What Wears Out
Skoda · Fully electric · 329 inspections in 2024 · Rank 13 of 81DVSA MOT analysis

Tyres fail the Skoda Citigo 2.2× as often as they fail a petrol or diesel car

329 inspections in a single year make the CITIGO a modestly documented electric car in the data. Tyres cause 51.7% of its failures; tyres take 2.2× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.

FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSSkoda Citigo
TYRES 51.7%(2.2× the petrol/diesel share)BRAKES 17.2%(0.9× the petrol/diesel share)LIGHTING 17.2%(1.0× the petrol/diesel share)

Top three failure systems, annotated from 21 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.

First-time test findings

The four-year picture

AT FOUR YEARS OLD7.0%

CITIGO failure rate. Petrol cars of the same age fail 8.9%.

ALL ELECTRIC CARS12.0%

All electric cars in the data.

The Skoda Citigo fails 6.4% of first-time inspections. Tyres cause 51.7% of its failures.

FIGURE 2 // TYRE SECTION13 certificates in 2024

The tyre that wears from the inside

Tyres take 51.7% of the defects that fail this car, 2.2× 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 13 times in 2024.

1.6 mm legal minimumA TYRE SERIOUSLY DAMAGED13 CERTIFICATES
SECTION // TYRES CONCENTRATION

Where it concentrates

The CITIGO stays under the petrol fleet at every age we can measure. What it does fail on is unusually concentrated.

DEFECT CONCENTRATION IN FAILED TESTS:
CITIGO tyres share51.7%
Petrol and diesel average23.7%

The single most common item on a CITIGO certificate is "A tyre seriously damaged", recorded 13 times.

Source: DVSA MOT defect items, 2024 test year.
Buyer's protocolPre-purchase checklist

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. Check headlamp aim and every lamp before the test. It is the cheapest failure on the list and the easiest to avoid. 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
✓ Headlamp aim and every lamp
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
    329
    Passed
    296
    Failed
    21
    Passed after repair
    12
    Failure rate
    6.4% (all EV 12.0%)
    Average age
    3.9 years
    Best year
    4 yrs · 7.0%
    Worst year
    4 yrs · 7.0%
    Top cause
    Tyres 51.7%
    TABLE 1 // WHAT FAILS, BY SYSTEMshare of failing defects
    SystemThis car (mark = petrol/diesel)Sharevs petrol/diesel
    Tyres
    51.7% 2.2× more
    Suspension
    0.0% in line
    Brakes
    17.2% in line
    Visibility
    13.8% in line
    Lighting
    17.2% in line
    Steering
    0.0% in line
    Body
    0.0% in line
    TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE
    1. A tyre seriously damaged13
    2. Obligatory mirror or device inoperative, excessively damaged or insecure2
    3. Parking brake lever has excessive movement indicating incorrect adjustment2
    4. Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view2
    5. Significant brake effort recorded with no brake applied indicating a binding brake2
    6. The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements2

    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 (0.0% of defects vs 13.6%)
    • Steering fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.0% of defects vs 3.1%)
    • Body fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.0% of defects vs 4.1%)
    Where it fails
    • Tyres take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (51.7% vs 23.7%)
    VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded
    • CITIGO E SE L IV225
    • CITIGO E SE IV104
    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.

    Three things the data shows
    • 329 inspections in 2024 make this one of the adequately-documented electric cars in the data.
    • Tyres take 2.2× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
    • It ranks 13 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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    By What Wears Out editorial team. Data: DVSA anonymised MOT tests, 2024 test year, OGL v3.0. Updated .
    Methodology • Skoda Citigo dossier