Consumer champion Honest John has revealed that one in five cars fails its first MOT, with Renaults being the least likely to pass first time.
The research analysed 24.5 million MOT records and revealed that one in five cars registered in 2008 failed its first MOT and cars from French manufacturers - Peugeot, Citroen and Renault - are particularly likely to fail.
The most common reasons for failure were minor issues - lighting and signalling, tyres, headlight aim and issues with the driver's view of the road.
Japanese manufacturers, unsurprisingly, scored well in the research, with the top three places going to Lexus, Suzuki and Honda. Conversely, European manufacturers scored poorly with MINI slightly outperforming last-place Renault, and Citroen and Peugeot both featuring in the bottom five.
The Renault Megane was the worst-performing family car and was singled out for lighting and signalling problems and, more seriously, for issues with its steering. The Suzuki Splash was ranked first, achieving a 90% pass rate in its first MOT.
Editor of Honest John, Daniel Harrison, said, "This is information that has been kept from car owners for many years. VOSA even fought to keep it out of public view. It's the first time that this information has been made available in this detail, and in a format that makes it easy to access."
The top five manufacturers by pass rate were:
The bottom five by pass rate were:
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