James Ruppert
I n this final instalment of our look at MOT successes and failures, let’s put a positive spin on some more frequent first-test flunkers, according to official stats. This raises a familiar question: are these semi-bad cars or do they simply belong to owners who don’t care enough? The truth is there are no bad cars, just neglected ones, but then again certain stats don’t lie.
It is possible to explain away the grading of the Dacia Logan as the second-most-likely car to fail on the basis that it’s from a cheapie brand and gets treated accordingly by its owners. So it’s a good idea to find one that belonged to a family buyer seeking value for money who has then traded up. Like this 2020 MCV 0.9 TCe Comfort with just over 30k miles at a smidgeon below £10k – a decent price for a useful estate.
The Vauxhall Corsa is at the value end of used car purchases, even an SRi VX Line, which has been identified as the fifth-worst performer at first MOTs. Actually, Corsas from this era are fairly low-mileage and quite tidy, as a 2020 Turbo SRi with 20k miles for just under £13,000 shows.
We could also wrap the Renault Mégane, which features at number seven in the bottom 10, into the same category. I don’t have a downer on this model, so why not find a 2020 Tourer with 64k miles in 1.5 Blue dCi Iconic specification at £10,999? Well, that seems like a good deal.
Then there are hard-working company cars, as represented by the Vauxhall Insignia. A very comfy model and worth finding. Here’s a 2020 1.6 Turbo D Ecotec Design Grand Sport. That is something of a mouthful but it will deliver a claimed 57.7mpg and this smart one-owner example that has done 42k miles is yours for £11,700.
Also doing the fleet car shuffle is the Peugeot 508, another impressively stylish piece of kit. A 2020, one-owner 1.5 BlueHDi GT Line Fastback with 50k miles is £15,999. By way of comparison, that returns a claimed 63mpg.
And that brings us to the fourth-worst-performing Land Rover Discovery Sport. Maybe there are some bad cars still in circulation, after all, given the prevailing evidence shows that premium SUVs from Lexus and Porsche dominate t
