Volvo C70 MOT failures and reliability

In 2023 the Volvo C70 took 8,725 MOT tests in Britain and passed 60% of them first time, below the national average of 71% for all cars. The figures below come from the DVSA's record of every test, so they show what testers actually found on these cars rather than what owners report.

MOT tests in 2023: 8,725
First-time pass rate: 60%
All cars: 71%

What the C70 fails on

Share of tests with at least one failure in each area, against the figure for all cars.

Suspension16.4% (all cars 9.0%)
Lights and electrics14.5% (all cars 11.3%)
Brakes10.9% (all cars 6.8%)
Tyres10.4% (all cars 6.4%)
Body and structure7.5% (all cars 3.5%)
Visibility4.4% (all cars 4.8%)
Steering3.9% (all cars 1.8%)
Exhaust and emissions3.9% (all cars 3.1%)

Most common failure items

Share of tests on which each item was recorded.

Coil spring: fractured or broken 7.4%
Joints: constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt 5.4%
Tyres, condition: has ply or cords exposed 4.4%
Position lamp: not working 4.1%
Rbt (sp): efficiency below requirements 3.3%
Shock absorbers: has a serious fluid leak 2.8%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush excessively worn 2.6%
Tread depth: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm 2.3%

Most common advisories

Tread depth: worn close to legal limit/worn on edge 21.3%
Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened 10.9%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement 9.6%
Tyres, condition: slightly damaged/cracking or perishing 8.2%
Brake pads: wearing thin 7.0%
Coil spring: corroded 6.9%
Non-component advisories: Play in steering rack inner joint(s) 5.1%
Linkage ball joints: ball joint has slight play 4.7%

Pass rate by year of registration

Older cars fail more often whatever the model, so compare a car with others of the same age.

First registered	Tests	Pass rate
2002	301	60%
2003	483	65%
2004	553	60%
2005	465	64%
2006	1,185	56%
2007	1,306	57%
2008	1,190	56%
2009	901	55%
2010	751	58%
2011	499	60%

Typical mileage by age

Average odometer reading at the MOT, by the car's age in years at the test.

Age at test	Average mileage
10 years	64,169 miles
11 years	73,642 miles
12 years	82,965 miles
13 years	87,531 miles
14 years	92,011 miles
15 years	105,393 miles
16 years	101,791 miles
17 years	98,160 miles
18 years	87,563 miles
19 years	91,380 miles
20 years	94,732 miles

Check a particular C70

Model figures tell you what to look out for. To see one car's own MOT history, mileage and tax, enter its registration.

Other Volvo models

Source: Department for Transport, Anonymised MOT tests and results, 2023, cars and light vans, normal tests only. Pass rates are first-time passes; a pass after repair at the test station counts as a fail. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.