 occurrences · 0.7% of tests
A tyre cords visible or damaged
208 occurrences · 0.6% of tests
Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements
205 occurrences · 0.6% of tests
Excessive fluctuation in brake effort through each wheel revolution.
187 occurrences · 0.6% of tests
Wiper blade defective
166 occurrences · 0.5% of tests
A tyre seriously damaged
138 occurrences · 0.4% 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 2 failures
£160–£400
If every one of this T Cross'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 →
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Build your own retest budget.
Year-band analysis
First-time MOT pass rate split by registration band. A 1.3-point gap between bands is modest — the year you buy Volkswagen T Cross makes a small but real difference to MOT outcomes.
Best band to buy
91.3%
2021+ registration
the 2021-on band climbs to 91.3% — a 1.3-point improvement. Tests in this band average 22,865 miles — roughly 6K miles fewer on the clock than the older band. Failures here are mostly wear items: less than 1.5 mm thick, 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. Post-2020 examples are early in their MOT life and generally show the cleanest records.
Band to be cautious about
90.0%
2018–2020 registration
On the 2018–2020 band, the data shows a 90.0% pass rate against a fleet average of 91.3% on the newer band. The main culprits logged at test: ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt, less than 1.5 mm thick, and damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view. Average mileage on test for this band is 29,152 miles — high-mileage wear items are a recurring theme.
Best band to buy: 2021+ (91.3% first-time pass). Worst band to avoid: 2018-2020 (90.0% pass). That's a 1.3-point spread across 21,798 older tests and 10,809 newer ones — year of build makes a material difference on this model.
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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.
What's good
The Volkswagen T-Cross is comfortable and good to drive, as well as being fairly affordable by VW standards.
Where it falls short
Disappointing interior quality on early cars. Now-defunct diesel was noisy and unrefined. So-so warranty.
Report of some issues with new November 2019 VW T-Cross 1.0 DSG R-Line. 3 times recently the car has thrown up a series of error messages on the dashboard. The errors seem to be random and switching off the engine and restarting clears them. Owner booked into dealer who cleared the errors and took car for a test drive. No new errors were logged and the car was declared to be "repaired". Yet on picking it up and driving only a few metres owner was confronted with a new set of random error messages. Car stayed with the dealer who provided a courtesy car until it can be fixed. The errors all occured in wet and windy weather so owner thinks that rain is getting into the electrics and causing the errors. Also an annoying rattle/squeak from the passenger side of the car near the windscreen area. Dealer thought it was a loose connection with the air-vent on that side. Courtesy car was another T-Cross and it has exactly the same rattle/squeak from the passenger's side. The error messages on the dash turned out to be caused when the door sill plastic trim was fitted during assmbly of the car. This damaged insulation to the wiring, grounding one of the wires to the car body. [1. Enter Your
Report of auto dipping headlights not working on a new VW T-Cross. Car in VW dealer's workshop for 2 days. They tried "all methods of test and searching technical updates." and tell the owner there is no problem when there is.
Source: honestjohn.co.uk · 2 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 T Cross 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.
