MINI Cooper vs Volkswagen Polo

On MOT-testable defects the MINI Cooper comes out ahead: 10.5% of its tests record a failure against 21.2% for the Volkswagen Polo, a 10.7-point gap. The biggest single difference is suspension, where the Polo records failures noticeably more often.

10.5%
Cooper fail rate
21.2%
Polo fail rate
10.67pp
Difference

Side by side

MOT figures compared
MetricMINI CooperVolkswagen Polo
MOT tests analysed1,603,2353,845,054
Pass rate89.5%78.8%
Fail rate10.5%21.2%
Fail rate compared (lower is better) MINI Cooper 10.5% Volkswagen Polo 21.2%
Overall MOT fail rate across comparable model years.

Where they differ

Failure-area share, by category
CategoryCooperPolo
Suspension1.1%8.3%
Lighting & signalling3.6%10.8%
Brakes2.0%6.7%
Visibility3.8%4.8%
Tyres5.2%5.1%

Methodology & source. Dataset: DVSA MOT testing data (2021,2022,2023,2024,2025). Data last updated 2026-07-27. Figures reflect MOT-testable defects only — read the methodology for how these are calculated and what they don't measure.

See the full data