FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSMazda MX-30
Top three failure systems, annotated from 129 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.
Tyres are 66% of everything that fails a Mazda MX-30
2,026 inspections in a single year make the MX-30 a modestly documented electric car in the data. Tyres cause 65.7% of its failures; tyres take 2.8× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
First-time test findings
The three-year picture
AT THREE YEARS OLD6.4%
MX-30 failure rate. Petrol cars of the same age fail 8.2%.
ALL ELECTRIC CARS12.0%
All electric cars in the data.
At three years old the Mazda MX-30 fails 6.4% of the time, under the 8.2% of a petrol car the same age. Tyres cause 65.7% of its failures.
FIGURE 2 // TYRE SECTION66 certificates in 2024
The tyre that wears from the inside
Tyres take 65.7% of the defects that fail this car, 2.8× the share seen on petrol and diesel cars of the same age. The most common item in that group is "A tyre seriously damaged", recorded 66 times in 2024.
SECTION // TYRES CONCENTRATION
Where it concentrates
The MX-30 stays under the petrol fleet at every age we can measure. What it does fail on is unusually concentrated.
Source: DVSA MOT defect items, 2024 test year.
What to check
Check tyre age and tread across the full width, inner edge included. Electric cars wear tyres faster; a cheap mismatched set on a used car tells you how it was run. Ask when the brakes were last stripped and cleaned. Regenerative braking barely wears the pads, so discs and calipers corrode and seize instead. Trivial to fix, but a car advertised with worn wipers and a fresh failure certificate tells you how it was maintained. Ask for the full MOT history by registration on the free DVSA service: advisories are next year's failures.
3 inspection points:
✓ Tyre inner-edge wear and age
✓ Rear caliper drag and disc lip
✓ Wipers and washers
FIGURE 3 // FAILURE RATE BY AGEvs petrol, diesel and all electric cars
Points hidden where fewer than 50 cars of that age were tested. Dashed lines are the same-age petrol and diesel fleets.
Data sheet
- Inspections
- 2,026
- Passed
- 1,845
- Failed
- 129
- Passed after repair
- 52
- Failure rate
- 6.4% (all EV 12.0%)
- Average age
- 3.0 years
- Best year
- 3 yrs · 6.4%
- Worst year
- 3 yrs · 6.4%
- Top cause
- Tyres 65.7%
TABLE 1 // WHAT FAILS, BY SYSTEMshare of failing defects
| System | This car (mark = petrol/diesel) | Share | vs petrol/diesel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 65.7% | 2.8× more | |
| Suspension | 4.3% | 3.2× less | |
| Brakes | 11.1% | 1.7× less | |
| Visibility | 11.1% | in line | |
| Lighting | 3.4% | 4.9× less | |
| Steering | 0.0% | in line | |
| Body | 1.0% | 4.1× less |
TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE
- A tyre seriously damaged66
- Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements49
- A tyre cords visible or damaged10
- a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm9
- Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen7
- Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view6
Wording as printed by the tester, from the DVSA inspection manual.
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Where it holds up
- Suspension fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (4.3% of defects vs 13.6%)
- Brakes fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (11.1% of defects vs 18.7%)
- Lighting fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (3.4% of defects vs 16.5%)
- Steering fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.0% of defects vs 3.1%)
Where it fails
- Tyres take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (65.7% vs 23.7%)
VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded
- MX-30 GT SPORT TECH EV685
- MX-30 SPORT LUX EV536
- MX-30 SE-L LUX EV471
- MX-30 FIRST EDITION EV328
- MX-30 100TH ANNIVERSARY ED EV5
- MX-301
OWNER REPORTS // MATCHED TO RECORDED DEFECTS0 read · 0 matched
No owner discussion has been matched to this car's recorded defects yet. Reports are re-collected every quarter; the figures on this page do not depend on them.
Summaries written by us, never quotes; every entry links to its source. Owner reports have no denominator and never feed the failure rate.
SIMILAR CARS IN THE DATAclosest rate and age, other brands
Three things the data shows
- 2,026 inspections in 2024 make this one of the adequately-documented electric cars in the data.
- Tyres take 2.8× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
- It ranks 16 of 81 electric cars by first-time failure rate.
LIMITS // WHAT THE INSPECTION DOES NOT TELL YOU
No battery health, no motor, no charging performance. The test covers brakes, suspension, steering, tyres, lights, visibility and structure. A car with a badly degraded battery passes as long as it stops and steers. Read this page as evidence about the chassis, not the powertrain. Cars are tested from their third year, so the newest model years are missing; every figure carries its sample size for that reason. Full methodology.
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