Toyota Urban Cruiser — MOT statistics 2024
The Toyota Urban Cruiser failed 30.15% of 3,864 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 76.3 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 24% less often than expected for its age. Small sample — treat with care.
Age-adjusted peer: Mazda CX-3 (index 76.0) — the two published results are 0.3 index points apart.
Toyota Urban Cruiser common problems: what actually fails the MOT
Suspension is well below the reference at 7.4 per 100 tests, against 20.7 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.
higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests
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×.
| Group | This family | Cases behind it | UK, same ages | Family / national |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamps & electrical | 17.7 | 4,380 | 22.3 | 0.79×0.77–0.82 |
| Brakes | 17.4 | 4,301 | 14.0 | 1.24×1.20–1.28 |
| Visibility | 8.3 | 2,064 | 8.7 | 0.96×0.92–1.00 · not distinguishable |
| Suspension | 7.4 | 1,825 | 20.7 | 0.36×0.34–0.37 |
| Tyres | 5.6 | 1,395 | 10.2 | 0.55×0.52–0.58 |
| Emissions & leaks | 3.8 | 949 | 4.5 | 0.85×0.80–0.91 |
| What failed | per 100 tests (this family) | per 100 tests (UK average) | ratio family / UK | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headlamp reflector or lens slightly defectiveHeadlamp reflector or lens slightly defective | 3.97 | 1.09 | 3.63× | Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure |
| Reflector defective or damaged by up to 50% of…Reflector defective or damaged by up to 50% of the reflecting surface | 2.61 | 0.12 | 22.50× | Ask the seller about: Reflector defective or damaged by up to 50% of the reflectin |
| Brake pipe damaged or excessively corrodedBrake pipe damaged or excessively corroded | 3.87 | 1.41 | 2.75× | Look underneath for rust or cracks around subframe and suspension mountings |
| Engine MIL illuminated indicating a malfunctionEngine MIL illuminated indicating a malfunction | 1.95 | 1.19 | 1.65× | Ask the seller about: Engine MIL illuminated indicating a malfunction |
| Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the…Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen | 2.80 | 2.22 | 1.26× | Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view |
| Brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mma brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm | 2.48 | 2.15 | 1.15× | Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive |
| Lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a…A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning | 2.16 | 2.09 | 1.03× | Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure |
| 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 sources | 2.88 | 2.83 | 1.02× | Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure |
| Suspension joint dust cover severely deterioratedA suspension joint dust cover severely deteriorated | 1.94 | 1.90 | 1.02× | Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test |
| Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the…Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements | 2.42 | 3.59 | 0.67× | Check tyre tread depth across the full width |
Named defects ranked by how much more often they appear than the national average — not by raw rate.
Toyota Urban Cruiser MOT advisories: what gets flagged
Brakes are highest at 56.7 per 100 tests; Identification is lowest at 4.4 per 100 tests — the gap is 52.3 per 100 tests.
higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests
Advisory rates table
| Group | Advisories per 100 |
|---|---|
| Brakes | 56.7 |
| Tyres | 38.6 |
| Suspension | 31.4 |
| Non-component advisories | 9.1 |
| Body & structure | 5.3 |
| Identification | 4.4 |
Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.
Tyres, brakes and suspension: Toyota Urban Cruiser against cars of the same age
| Age | Part | Toyota Urban Cruiser | Same age, petrol and diesel | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 years | Tyres | 3.52 | 6.31 | -2.79 |
| 8 years | Brakes | 8.21 | 5.38 | 2.83 |
| 8 years | Suspension | 2.75 | 7.78 | -5.03 |
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 test | Fails next year | Vehicles followed |
|---|---|---|
| It failed | 30.8% | 1,626 |
| It passed | 23.6% | 14,505 |
A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 7.2 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is noise, emissions and leaks — 38.3% 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 24,721 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 for | Index | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Age only | 72.0 | fails less often than expected |
| Age and annual mileage | 73.9 | fails less often than vehicles driven as much |
| Share doing under 3,000 miles a year | 5.4% | a normal spread of use |
Mileage changes little here (+1.9 points): this fleet is driven about as much as the vehicles it is compared with. 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 Toyota Urban Cruiser 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.
| Age | Toyota Urban Cruiser | Same class, same age | Difference | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 years | 17.47% | 24.32% | -6.85 pp | 624 |
| 8 years | 21.16% | 28.15% | -6.99 pp | 1,706 |
| 9 years | 23.02% | 32.03% | -9.01 pp | 2,945 |
| 10 years | 24.12% | 35.6% | -11.48 pp | 4,241 |
| 11 years | 25.94% | 38.66% | -12.72 pp | 4,136 |
| 12 years | 27.65% | 41.26% | -13.6 pp | 4,061 |
| 13 years | 27.94% | 43.3% | -15.36 pp | 3,418 |
| 14 years | 30.82% | 45.04% | -14.22 pp | 2,391 |
| 15 years | 33.47% | 46.32% | -12.85 pp | 1,204 |
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 Toyota Urban Cruiser perform as it gets older?
The Urban Cruiser at age 13 is well below the reference at 27.6%, against 38.2% for all vehicles of the same age.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–47%.
Takeaway: solid line: this family; dashed: all cars.
Data table
| Age | Toyota Urban Cruiser | All vehicles | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 26.2% | 35.7% | -9.5 pp |
| 13 | 27.6% | 38.2% | -10.5 pp |
| 14 | 30.7% | 40.4% | -9.7 pp |
| 15 | 33.5% | 41.6% | -8.1 pp |
Is a Toyota Urban Cruiser ULEZ compliant?
The share of classifiable 2024 Toyota Urban Cruiser MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 48.9%.
Based on 3,858 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
| Vehicle age at test | Likely ULEZ-compliant share | Tests |
|---|---|---|
| Under 3 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
| 3–5 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
| 6–7 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
| 8 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
| 9 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
| 10–14 years | 33.1% Check a registration with TfL | n = 2,654 |
| 15–17 years | 83.8% Check a registration with TfL | n = 1,204 |
| 18 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
| 19 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
| 20+ years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
How dangerous are Toyota Urban Cruiser MOT failures?
Major defects are well below the reference at 39.5 per 100 tests, against 52.8 per 100 tests nationally.
higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests
Severity table
| Severity | This family /100 | National /100 | Family / national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor | 16.69 | 14.22 | 1.17× |
| Major | 39.48 | 52.75 | 0.75× |
| Dangerous | 8.64 | 11.15 | 0.77× |
Chart values: Minor 16.7 · Major 39.5 · Dangerous 8.6.
Per 100 tests on this family. National average: Minor 14.2 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 11.2 per 100.
Does the month of a Toyota Urban Cruiser MOT matter?
May is highest at 28.1%; Dec is lowest at 22.3% — the gap is 5.8 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart scale: 21%–33%.
bars: Toyota Urban Cruiser · dashed: all class-4 cars
Month-by-month table
| Month | Toyota Urban Cruiser | All vehicles | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 26% | 31.12% | -5.1 pp |
| Feb | 25.54% | 29.99% | -4.4 pp |
| Mar | 26.05% | 28.26% | -2.2 pp |
| Apr | 24.68% | 29.78% | -5.1 pp |
| May | 28.1% | 28.79% | -0.7 pp |
| Jun | 26.83% | 28.15% | -1.3 pp |
| Jul | 27.07% | 29.33% | -2.3 pp |
| Aug | 25.47% | 29.2% | -3.7 pp |
| Sep | 27.1% | 28.19% | -1.1 pp |
| Oct | 26.57% | 30.34% | -3.8 pp |
| Nov | 26.71% | 30.58% | -3.9 pp |
| Dec | 22.26% | 29.33% | -7.1 pp |
Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 5.8 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.
Toyota Urban Cruiser average mileage by age
At age 14, the middle half of Urban Cruisers runs from 67,401 miles to 111,974 miles, against 89,801 miles as the median.
further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75
Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–118k mi.
Does high mileage mean more Toyota Urban Cruiser MOT failures at the same age?
Within the same age group, split by odometer (2024 MOTs), so this separates wear from age: at ages 10–14, 13.7% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 35.6% of those with over 140,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.
| Age | Odometer | % failing | 95% interval | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10–14 | <40k miles | 13.7% | 9.2–20.1% | 153 (rough estimate) |
| 10–14 | 40-70k miles | 21% | 18.1–24.3% | 666 |
| 10–14 | 70-100k miles | 29.7% | 26.8–32.7% | 944 |
| 10–14 | 100-140k miles | 35.9% | 32.5–39.5% | 724 |
| 10–14 | 140k+ miles | 35.6% | 28.6–43.2% | 163 (rough estimate) |
| 15+ | 40-70k miles | 22.6% | 17.4–28.7% | 208 (rough estimate) |
| 15+ | 70-100k miles | 35.3% | 31.1–39.7% | 462 (rough estimate) |
| 15+ | 100-140k miles | 35.9% | 31.4–40.6% | 410 (rough estimate) |
| 15+ | 140k+ miles | 48% | 37.1–59.1% | 75 (rough estimate) |
line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)
Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
| Age | p25 | Median | p75 | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 60,519 | 79,110 | 102,445 | 557 |
| 13 | 64,931 | 84,328 | 105,393 | 955 |
| 14 | 67,401 | 89,801 | 111,974 | 1,140 |
| 15 | 73,126 | 92,767 | 112,129 | 1,204 |
A typical 14-year-old Urban Cruiser has ~89,801 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.
Where in Britain the Toyota Urban Cruiser fails its MOT most
Aberdeen area is highest at 38.2%; Kingston upon Thames area is lowest at 10.0% — the gap is 28.2 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Toughest areas | % failing | vs model overall |
|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen (AB) | 38.18% | +12.0 pp |
| Edinburgh (EH) | 37.44% | +11.3 pp |
| Milton Keynes (MK) | 36.7% | +10.6 pp |
| Kirkcaldy (KY) | 36.55% | +10.4 pp |
| Perth (PH) | 35.12% | +9.0 pp |
| Easiest areas | % failing | vs model overall |
|---|---|---|
| Kingston upon Thames (KT) | 10% | -16.1 pp |
| Leicester (LE) | 18.93% | -7.2 pp |
| Wakefield (WF) | 19.18% | -7.0 pp |
| Cleveland (TS) | 19.41% | -6.7 pp |
| Redhill (RH) | 20.15% | -6.0 pp |
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: 20%–37% failing.
How many miles does a Toyota Urban Cruiser last?
100,000+ miles stands out at 20.9%.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Odometer | Tests ≥ threshold | Share of sample |
|---|---|---|
| 100,000+ miles | 5,176 | 20.93% |
Of 24,727 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 20.9% had reached 100k miles. This is a cross-section of cars still presenting for MOT, not a full birth cohort.
Toyota Urban Cruiser faults that come together
Body & structure + Emissions & leaks stand out at 8.45×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.
above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less
| Group A | Group B | Together | Lift |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body, chassis, structure | Noise, emissions and leaks | 143 | 8.45× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Noise, emissions and leaks | 457 | 6.38× (rough estimate) |
| Steering | Suspension | 35 | 6.18× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 20 | 4.76× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Visibility | 28 | 4.69× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Road Wheels | 28 | 4.34× (rough estimate) |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Visibility | 41 | 4.16× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 63 | 3.85× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Brakes | 215 | 3.84× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Visibility | 189 | 3.72× (rough estimate) |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Tyres | 21 | 3.68× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 51 | 3.67× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Suspension | 113 | 3.63× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 36 | 3.63× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Steering | 41 | 3.42× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Identification of the vehicle | 28 | 3.33× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Noise, emissions and leaks | 273 | 3.24× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Tyres | 308 | 3.17× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Steering | 31 | 3.05× (rough estimate) |
| Tyres | Visibility | 210 | 3.04× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Visibility | 589 | 2.98× |
| Brakes | Visibility | 494 | 2.94× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 193 | 2.93× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Tyres | 84 | 2.86× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Visibility | 112 | 2.82× (rough estimate) |
| Steering | Visibility | 20 | 2.77× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Suspension | 355 | 2.69× (rough estimate) |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Suspension | 20 | 2.59× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Suspension | 103 | 2.58× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Suspension | 398 | 2.56× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 706 | 2.53× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Tyres | 58 | 2.52× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Tyres | 279 | 2.44× (rough estimate) |
| Suspension | Visibility | 222 | 2.37× (rough estimate) |
| Suspension | Tyres | 112 | 2.07× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Tyres | 17 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Road Wheels | Visibility | 17 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 13 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Noise, emissions and leaks | 12 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Suspension | 12 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Road Wheels | 12 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Steering | Tyres | 11 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Road Wheels | 10 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Identification of the vehicle | 10 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Steering | 10 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Steering | 8 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Road Wheels | 7 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Road Wheels | Tyres | 6 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Road Wheels | Suspension | 6 | too few (rough estimate) |
Defects in «Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment» and «Visibility» appear together 2.98× more often than chance (589 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 Toyota Urban Cruiser?
Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 17.9%, against 32.7% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Band | Fail % | Tests |
|---|---|---|
| <5k miles/year | 17.88% | 5,091 |
| 8–12k miles/year | 32.68% | 5,827 |
| Gap (low − normal) | -14.79 pp | — |
By fuel and age
Diesel
| Age | Low-use fail % | n | Normal fail % | n | Gap pp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 2.27 | 88 | 22.4 | 183 | -20.13 pp |
| 8 | 11.89 | 227 | 26.01 | 469 | -14.12 pp |
| 9 | 12.5 | 336 | 26.31 | 688 | -13.81 pp |
| 10 | 13.92 | 388 | 27.28 | 744 | -13.37 pp |
| 11 | 16.47 | 419 | 28.35 | 702 | -11.88 pp |
| 12 | 19.28 | 415 | 31.61 | 639 | -12.33 pp |
| 13 | 20.36 | 329 | 34.25 | 438 | -13.88 pp |
| 14 | 20.13 | 149 | 32.52 | 206 | -12.39 pp |
Petrol
| Age | Low-use fail % | n | Normal fail % | n | Gap pp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 21.88 | 32 | 29.03 | 31 | -7.16 pp |
| 8 | 15.84 | 101 | 22.35 | 85 | -6.51 pp |
| 9 | 15.94 | 276 | 31.72 | 268 | -15.77 pp |
| 10 | 18.12 | 574 | 33.27 | 541 | -15.15 pp |
| 11 | 19.5 | 564 | 35.58 | 475 | -16.08 pp |
| 12 | 19.63 | 591 | 36.57 | 443 | -16.94 pp |
| 13 | 18.81 | 553 | 39.01 | 382 | -20.2 pp |
| 14 | 18.71 | 497 | 43 | 300 | -24.29 pp |
At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 17.9% vs 32.7% for 8–12k miles/year — 14.8 pp lower (n_low=5,091, n_normal=5,827). 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.
Best year for a Toyota Urban Cruiser, and the years to avoid
Build year 2010 is highest at 103.2; Build year 2012 is lowest at 91.2 — the gap is 12.0 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
Every build year with its confidence interval
| Build year | vs own age norm | 95% CI | Raw fail % | Tests | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 91.2 | 84.6–97.7 | 20.98% | 3,556 | better |
| 2011 | 100 | 95–105 | 24.82% | 6,153 | no different |
| 2010 | 103.2 | 98.7–107.7 | 27.29% | 7,343 | no different |
| 2009 | 101.2 | 97–105.4 | 28.5% | 7,660 | no different |
The best build year here is 2012 and the weakest is 2012. 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 — 1 of 4 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.
Toyota Urban Cruiser MOT repair costs
The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £76.84 to £146.00, against £54.85 for the test itself.
bigger number = costs morepounds per test, MOT-failing faults only
| Component | Fails per 100 tests | Typical repair | Its price | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 17.4 (nat. 11.25) | Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback) | £150 | £26.10 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 17.7 (nat. 18.09) | Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid) | £140 | £24.78 |
| Suspension | 7.4 (nat. 15.36) | Suspension coil spring (single corner) | £180 | £13.32 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 3.8 (nat. 3.67) | Exhaust rear silencer | £200 | £7.60 |
| Tyres | 5.6 (nat. 8.7) | Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted) | £90 | £5.04 |
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 £77 to £146, 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.
Toyota Urban Cruiser running costs for a fleet
Vehicles failing at age 15 stand out at 33.0%, against 26.0% at age 12, tested in the same year.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
| Age | Fails | Median odometer | Tests | Gap vs age 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 26.21% | 79,110 | 557 | — |
| 13 | 27.64% | 84,328 | 955 | — |
| 14 | 30.7% | 89,801 | 1,140 | — |
| 15 | 33.47% | 92,767 | 1,204 | — |
No single year stands out as the point where this model starts costing more: the year-to-year steps in its failure rate are too small or rest on too few tests to name one (D1 rule: a step is named only with at least 2,000 tests on both sides and a jump above 3 percentage points).
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.
Toyota Urban Cruiser rust problems: where they corrode
Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility stands out at 4.03×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.
above 1.0× = rusts more than averagebelow 1.0× = rusts less
This Toyota Urban Cruiser fails on corrosion far more often than average once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are saltier than most for the models we publish.
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 Toyota Urban Cruiser advisory become a failure?
Brakes are highest at 14.2%; Non-component advisories are lowest at 0.0% — the gap is 14.2 percentage points.
higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability
chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now
| Component | Fails next time | Typical lead time | Miles of warning | Advisories tracked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 14.2% | 12 months | 5,644 | 6,013 |
| Suspension | 11.2% | 12 months | 5,416 | 2,842 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 9.9% | 12 months | 5,963 | 761 |
| Tyres | 6.3% | 12.1 months | 5,413 | 4,531 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 4.1% | 12.2 months | 7,217 | 614 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3.4% | 12.1 months | 4,575 | 727 |
| Non-component advisories | 0.0% | — | — | 1,612 |
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 14 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12 months and roughly 5,644 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 Toyota Urban Cruiser?
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a failure at age 12-14 are highest at 23.7%; Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a passed at age 6-8 are lowest at 4.7% — the gap is 19.0 percentage points.
higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability
| Age | Last test | Most likely next failures | Cars tracked |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6-8 | passed | Brakes 5.8% · Visibility 4.9% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 4.7% | 1,900 |
| 6-8 | advisory | Brakes 10.7% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 7.1% · Visibility 6.1% | 1,287 |
| 6-8 | failure | Brakes 13.4% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 10.5% · Visibility 8.3% | 858 |
| 9-11 | passed | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 8.5% · Brakes 7.0% · Visibility 5.1% | 4,533 |
| 9-11 | advisory | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 13.6% · Brakes 10.2% · Visibility 7.4% | 3,915 |
| 9-11 | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15.6% · Brakes 14.2% · Visibility 8.4% | 2,838 |
| 12-14 | passed | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 11.8% · Brakes 6.7% · Visibility 6.1% | 1,702 |
| 12-14 | advisory | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 20.0% · Brakes 11.6% · Suspension 9.4% | 1,937 |
| 12-14 | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 23.7% · Brakes 13.4% · Visibility 12.6% | 1,490 |
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.
Toyota Urban Cruiser ownership: what six years of MOTs show
The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 56.0%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 3.0% — the gap is 52.9 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 4,363 failures followed through to their re-test, 41.03% were repaired and passed the same day and 55.95% within ten days; the median gap is 1 day. 10,583 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 0.454 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 4,787 miles a year across 4,286 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. 32.87% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 45.22% 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: 0.887% of 4,286 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 30,430 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.
Toyota Urban Cruiser safety recalls and how to check yours
DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 7.
bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone
recall campaigns launched per year
| Reference | Launched | Vehicles | Concern |
|---|---|---|---|
R/2019/333 | 04/11/2019 | 3,887 | INCORRECTLY INSTALLED COVERS COULD PREVENT THE SEAT-MOUNTED SIDE AIRBAG FROM DEPLOYING |
R/2015/206 | 01/12/2015 | 123,306 | RISK OF FIRE |
R/2014/160 | 07/01/2015 | 7,884 | RISK OF FIRE |
R/2014/049 | 22/04/2014 | 1,335 | STEERING COLUMN MAY BECOME UNSECURED |
R/2014/049 | 22/04/2014 | 1,335 | STEERING COLUMN MAY BECOME UNSECURED |
All 7 campaigns
| Reference | Launched | Build dates | Vehicles | Concern |
|---|---|---|---|---|
R/2019/333 | 04/11/2019 | 17/12/2008 – 27/03/2013 | 3,887 | INCORRECTLY INSTALLED COVERS COULD PREVENT THE SEAT-MOUNTED SIDE AIRBAG FROM DEPLOYING |
R/2015/206 | 01/12/2015 | 13/06/2005 – 31/12/2010 | 123,306 | RISK OF FIRE |
R/2014/160 | 07/01/2015 | 13/11/2008 – 21/05/2014 | 7,884 | RISK OF FIRE |
R/2014/049 | 22/04/2014 | 17/12/2008 – 12/12/2009 | 1,335 | STEERING COLUMN MAY BECOME UNSECURED |
R/2014/049 | 22/04/2014 | 17/12/2008 – 09/01/2009 | 1,335 | STEERING COLUMN MAY BECOME UNSECURED |
R/2014/050 | 22/04/2014 | 03/10/2008 – 12/05/2010 | 10,317 | SEAT RAIL MECHANISM COULD FAIL |
R/2014/050 | 22/04/2014 | 08/10/2008 – 12/05/2010 | 10,317 | SEAT RAIL MECHANISM COULD FAIL |
DVSA lists 7 safety recall campaigns for the Toyota Urban Cruiser, covering roughly 158,381 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.
Toyota Urban Cruiser inspection results in other countries
Finland Katsastus is well below the reference at 21.6%, against 26.3% nationally.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Country | Test | This model fails | National average | Position | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | MOT (class 4) | 30.15% | 26.01% | +4.1 pp | 3,864 |
| Norway | PKK | 36.4% | 33.7% | +2.7 pp | 3,920 |
| Netherlands | APK | 47.5% | 50.8% | -3.3 pp | 2,374 |
| Finland | Katsastus | 21.6% | 26.3% | -4.7 pp | 1,384 |
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.
| Fault area | Share |
|---|---|
| Brake systems | 41.6% |
| Axles, wheels and suspension | 21.8% |
| Environmental hazards | 15% |
| Chassis and body | 11.9% |
| Steering equipment | 4.1% |
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.
| Code | Fault | Recorded | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
210 | Tyre pressure not at the correct value | 434 | failure |
205 | Tyre with insufficient tread | 199 | failure |
497 | Number-plate light not working or missing | 191 | failure |
522 | Dipped-beam cut-off line unclear | 183 | failure |
391 | Wipers leave insufficient visibility | 157 | failure |
516 | Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed | 145 | failure |
584 | Sidelight not working properly | 144 | failure |
AC1 | Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread | 143 | advisory |
Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 1.094 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 Toyota Urban Cruiser 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.
One caveat before you read the UK row: these are raw failure rates, because no other country publishes the age detail our index needs. This model's raw UK rate looks worse than the national average while its age-adjusted index is 76.3 — the fleet here is unusually old, and the raw column silently credits that. The index above is the fair comparison; this table is for reading each country against itself.
Rows with fewer than 500 inspections are not published. Sources: Statens vegvesen — Periodisk kjøretøykontroll (PKK) 2024, CC BY 4.0; RDW open data — Meldingen Keuringsinstantie + Geconstateerde Gebreken + Gekentekende voertuigen (2024), CC0. Not an RDW endorsement.; Traficom — Periodic inspections of cars by model / by model and fault object 2024, CC BY 4.0. Adapted; licences and full notice.
Toyota Urban Cruiser MOT: quick answers
Toyota Urban Cruiser MOT Risk Index is well below the reference at 76.3, 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 Toyota Urban Cruiser first-time MOT pass rate?
- 69.85% of first attempts passed in 2024 (3,864 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 30.15% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 3,864 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 76.3 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.
Compare the Toyota Urban Cruiser with other cars
Toyota Urban Cruiser is highest at 76.3; LEVC TX is lowest at 75.6 — the gap is 0.7 points.
below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age
Same brand
All Toyota MOT statisticsToyota Estima MOT statsToyota Alphard MOT stats
Similar risk
Mazda CX-3 (index 76.0)Volkswagen California (index 76.0)LEVC TX (index 75.6)
Same size class
how Audi R8 compareshow Alfa Romeo Stelvio compareshow Chevrolet Orlando compares
By build year
Toyota Urban Cruiser 2009Toyota Urban Cruiser 2010Toyota Urban Cruiser 2011Toyota Urban Cruiser 2012
By area
Toyota Urban Cruiser MOT failure rate by postcode area
By failure group
Toyota Urban Cruiser body, chassis and structure failuresToyota Urban Cruiser brakes failuresToyota Urban Cruiser vehicle identification failuresToyota Urban Cruiser lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresToyota Urban Cruiser noise, emissions and leaks failuresToyota Urban Cruiser road wheels failuresToyota Urban Cruiser seat belts and airbags failuresToyota Urban Cruiser steering failuresToyota Urban Cruiser suspension failuresToyota Urban Cruiser tyres failuresToyota Urban Cruiser visibility failures
Inspections abroad
Toyota Urban Cruiser in NorwayToyota Urban Cruiser in FinlandToyota Urban Cruiser 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:toyota-urban-cruiser:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.
Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Toyota Urban Cruiser MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/toyota-urban-cruiser/ · Published 2026-07-30.