The Nissan Leaf is better than petrol at three years old and worse than diesel at ten

At three years old the Leaf fails 7.0% of its first inspections. Petrol cars of the same age fail 8.2%. At ten years old the Leaf fails 34.5%. Nothing else in the data is as well documented: 49,764 first-time tests in 2024 alone.

Where the curve bends

The crossover with petrol happens around year six. From there the Leaf's failure rate climbs faster than either petrol or diesel, and the defect list explains why. Suspension is 25.5% of its failing defects against 13.6% on the wider fleet. The single most common item on a Leaf certificate is "a suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn", 3,203 times.

The brake that fails on one side

Further down the list is a defect that barely appears on other cars: "parking brake inoperative on one side", 455 times. Owner forums have been describing the same thing for years, rear brakes seizing on cars that rarely use them, and repair logs show the bill: several hundred pounds to strip, clean and free calipers whose pads were nowhere near worn.

What to check

Have the front suspension joints and bushes checked on a lift, test the parking brake on a slope and listen for one side dragging, and ask for the free DVSA MOT history by registration: advisories are next year's failures. The full Leaf page has the age curve, every defect, and the owner reports matched to them.

By What Wears Out editorial team. Data: DVSA anonymised MOT tests, OGL v3.0. Methodology.