Kia Sportage vs Nissan Qashqai
Take the Kia Sportage for lower age-adjusted MOT risk: its index is 107.8 versus 122.9 for the Nissan Qashqai, and the 95% confidence intervals do not overlap.
Lower is better. The index adjusts for each fleet's exact age profile; the raw failure rate below does not. The index gap is 15.1 points. Data release dvsa-2024-v1.
Side-by-side evidence
| Measure | Kia Sportage | Nissan Qashqai |
|---|---|---|
| Age-adjusted MOT Risk Index | 107.8 (107.2–108.4) | 122.9 (122.5–123.3) |
| Raw initial failure rate | 22.55% | 30.07% |
| Dangerous defects per 100 tests | 14.27 | 15.81 |
| Initial tests | 396,816 | 800,602 |
Where their MOT failures diverge
These are component groups present in both models' published top-six failure lists, sorted by the absolute gap. A positive difference means the Kia Sportage records more failure items; a negative one means the Nissan Qashqai does.
| Component group | Kia Sportage | Nissan Qashqai | Difference | Lower rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 10.1 | 31.8 | -21.7 pp | Kia Sportage |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 9.8 | 20.3 | -10.5 pp | Kia Sportage |
| Steering | 4.5 | 14.3 | -9.8 pp | Kia Sportage |
| Brakes | 16.7 | 15.0 | +1.7 pp | Nissan Qashqai |
| Visibility | 10.1 | 10.1 | 0.0 pp | Level |
Counts are defect items, not the share of cars: one failed test can contain several items. A group absent from a model's top six is not treated as zero.
What the six-year test history says
The longitudinal layer follows the same vehicles between MOTs from 2019 to 2024. It separates a one-day retest from the harder question of what returns next year, and puts failures against miles actually driven.
| Component | Kia Sportage | Nissan Qashqai | Difference | Tracked advisories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 18.8% | 31.8% | -12.9 pp | 9,676 / 13,926 |
| Suspension | 19.2% | 29.0% | -9.8 pp | 67,698 / 324,577 |
| Steering | 15.7% | 25.1% | -9.4 pp | 8,437 / 66,091 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 15.6% | 23.5% | -7.9 pp | 9,282 / 22,471 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3.2% | 3.5% | -0.3 pp | 8,633 / 25,167 |
| Brakes | 12.7% | 12.4% | +0.3 pp | 200,041 / 527,461 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 5.1% | 4.8% | +0.3 pp | 15,475 / 60,437 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 5.0% | 5.2% | -0.3 pp | 3,000 / 10,197 |
| Tyres | 8.3% | 8.0% | +0.3 pp | 250,004 / 565,468 |
| Visibility | 10.3% | 10.2% | +0.1 pp | 1,001 / 2,658 |
| Measure | Kia Sportage | Nissan Qashqai |
|---|---|---|
| Repaired and passed the same day | 46.2% | 45.3% |
| Passed 1–10 days later | 51.4% | 52.1% |
| Median retest delay | 1.0 days | 1.0 days |
| Failures per 10,000 miles | 0.319 | 0.426 |
| Three-test clean streak | 35.9% | 32.9% |
| Same advisory repeated 3+ times | 26.0% | 33.4% |
Care proxy is descriptive, not a claim about an owner's character: a clean streak means three or more consecutive tests with nothing recorded; the repeat measure means the same advisory appeared at least three times.
Safety recalls
| Model | Campaigns listed | Per 10,000 licensed |
|---|---|---|
| Kia Sportage | 20 | 0.48 |
| Nissan Qashqai | 25 | 0.37 |
More campaigns do not by themselves mean a less reliable car: recalls are manufacturer remedies, and the licensed-fleet denominator is unavailable for some families. Check a registration for outstanding work before buying.
Do other countries see the same thing?
Both models appear in the same independent national inspection datasets below. Compare each model with that country's own average; absolute pass rates are not portable between rulebooks.
| Country / test | Model | Model fails | National average | Position | Inspections |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finland · Katsastus | Kia Sportage | 34.0% | 26.3% | +7.7 pp | 7,630 |
| Finland · Katsastus | Nissan Qashqai | 28.6% | 26.3% | +2.3 pp | 36,002 |
| Norway · PKK | Kia Sportage | 35.8% | 33.5% | +2.3 pp | 2,029 |
| Norway · PKK | Nissan Qashqai | 36.7% | 33.5% | +3.2 pp | 5,608 |
Sources are the national PKK, Katsastus and APK datasets recorded in each family artifact. Position is model failure rate minus that country's national rate.
Quick answers
- Is the Kia Sportage or the Nissan Qashqai more reliable?
- The Kia Sportage has the stronger age-adjusted MOT result: index 107.8 against 122.9 for the Nissan Qashqai, with non-overlapping 95% confidence intervals.
- Does the Kia Sportage or the Nissan Qashqai fail more MOTs?
- 22.55% of Kia Sportage initial tests and 30.07% of Nissan Qashqai initial tests found a failing defect in 2024. The lower raw rate belongs to the Kia Sportage, but the age-adjusted index is the fairer model comparison because the fleets can be different ages.
- What are the main MOT problem areas on the Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai?
- The leading published failure group for the Kia Sportage is brakes at 16.7 items per 100 tests; for the Nissan Qashqai it is suspension at 31.8 per 100.
- Should I buy a Kia Sportage or a Nissan Qashqai?
- If MOT reliability is the deciding factor, the Kia Sportage is the evidence-led choice. Still check the individual car's MOT history and condition: these figures describe whole model populations, not a particular vehicle.
Model pages and nearby comparisons
See the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model 3 comparisonSee the Audi A3 and BMW 3 Series comparisonSee the Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Corsa comparison
Browse all car reliability comparisons.
How to read and cite this comparison
Scope: class-4 vehicles, initial tests only, Great Britain 2024. PRS fixed-on-the-spot results count as failures because a defect was present on arrival. Index = observed initial failures ÷ age-profile-expected failures × 100; intervals are 95% confidence intervals. Every model family combines all generations and engines. Full method: methodology.
Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Kia Sportage vs Nissan Qashqai: MOT reliability comparison, 2024 (dvsa-2024-v1). https://motriskindex.co.uk/compare/kia-sportage-vs-nissan-qashqai/