MOT Risk Index.co.uk

Citroen C4 Cactus — MOT statistics 2024

The Citroen C4 Cactus failed 26.98% of 21,290 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 146.2 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 46% more often than expected for its age.

MOT risk index 146.2, 95% CI 143.0–149.5 (100 = national average) 100 146.2 0 200
Index
146.2
100 = age-normal
Raw fail rate
26.98%
n = 21,290
Dangerous /100
7
national ≈11
Diesel − petrol
+5.9 pp
fail-rate gap
Rank
739 of 761
lower index = better

Age-adjusted peer: DS 3 (index 146.1) — the two published results are 0.1 index points apart.

Citroen C4 Cactus common problems: what actually fails the MOT

Visibility stands out at 10.8 per 100 tests, against 5.2 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

Citroen C4 Cactus common problems: what actually fails the MOT — 2024 UK MOT data

family vs national — matched to UK vehicles of the same ages — top component groups, per 100 tests. Legend: This family · National avg. Combined labels: family / national average. A gap here reflects how these vehicles are driven, used and maintained as well as how they were built — an MOT defect is a test outcome, not a breakdown.

Component-group comparison table

Each ratio carries a 95% interval. With 6 groups compared here, roughly one apparent difference in twenty is chance alone, and 1 of these is already inside an interval that includes 1.00×.

GroupThis familyCases behind itUK, same agesFamily / national
Visibility10.89,8695.22.07×2.02–2.10
Lamps & electrical9.38,5254.02.35×2.30–2.40
Tyres6.76,1486.80.98×0.95–1.00 · not distinguishable
Brakes4.94,5344.01.23×1.20–1.27
Body & structure4.13,7570.85.26×5.08–5.42
Suspension2.01,8252.90.69×0.65–0.72
Named defects — items per 100 initial tests, this family vs UK national average; this model measured on 91,799 tests, 2019-2024, national column 2024
What failedper 100 tests (this family)per 100 tests (UK average)ratio family / UKWhat to check
Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the…Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen5.032.222.26×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Wiper blade defectiveWiper blade defective2.871.262.28×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot…A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc1.991.561.28×Ask the seller about: A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or
Rear registration plate lamp or light source…A rear registration plate lamp or light source missing or inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources2.922.831.03×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Windscreen washers not working or not providing…Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen1.691.621.04×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the…Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements3.283.590.91×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mma brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm1.722.150.80×Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive
Tyre seriously damagedA tyre seriously damaged1.742.540.69×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down…The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements1.342.570.52×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Suspension pin, bush or joint excessively wornA suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn1.274.870.26×Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test

Named defects ranked by how much more often they appear than the national average — not by raw rate.

Citroen C4 Cactus MOT advisories: what gets flagged

Tyres are highest at 40.1 per 100 tests; Emissions & leaks are lowest at 1.4 per 100 tests — the gap is 38.7 per 100 tests.

higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests

Citroen C4 Cactus MOT advisories: what gets flagged — 2024 UK MOT data
Advisory rates table
GroupAdvisories per 100
Tyres40.1
Brakes25.5
Non-component advisories7.7
Body & structure7
Suspension6.7
Emissions & leaks1.4

Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.

Tyres, brakes and suspension: Citroen C4 Cactus against cars of the same age

AgePartCitroen C4 CactusSame age, petrol and dieselDifference
3 yearsTyres3.364.17-0.81
3 yearsBrakes2.311.770.54
3 yearsSuspension0.240.63-0.39
4 yearsTyres4.014.54-0.53
4 yearsBrakes2.762.430.33
4 yearsSuspension0.551.21-0.66
5 yearsTyres4.635.06-0.43
5 yearsBrakes3.333.090.24
5 yearsSuspension1.472.19-0.72
6 yearsTyres5.965.540.42
6 yearsBrakes3.573.81-0.24
6 yearsSuspension2.773.72-0.95
7 yearsTyres6.825.950.87
7 yearsBrakes4.934.550.38
7 yearsSuspension3.875.68-1.81
8 yearsTyres7.546.311.23
8 yearsBrakes7.215.381.83
8 yearsSuspension6.317.78-1.47

Failing items per 100 initial tests, 2019-2024. The comparison group is every petrol or diesel car tested at the same age, so weight and drivetrain show up rather than fleet age.

If a car like this fails, does it fail again?

A failure rate does not say whether a failure is a one-off or the start of something. This follows the same vehicles into their next ordinary MOT a year later — retests after a repair are excluded, because they follow a failure by definition. 2019-2024.

After this year's testFails next yearVehicles followed
It failed29.7%4,718
It passed22.2%54,668

A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 7.5 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment — 34.4% of those vehicles fail again next year. Some of this is the vehicle and some is the owner: a car that was let go once tends to be let go again. One caveat: a car that fails may be sold or scrapped rather than tested again, so these figures describe the vehicles that came back.

Adjusted for how much these are actually driven

The headline index adjusts for the fleet's age. Wear, though, follows mileage: a three-year-old taxi and a three-year-old garage queen sit in the same age band. These two rows compare every car with vehicles of the same age, and then with vehicles of the same age and the same annual mileage, 2019-2024, on 90,366 tests. Both stand on the six-year corpus so they are measured on identical data — compare them with each other, not with the headline index above, which is measured on 2024 alone.

Standardised forIndexReading
Age only132.9fails more often than expected
Age and annual mileage139.5fails more often than vehicles driven as much
Share doing under 3,000 miles a year6.7%a normal spread of use

Mileage matters here: matching on how much these are driven moves the figure by 6.6 points — this fleet is driven less than the vehicles it is measured against, so the age-only view flatters it — but it does not change which side of normal the car sits on. One limit to keep in mind: mileage is partly a result of how often a car breaks down — one that spends weeks in the workshop covers fewer miles — so the mileage-matched figure can understate a real weakness. Tests with no usable odometer reading are left out of it.

How the Citroen C4 Cactus compares with cars of its own age and size

Not against the whole fleet — against cars of the same size class tested at the same age, 2019-2024.

AgeCitroen C4 CactusSame class, same ageDifferenceTests
3 years14.07%11.29%+2.78 pp22,323
4 years18.73%14.23%+4.5 pp20,630
5 years24.19%17.39%+6.8 pp18,947
6 years26.99%20.74%+6.25 pp15,074
7 years31.57%24.31%+7.26 pp9,773
8 years35.97%28.14%+7.83 pp3,900
9 years42.46%32.03%+10.43 pp398

Raw first-time failure rates within each age, so fleet age cannot flatter either side. A positive difference means this model fails more often than its own class at that age.

How does the Citroen C4 Cactus perform as it gets older?

The C4 Cactus at age 9 stands out at 41.4%, against 26.5% for all vehicles of the same age.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

How does the Citroen C4 Cactus perform as it gets older? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–45%.

Takeaway: solid line: this family; dashed: all cars; from about age 5 it stays above the national age curve.

Data table
AgeCitroen C4 CactusAll vehiclesGap
310.5%12.4%-1.9 pp
413.0%13.1%-0.1 pp
523.3%15.1%+8.1 pp
625.8%17.5%+8.3 pp
729.6%20.2%+9.4 pp
836.3%23.3%+12.9 pp
941.4%26.5%+14.9 pp

Is a Citroen C4 Cactus ULEZ compliant?

The share of classifiable 2024 Citroen C4 Cactus MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 99.3%.

Based on 21,290 classifiable initial MOT tests. This describes the tested fleet, not a specific car. MOT data do not record Euro class, so likely compliance is inferred from fuel and first-registration date. For the only authoritative answer, check the registration with TfL's official ULEZ checker.

higher = larger share likely compliantinferred from fuel and first-registration date; not a recorded Euro class

Age-band estimate from classifiable initial MOT tests
Vehicle age at testLikely ULEZ-compliant shareTests
Under 3 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
3–5 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 6,174
6–7 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 11,230
8 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 3,488
9 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 355
10–14 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 43
15–17 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
18 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
19 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
20+ yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0

Citroen C4 Cactus petrol vs diesel: which ages best

Diesel is highest at 31.4%; Petrol is lowest at 25.5% — the gap is 5.9 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Citroen C4 Cactus petrol vs diesel: which ages best — 2024 UK MOT data
Fuel split table
FuelTests% failingGap vs best
Petrol15,76025.4%+0.0 pp
Diesel5,53031.4%+5.9 pp

Chart sample sizes: n=16k · n=5,530.

How dangerous are Citroen C4 Cactus MOT failures?

Major defects are well below the reference at 24.1 per 100 tests, against 52.8 per 100 tests nationally.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

How dangerous are Citroen C4 Cactus MOT failures? — 2024 UK MOT data
Severity table
SeverityThis family /100National /100Family / national
Minor8.1814.220.58×
Major24.0552.750.46×
Dangerous7.2811.150.65×

Chart values: Minor 8.2 · Major 24.1 · Dangerous 7.3.

Per 100 tests on this family. National average: Minor 14.2 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 11.2 per 100.

Does the month of a Citroen C4 Cactus MOT matter?

Nov is highest at 24.9%; Mar is lowest at 19.9% — the gap is 5.0 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Does the month of a Citroen C4 Cactus MOT matter? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart scale: 18%–33%.

bars: Citroen C4 Cactus · dashed: all class-4 cars

Month-by-month table
MonthCitroen C4 CactusAll vehiclesGap
Jan22.3%31.12%-8.8 pp
Feb20.7%29.99%-9.3 pp
Mar19.93%28.26%-8.3 pp
Apr20.24%29.78%-9.5 pp
May20.34%28.79%-8.4 pp
Jun21.61%28.15%-6.5 pp
Jul22.02%29.33%-7.3 pp
Aug22.97%29.2%-6.2 pp
Sep22.73%28.19%-5.5 pp
Oct24.42%30.34%-5.9 pp
Nov24.89%30.58%-5.7 pp
Dec23.91%29.33%-5.4 pp

Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 5.0 percentage points — noticeable seasonality. Seasonality partly reflects registration-date clustering, not weather.

Before reading the shape: most of it is not about cars. Britain changes its registration plates twice a year, and 18.9% of these cars were first registered in March with another17.1% in September — 36% in two months against the 17% an even spread would give. An MOT falls due three years after first registration, so the buying calendar becomes the testing calendar. That shapes how many cars are tested each month — not how often they fail: the busiest months here are not the worst ones, so read the failure line on its own and the volume behind it separately.

Citroen C4 Cactus average mileage by age

At age 8, the middle half of C4 Cactus models runs from 44,874 miles to 75,695 miles, against 58,362 miles as the median.

further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75

Bars: Citroen C4 Cactus · dashed: all class-4 cars — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–91k mi.

Does high mileage mean more Citroen C4 Cactus MOT failures at the same age?

Within the same age group, split by odometer (2024 MOTs), so this separates wear from age: at ages 6–9, 21.2% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 44.4% of those with 100,000–140,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.

Does high mileage mean more Citroen C4 Cactus MOT failures at the same age? — 2024 UK MOT data
Citroen C4 Cactus: first-time failure by mileage within each age group (2024)
AgeOdometer% failing95% intervalTests
3–5<40k miles15.7%14.6–16.8%4,383
3–540-70k miles28.6%26.5–30.8%1,658
3–570-100k miles30.4%23–38.9%125 (rough estimate)
6–9<40k miles21.2%20.1–22.4%4,918
6–940-70k miles31.7%30.7–32.8%7,411
6–970-100k miles40.7%38.7–42.8%2,290
6–9100-140k miles44.4%39.8–49.2%423 (rough estimate)

line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)

Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
Agep25Medianp75Tests
316,57725,23337,858324
416,83724,92133,6571,897
524,23534,73044,9583,953
631,35742,07853,6645,384
737,08949,65063,9005,846
844,87458,36275,6953,488
950,47367,22986,212355

A typical 8-year-old C4 Cactus has ~58,362 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.

Where in Britain the Citroen C4 Cactus fails its MOT most

Aberdeen area is highest at 33.7%; Nottingham area is lowest at 12.6% — the gap is 21.1 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Citroen C4 Cactus line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75) — 2024 UK MOT data
Toughest areas% failingvs model overall
Aberdeen (AB)33.66%+11.4 pp
Kirkcaldy (KY)32.08%+9.9 pp
Dundee (DD)30.32%+8.1 pp
Salisbury (SP)28.65%+6.4 pp
Falkirk (FK)28.02%+5.8 pp
Easiest areas% failingvs model overall
Nottingham (NG)12.57%-9.6 pp
Dumfries (DG)14.81%-7.4 pp
Southend-on-Sea (SS)15.35%-6.9 pp
London E (E)17.37%-4.8 pp
Hemel Hempstead (HP)17.89%-4.3 pp

Why do areas differ?

For each external factor we correlate the area fail rate with the factor across postcode areas that have ≥800 tests of this family, then compare the bottom vs top fifth (quintile) of the factor. Correlation, not causation — factors travel together (the north is colder and often poorer; urban areas are denser and less salted). Road surface condition is joined now, for the 91 English areas the DfT publishes, and it explains nothing: the correlation with suspension failures is −0.01 and with body and structure failures 0.07. Potholes wreck wheels and tyres between tests, but by the time a car reaches the bay the road it drives on leaves no measurable trace.

In the most coastal fifth of areas this model fails 2.4 pp more often than in the most inland fifth (r=-0.31, n=43 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest terrain gradient this model fails 1.9 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.22, n=30 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest road-salt proxy this model fails 0.5 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.11, n=43 areas with ≥800 tests).

Citroen C4 Cactus Why do areas differ? — 2024 UK MOT data
Values shown in the quintile chart
FactorLow QHigh QGapCorrelation
Distance to coast22.4%20.0%-2.4 ppr=-0.31
Terrain gradient21.3%23.2%+1.9 ppr=0.22
Road-salt proxy22.3%22.9%+0.6 ppr=0.11

Factors that only mean something combined

Some conditions are useless on their own and informative multiplied together. Frost days alone say little — Britain barely freezes. Salt tonnage alone says little — it tracks frost. Distance to the sea alone says little. Multiply the first two and divide by the third and you get an index of how hard an area attacks a car's underside, and it lines up with the corrosion defects we actually record. We built five such combinations and tested each against our own data. Three survived; two did not, and the failures are listed here on purpose — a proxy that was never checked is decoration. One survivor only survived on the second attempt: built from a crude stand-in for street parking it failed outright, and rebuilt from the census — terraced streets carrying more cars than they have driveways — it works, and carries information the salt index does not.

Composite area indicators, each tested against a defect rate we measure
CompositeBuilt fromTested againstrVerdict
Underbody corrosionfrost days × salt load ÷ (distance to coast + 1)share of tests with a corrosion defect+0.42holds (116 areas)
Tyre wearrain days × annual miles ÷ age at first tyre advisoryshare of tests failing on tyres+0.45holds (116 areas)
Overnight corrosionterraced housing × cars per household × frost daysshare with a corrosion defect+0.41holds (102 areas) — and adds signal beyond the first index
Deferred maintenancedeprivation × advisory-to-failure conversion ÷ labour ratecars repeating the same advisory−0.26fails (118 areas)
Powertrain stressengine capacity ÷ kerb weightsuspension, brake and emissions failures−0.16fails (22 models)

The deprivation result is the one worth dwelling on. The intuition that poorer areas defer repairs is strong enough that most people treat it as established. We tested it twice — once on raw failure rates (r = 0.04) and again, more fairly, on whether an advisory turns into a failure — and it did not hold any of the three times we tried it — on raw failure rates, on advisory-to-failure conversion, and again with deprivation measured properly inside each nation rather than England alone. We are closing it. What does predict local failure rates is the density of test centres, which is a statement about testing, not about cars.

All external-factor correlations (machine-readable)
Factorrn areasLow-Q fail %High-Q fail %Gap ppLow-Q factorHigh-Q factor
Distance to coast (km)-0.3104322.420.0-2.46.383.8
Terrain gradient (% grade)0.2243021.323.2+1.90.63.3
Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr)0.1064322.322.9+0.5214.5591
Frost days (days/year)0.1024322.323.1+0.710.334.1
Income deprivation (score)-0.0853521.821.3-0.50.10.2
MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles)0.0764321.322.7+1.45.98.1
Urban share (0–1)-0.0504323.022.6-0.40.50.9

Deprivation uses England IMD 2019 income score only (Scotland SIMD is a different scale). Salt proxy is a simplified NWSRG-style dry-salt sum from air Tmin; coastalness is distance from the area centroid to the nearest coastline.

Every dot is a postcode area — size = how many were tested there, colour = share failing. These figures are not age-adjusted: coastal and rural areas often run older fleets and salted roads, so higher raw fail rates do not automatically mean a worse local stock of this model.

Map labels: Scotland · N. England · Wales · London · S. West. Colour scale: 18%–28% failing.

Citroen C4 Cactus survival: which cars are still on the road

By age 9 is well below the reference at 2.2%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Citroen C4 Cactus survival: which cars are still on the road — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · survival vs ages 4–6 · scale 0–105%.

Survival vs fail rate by age
AgeTestsSurvival vs ages 4–6Fail %
322,323100%14.07%
420,630100%18.73%
518,947100%24.19%
615,07482.7%26.99%
79,77353.6%31.57%
83,90021.4%35.97%
93982.2%42.46%

By age 8, only about 21% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈18,217); survivors still fail at 36.0% vs 18.7% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.

How many miles does a Citroen C4 Cactus last?

100,000+ miles stands out at 0.9%.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

OdometerTests ≥ thresholdShare of sample
100,000+ miles8320.92%

Of 90,368 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 0.9% had reached 100k miles. This is a cross-section of cars still presenting for MOT, not a full birth cohort.

How many years is a Citroen C4 Cactus likely to last?

Bought at age 5 is highest at 2.1 years; Bought at age 8 is lowest at 0.5 years — the gap is 1.6 years.

bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve

Age nowTypical mileage (p50)Expected years left
5—at least 2.1
8—at least 0.5

estimateObserved only until age 8. The curve does not run five years past the stated age with the share still tested under 50%, so no 'years left' number is given.

Citroen C4 Cactus faults that come together

Steering + Suspension stand out at 8.32×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.

above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less

Group AGroup BTogetherLift
SteeringSuspension248.32× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSuspension876.12× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaks1886.09× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment374.81× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentNoise, emissions and leaks2834.8× (rough estimate)
BrakesNoise, emissions and leaks1374.79× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSuspension2594.73× (rough estimate)
BrakesTyres6594.52×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems594.43× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSuspension4494.3× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureBrakes4514.09× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSteering473.93× (rough estimate)
BrakesSuspension1963.86× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSteering243.83× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksTyres1523.72× (rough estimate)
BrakesSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems243.71× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment8203.61×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentTyres1,0523.51×
SuspensionTyres2543.51× (rough estimate)
BrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment6983.32×
Identification of the vehicleVisibility313.19× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureTyres4793.05× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentVisibility1,5952.92×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsTyres272.92× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems202.86× (rough estimate)
TyresVisibility1,0352.73×
Noise, emissions and leaksVisibility1992.68× (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsVisibility452.68× (rough estimate)
SteeringTyres222.66× (rough estimate)
BrakesVisibility6742.54×
Body, chassis, structureVisibility6992.44×
SuspensionVisibility3182.41× (rough estimate)
SteeringVisibility271.79× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleTyres19too few (rough estimate)
BrakesSteering19too few (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentRoad Wheels18too few (rough estimate)
BrakesIdentification of the vehicle17too few (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems15too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureIdentification of the vehicle15too few (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSuspension14too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsVisibility14too few (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSteering12too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsTyres10too few (rough estimate)
BrakesRoad Wheels8too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureRoad Wheels8too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSuspension5too few (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleNoise, emissions and leaks5too few (rough estimate)

Defects in «Brakes» and «Tyres» appear together 4.52× more often than chance (659 co-occurrences in the same test; lift≥1.3, n≥500).

Lift = how many times more often both groups appear on the same test than if independent. A pair is listed from 5 tests with both faults; the lift is shown from 20, and called above chance only when its 95% interval excludes 1 (see rough estimates).

Is low mileage better for a Citroen C4 Cactus?

Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 18.3%, against 32.6% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BandFail %Tests
<5k miles/year18.28%10,377
8–12k miles/year32.62%14,500
Gap (low − normal)-14.34 pp—
By fuel and age

Diesel

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
518.5174029.321,896-10.81 pp
618.91571311,674-12.09 pp
724.2238439.61,356-15.38 pp
827.4218641.9685-14.48 pp

Petrol

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
516.173,71028.573,675-12.4 pp
618.442,68532.272,910-13.83 pp
718.691,58438.061,708-19.37 pp
822.6351744.8596-22.17 pp
932.08534450-11.92 pp

At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 18.3% vs 32.6% for 8–12k miles/year — 14.3 pp lower (n_low=10,377, n_normal=14,500). In this family low annual use is associated with fewer MOT fails, not more — the ‘garage queen’ penalty is not visible in overall fail rates. Diesel alone: 18.7% low-use vs 30.1% normal (-11.4 pp).

Which Citroen C4 Cactus engine is best?

diesel 1.5–1.8 is highest at 108.8; petrol 1.0–1.2 is lowest at 96.2 — the gap is 12.6 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Engine bands against this model's own failure rate at the same ages
FuelCapacityvs own age normRaw fail %Tests
petrol1.0–1.2 litre96.221.01%65,339
diesel1.5–1.8 litre108.825.21%26,423

Splitting this model by fuel alone hides the thing that actually differs. Within the same badge, the diesel 1.5–1.8 runs at 108.8 against this model's own age norm while the petrol 1.0–1.2 runs at 96.2 — a spread of 12.6 points between two cars that share a name.

Read this one with more care than the rest of the page. Age is held constant, but who buys which engine is not: the largest capacity in a range is often a performance or executive variant that is garaged, cherished and lightly driven, while the smallest is frequently a fleet or entry car worked hard from new. The gap below is real in the test records; how much of it is the engine and how much is the owner, this data cannot separate. Bands under 100 tests are not shown; bands under 5,000 tests are rough estimates.

Best year for a Citroen C4 Cactus, and the years to avoid

Build year 2016 is highest at 113.1; Build year 2020 is lowest at 75.9 — the gap is 37.2 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected

Citroen C4 Cactus build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected — 2024 UK MOT data
Citroen C4 Cactus by build year, tests 2019–2024. Below 100 is better than the model's own age norm.
Every build year with its confidence interval
Build yearvs own age norm95% CIRaw fail %TestsVerdict
202075.968.9–82.812.03%3,831better
201995.891.8–99.917.56%11,989better
201897.894.9–100.719.92%21,689no different
2017101.198.7–103.522.39%30,726no different
2016113.1110.2–11628.45%20,569worse
2015111.1100.8–121.432.11%1,395worse

The best build year here is 2019 and the weakest is 2016. Comparing build years sounds simple and is not: within a single year of testing, a car's build year and its age are the same number, so a naive comparison of years is a comparison of ages wearing a disguise. Each year below is measured against the same model at the same age in other cohorts, across six years of testing — 2 of 6 years come out distinguishable from their own model's age norm.

Two limits worth knowing before you act on this. Age, test year and build year are locked together by arithmetic, so the test-year effect is taken from the observed national failure level of each year rather than estimated — it is an adjustment, not a solution.

Citroen C4 Cactus MOT repair costs

The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £30.00 to £57.00, against £54.85 for the test itself.

bigger number = costs morepounds per test, MOT-failing faults only

MOT repairs, budget
£30–57
per test, repairs only
The test itself
£54.85
statutory cap, unchanged since 2010
How the figure is built: chance of failing × typical price of that repair
ComponentFails per 100 testsTypical repairIts priceContribution
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment9.3 (nat. 18.09)Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid)£140£13.02
Brakes4.9 (nat. 11.25)Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback)£150£7.35
Tyres6.7 (nat. 8.7)Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted)£90£6.03
Suspension2.0 (nat. 15.36)Suspension coil spring (single corner)£180£3.60

Multiply how often each component fails on this model by what that repair usually costs, and you get the amount an owner should expect to budget per test for MOT-failing faults only — roughly £30 to £57, on top of the test fee itself. It is a budgeting figure, not a quote: the spread between a set of pads and a set of discs is most of the range.

Prices are modal quotes from a hand-kept catalogue of published UK garage guides — we do not scrape the booking sites, their terms forbid it, so this list is short and updated by hand with a source and date against each line. Each line prices one typical repair in that group, not a full remedy, and only groups our catalogue actually covers are counted. The contrast worth noticing is the second card: the legal maximum for the test has been £54.85 since 2010, while the repairs it uncovers have followed inflation the whole time.

For scale from a different direction: Warrantywise, which sees used-car warranty claims rather than test failures, puts the average claim at £2,052 across the ten highest-claim models it ranks and £539 for Honda, the lowest-claim make in its index (Warrantywise index 2026, 1.6 million claims, cars aged 3–15). Those sit an order of magnitude above the figures in this table, and the gap is the point: a warranty claim is a gearbox or an engine, which almost never fails an MOT, while the faults that do fail one are corrosion, lamps and tyres, which no warranty pays for. The two numbers answer different questions and neither replaces the other.

Citroen C4 Cactus running costs for a fleet

Vehicles failing at age 9 stand out at 41.0%, against 23.0% at age 5, tested in the same year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fails per 100 at age 5
23
vehicles needing work
At age 9
41
other cars of this model tested at age 9 in 2024 (rough estimate: 355 tests)
Repairs per 100
£3,000
plus £5,485 in test fees
Off the road
0d
median; 57.9% cleared same day
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
AgeFailsMedian odometerTestsGap vs age 5
310.49%25,233324-12.8 pp
413.02%24,9211,897-10.2 pp
523.25%34,7303,953+0.0 pp
625.8%42,0785,384+2.6 pp
729.58%49,6505,846+6.3 pp
836.27%58,3623,488+13.0 pp
941.41%67,229355+18.2 pp

The number a fleet manager needs is not the failure rate, it is the year the car starts costing more. Between cars aged 7 and cars aged 8, both tested in 2024, the failure rate of this model is 6.69 percentage points higher — the steepest one-year step in this cross-section of different cars, and a natural planning point for replacement.

Repair spend uses the same modal prices as the section above, so it inherits the same limits: one typical repair per component group, not a full remedy. Downtime is the gap between the failed test and the passed re-test, which is the window a vehicle is legally off the road.

Citroen C4 Cactus rust problems: where they corrode

Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility is well below the reference at 0.14×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.

above 1.0× = rusts more than averagebelow 1.0× = rusts less

How it rusts
0.14×
0.11% of tests record a corrosion defect vs 0.77% typical — age-standardised
Salt Belt exposure
85th
percentile among the models published here, from its tests across 43 postcode areas

This Citroen C4 Cactus virtually never fails on corrosion once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are saltier than most for the models we publish. Both point the same way and reinforce each other: it resists corrosion even though its owners live in saltier areas than most.

Corrosion is the one failure mode that is as much about geography as about the car. We keep the two apart on purpose: a model can look rusty simply because it is popular in Scotland, and a model can look clean simply because it is bought in Surrey. Blending them into a single score would hide which of the two is doing the work.

Exposure is this model's tests weighted by an area corrosion index built from frost days, salt load and distance to the coast — the composite validated at r = 0.42 against corrosion defects we actually record. It is published as a rank, not a raw score, because every mainstream model skews towards low-corrosion areas for the simple reason that most of Britain's cars are in the south. Susceptibility is standardised to the national age profile, so an old fleet does not get labelled a rusty model.

Does a Citroen C4 Cactus advisory become a failure?

Body, chassis, structure are highest at 9.8%; Non-component advisories are lowest at 0.0% — the gap is 9.8 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now

Citroen C4 Cactus chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now — 2024 UK MOT data
Citroen C4 Cactus, advisory → failure conversion by component group, chained tests 2019–2024. Chart labels and rates: Body & chassis 9.8% · Tyres 7.9% · Suspension 7.5% · Brakes 7.1% · Noise, emissions, leaks 4.3% · Non-component 0%.
Advisory today → failure at the next test, with how long you have
ComponentFails next timeTypical lead timeMiles of warningAdvisories tracked
Body, chassis, structure9.8%12 months6,9534,069
Tyres7.9%12 months7,57715,090
Suspension7.5%12 months7,6442,329
Brakes7.1%12 months7,35210,692
Noise, emissions and leaks4.3%12 months8,413777
Non-component advisories0.0%——4,731

This is the question an advisory note actually raises, and it needs six years of test history to answer. We followed the same vehicles from one MOT to the next across 2019–2024 and measured how often a component that was merely advised came back as a genuine failure at the next test.

Read it as a budgeting horizon, not a prophecy: the most likely component above turns into a failure for about 10 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12 months and roughly 6,953 miles. The rest were repaired, sold, scrapped, or simply held. Rows with fewer than 500 tracked advisories are not shown.

What will fail next on a Citroen C4 Cactus?

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a failure at age 6-8 are highest at 19.7%; Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a passed at age <3 are lowest at 2.8% — the gap is 16.9 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

Probability of each component failing at the next test, by age and last result
AgeLast testMost likely next failuresCars tracked
<3passedVisibility 7.6% · Tyres 3.1% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 2.8%11,011
<3advisoryVisibility 9.8% · Tyres 4.1% · Brakes 3.8%3,320
<3failureVisibility 10.6% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 6.6% · Tyres 4.8%2,090
3-5passedVisibility 9.5% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 6.3% · Tyres 4.0%23,634
3-5advisoryVisibility 11.9% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 8.8% · Tyres 6.2%12,511
3-5failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 12.2% · Visibility 12.0% · Tyres 7.0%9,962
6-8passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 11.6% · Body, chassis, structure 7.5% · Visibility 6.6%3,062
6-8advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 14.3% · Body, chassis, structure 8.7% · Visibility 8.3%2,481
6-8failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 19.7% · Body, chassis, structure 11.5% · Visibility 9.9%2,731

The same chains, cut differently: given a car's age and how its last test went, which component most often causes trouble at the following one.

The pattern that repeats across every family: a failure at one test roughly doubles the chance of a failure on the same component at the next one, and an advisory sits about half-way between a clean pass and a failure. Age bands in years; probabilities are per car, not per defect item.

Citroen C4 Cactus ownership: what six years of MOTs show

The same-day re-test pass rate is highest at 57.9%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 1.6% — the gap is 56.3 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fixed same day
57.9%
of failures re-tested
Fails /10k miles
0.359
miles actually driven
Clean streaks
38.83%
3+ tests, nothing noted
Odometer anomaly
0.549%
reading went backwards

Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 14,013 failures followed through to their re-test, 57.9% were repaired and passed the same day and 40.5% within ten days; the median gap is 0 days. 27,770 defect items were cleared in the process.

Per mile driven, not per year. Dividing failures by the miles that actually went onto the odometers between consecutive tests gives 0.359 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 6,205 miles a year across 20,759 chains. This is the number to compare between models — an annual rate quietly rewards cars that barely leave the drive.

Two populations hide inside one model. 38.83% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 14.12% carried the same advisory three times or more — the same fault, noted, ignored, noted again. When you buy used you are buying one of those two histories, and the MOT record shows which.

Odometer anomalies: 0.549% of 20,768 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 10,067 miles. We call this an anomaly and not fraud on purpose — instrument swaps, imports, unit mix-ups and keying errors all land in the same bucket. Obvious typos (drops under 100 miles or over 90% of the reading) are already excluded.

Citroen C4 Cactus safety recalls and how to check yours

DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 11.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

recall campaigns launched per year

Citroen C4 Cactus recall campaigns launched per year — 2024 UK MOT data
Campaigns launched per year for the Citroen C4 Cactus. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls. Chart values: 2016: 1 · 2017: 5 · 2018: 0 · 2019: 2 · 2020: 0 · 2021: 1 · 2022: 2.
Most recent safety recall campaigns for the Citroen C4 Cactus
ReferenceLaunchedVehiclesConcern
R/2023/03613/12/202213,740On the affected vehicles the operation of the brake vacuum pump may be affected by materia
R/2023/04613/12/2022652On the affected vehicles the operation of the brake vacuum pump may be affected by materia
R/2020/32720/01/202121,226THE BRAKE VACUUM PUMP MAY BE AFFECTED BY MATERIAL DETACHING FROM THE TIMING BELT
R/2019/38413/11/20193THE FITTING OF THE REAR LEFT BRAKE PIPE MAY NOT BE CORRECT TO SPECIFICATION
R/2019/13726/04/2019148A PLASTIC COMPONENT INSIDE THE EXHAUST LINE COULD DAMAGE THE DIESEL PARTICLE FILTER
All 11 campaigns
ReferenceLaunchedBuild datesVehiclesConcern
R/2023/03613/12/202203/04/2017 – 07/11/201913,740On the affected vehicles the operation of the brake vacuum pump may be affected by materia
R/2023/04613/12/202203/03/2017 – 31/03/2017652On the affected vehicles the operation of the brake vacuum pump may be affected by materia
R/2020/32720/01/202120/03/2013 – 01/04/201721,226THE BRAKE VACUUM PUMP MAY BE AFFECTED BY MATERIAL DETACHING FROM THE TIMING BELT
R/2019/38413/11/201922/07/2019 – 04/09/20193THE FITTING OF THE REAR LEFT BRAKE PIPE MAY NOT BE CORRECT TO SPECIFICATION
R/2019/13726/04/201905/01/2018 – 03/05/2018148A PLASTIC COMPONENT INSIDE THE EXHAUST LINE COULD DAMAGE THE DIESEL PARTICLE FILTER
R/2017/27105/10/201709/09/2015 – 16/05/201716,984BONNET STRIKER MAY BE INSECURE
R/2017/17605/06/201720/01/2016 – 24/11/2016331BUMPER TRIM BONDING MAY NOT BE TO SPECIFICATION
R/2017/16825/05/201701/09/2016 – 01/02/20178FUEL MAY LEAK
R/2017/13924/04/201715/06/2016 – 11/10/20163,607STARTER MOTOR MAY NOT OPERATE CORRECTLY
R/2017/12607/04/201725/04/2016 – 29/08/201616GEARBOX ACTUATOR AY NOT BE TO SPECTIFICATION
R/2016/27707/12/201626/05/2014 – 08/09/201511,236BONNET MAY OPEN UNINTENTIONALLY

DVSA lists 11 safety recall campaigns for the Citroen C4 Cactus, covering roughly 67,951 vehicles in total. A recall is the manufacturer fixing a fault for free, so an open recall on your car costs nothing to clear.

Counter-intuitive, and measured on our own data: across the 25 families published here, more recalls go with a lower MOT Risk Index (r = −0.52). Heavily recalled models are not worse cars in the test bay — an active manufacturer removes the fault before it becomes an MOT failure.

Check whether a specific car has an outstanding recall — free, by registration — at DVSA's recall service. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls (check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk), OGL.

Citroen C4 Cactus inspection results in other countries

Netherlands APK is well below the reference at 47.6%, against 50.8% nationally.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Same model, different national inspection regimes
CountryTestThis model failsNational averagePositionSample
United KingdomMOT (class 4)26.98%26.01%+1 pp21,290
NetherlandsAPK47.6%50.8%-3.2 pp14,256
NorwayPKK36.7%33.7%+3 pp1,888
FinlandKatsastus26.3%26.3%0 pp863

The countries disagree about this car, and that is worth saying out loud rather than averaging away. A model can sit above its national average in one country and below it in another because the fleets are not the same cars: different model years, different engines, different roads and salt, and inspection rules that weight components differently. Treat each row as evidence from one regime, not as a verdict.

What Finland fails it for — share of recorded faults
Fault areaShare
Axles, wheels and suspension56.2%
Brake systems28.5%
Environmental hazards7.1%
Vehicle identification2.6%
Other equipment and accessories1.8%

Useful as a cross-check on the UK defect table above: the categories are named differently, but a component that dominates in both regimes is a genuine weak point of the model rather than an artefact of one country's testing style.

The exact faults Netherlands records — APK defect codes, 2024
CodeFaultRecordedType
210Tyre pressure not at the correct value2,954failure
497Number-plate light not working or missing1,858failure
205Tyre with insufficient tread1,810failure
516Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed1,227failure
AC1Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread929advisory
203Tyre damaged714failure
391Wipers leave insufficient visibility675failure
117Uitlaatsysteem ondeugdelijk bevestigd564failure

Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 1.082 defects per inspection against a much higher national failure rate than Britain's, and the reason is not that Dutch cars are worse — it is that the two regimes draw the line between "note it" and "fail it" in different places. Codes are the RDW's own; the English wording here is our translation of the Dutch original.

Britain is not the only country that inspects every car every year, and the Citroen C4 Cactus is on the road in all of them. Each national regime writes its own rules, so the pass rates below are not comparable to each other — what does travel across a border is whether a model sits above or below its own country's average.

Rows with fewer than 500 inspections are not published. Sources: RDW open data — Meldingen Keuringsinstantie + Geconstateerde Gebreken + Gekentekende voertuigen (2024), CC0. Not an RDW endorsement.; Statens vegvesen — Periodisk kjøretøykontroll (PKK) 2024, CC BY 4.0; Traficom — Periodic inspections of cars by model / by model and fault object 2024, CC BY 4.0. Adapted; licences and full notice.

Citroen C4 Cactus MOT: quick answers

Citroen C4 Cactus MOT Risk Index stands out at 146.2, against 100 for a car with the same age profile.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

What is the Citroen C4 Cactus first-time MOT pass rate?
73.02% of first attempts passed in 2024 (21,290 tests). This is the first-time figure: retests after repair are excluded. Basis: first-time, excluding retests.
Why does this number differ from other sites?
Other sites often report a pass rate that includes retests or counts all attempts. Our 26.98% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 21,290 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 146.2 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.

Compare the Citroen C4 Cactus with other cars

Citroen C4 Cactus is highest at 146.2; Peugeot Partner is lowest at 145.6 — the gap is 0.6 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Same brand

All Citroen MOT statisticsCitroen Berlingo MOT statsCitroen C4 Grand Picasso MOT stats

Similar risk

DS 3 (index 146.1)Peugeot Partner (index 145.6)Vauxhall Combo (index 145.6)

Same size class

how Toyota Land Cruiser compareshow Mercedes-Benz SL compareshow Renault Grand Scenic compares

By build year

Citroen C4 Cactus 2015Citroen C4 Cactus 2016Citroen C4 Cactus 2017Citroen C4 Cactus 2018Citroen C4 Cactus 2019Citroen C4 Cactus 2020

By area

Citroen C4 Cactus MOT failure rate by postcode area

By failure group

Citroen C4 Cactus body, chassis and structure failuresCitroen C4 Cactus brakes failuresCitroen C4 Cactus vehicle identification failuresCitroen C4 Cactus lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresCitroen C4 Cactus noise, emissions and leaks failuresCitroen C4 Cactus road wheels failuresCitroen C4 Cactus seat belts and airbags failuresCitroen C4 Cactus steering failuresCitroen C4 Cactus suspension failuresCitroen C4 Cactus tyres failuresCitroen C4 Cactus visibility failures

Inspections abroad

Citroen C4 Cactus in NorwayCitroen C4 Cactus in FinlandCitroen C4 Cactus in the Netherlands


Data details & how to cite

Scope: class-4 vehicles (cars), initial tests only, outcomes pass / fail / fixed-on-the-spot at the station (PRS counts towards the failure rate — the defect was present at arrival). Index = observed initial failures ÷ failures expected for this fleet's exact age profile, ×100; margin of error is a 95% confidence interval. Covers ALL generations together — a 3-year-old and a 15-year-old are very different cars; a generation split is on the roadmap. Dataset release dataset_release_id=dvsa-2024-v2, frozen baseline; headline claim_id=family-stats:citroen-c4-cactus:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.

Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Citroen C4 Cactus MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/citroen-c4-cactus/ · Published 2026-07-30.