FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSMini Cooper SE
Top three failure systems, annotated from 959 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.
Tyres are 73% of everything that fails a Mini Cooper SE
9,945 inspections in a single year make the COOPER SE one of the better-documented electric car. Tyres cause 73.2% of its failures; tyres take 3.1× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
First-time test findings
The three-year vs four-year picture
AT THREE YEARS OLD9.9%
COOPER SE failure rate. Petrol cars of the same age fail 8.2%.
AT FOUR YEARS OLD9.4%
COOPER SE failure rate, against 8.9% for petrol.
At three years old the Mini Cooper SE fails 9.9% of the time, over the 8.2% of a petrol car the same age. By 3 years that reaches 9.9%. Tyres cause 73.2% of its failures.
FIGURE 2 // TYRE SECTION743 certificates in 2024
The tyre that wears from the inside
Tyres take 73.2% of the defects that fail this car, 3.1× 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 743 times in 2024.
SECTION // TYRES CONCENTRATIONYear 3 crossover
Where the curve bends
The crossover with petrol happens around year 3. From there the COOPER SE's failure rate climbs faster than the petrol fleet, and the defect list explains why.
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. Trivial to fix, but a car advertised with worn wipers and a fresh failure certificate tells you how it was maintained. Check the washers reach the screen. It fails the test and it is a thirty-second check. 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
✓ Wipers and washers
✓ Washer reach
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
- 9,945
- Passed
- 8,733
- Failed
- 959
- Passed after repair
- 253
- Failure rate
- 9.6% (all EV 12.0%)
- Average age
- 3.3 years
- Best year
- 4 yrs · 9.4%
- Worst year
- 3 yrs · 9.9%
- Top cause
- Tyres 73.2%
TABLE 1 // WHAT FAILS, BY SYSTEMshare of failing defects
| System | This car (mark = petrol/diesel) | Share | vs petrol/diesel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 73.2% | 3.1× more | |
| Suspension | 1.5% | 9.1× less | |
| Brakes | 0.6% | 31.2× less | |
| Visibility | 16.6% | 1.4× more | |
| Lighting | 3.3% | 5.0× less | |
| Steering | 0.3% | 10.3× less | |
| Body | 0.3% | 13.7× less |
TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE
- A tyre seriously damaged743
- A tyre cords visible or damaged261
- Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen139
- Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements124
- Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen46
- Wiper blade defective39
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 (1.5% of defects vs 13.6%)
- Brakes fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.6% of defects vs 18.7%)
- Lighting fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (3.3% of defects vs 16.5%)
- Steering fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.3% 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 (73.2% vs 23.7%)
- Visibility take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (16.6% vs 11.9%)
- At three years old it fails 9.9% of the time, above the 8.2% of petrol cars the same age
VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded
- COOPER S ELECTRIC LEVEL 24,674
- COOPER S ELECTRIC LEVEL 33,819
- COOPER S ELECTRIC LEVEL 11,232
- COOPER S ELECTRIC COLLECTION173
- COOPER S ELECTRIC SHADOW ED39
- COOPER S6
- COOPER1
- COOPER S ELECTRIC MULTITONE ED1
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
- 9,945 inspections in 2024 make this one of the best-documented electric cars in the data.
- Tyres take 3.1× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
- Failure rate rises from 9.4% at 4 years to 9.9% at 3: a gentle ageing curve.
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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