MINI Countryman 2018: reliability & common MOT faults

At a glance

How 13,277 first tests went in 2025.

Passed first time: 86 in every 100
Did not pass first time: 14 in every 1001,925 failed first-attempt tests
The typical car: 7 yearsabout 47,554 miles
First tests counted: 13,277

What failed most often

Tyre condition (rear)18 in every 100 failed tests
Windscreen wipers (front)9 in every 100 failed tests
Headlight aim (front)9 in every 100 failed tests

How we count this. Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Only Class 4 cars on their first MOT of the year are counted. A car that fails and is fixed at the test station still counts as a fail in the first-attempt rate. These are raw results, not adjusted for age, mileage, or peer mix. The MOT does not test engine or gearbox internals.

Note:

These are patterns across 2018 MINI Countryman vehicles in 2025, not a prediction that any one car will have them. Faults are grouped by part of the car. A wear pattern follows age and use more than the way the car was built. They come from MOT defect codes, not manufacturer bulletins, recalls or a diagnosis of any one car.

Lamps and electrical

One wear pattern: headlight aim (front), 2.2 times as often as on similar cars.

Figures below are measured across the 1,925 failed first attempts in 2025 that had a mileage recorded, which allows a like-for-like comparison.

We only list faults with at least 20 failures and a rate of about 2.0 times that of similar cars, which keeps one-off results out of the list.

Headlight aim (front)

Failed on 165 first tests2.2 times as often as similar carsWear pattern

What it means

Beam aim too high, too low or off to either side is Major. Where a driver's beam aim control is fitted, the aim is tested without altering the setting, and rechecked at the highest setting only if it would fail for being too low. Masks or converter kits on right hand dip headlamps are acceptable.

Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Compared with cars of the same age and mileage.

MOT pass rates

How first tests ended, and how the pass rates are counted.

Passed first time: 86in every 100; Passed on the first test.
Fixed at the station: 3in every 100; Failed, then fixed at the test station the same day.
Failed: 11in every 100; Did not pass, and were not fixed at the test station.

First-attempt pass 85.5% of 13,277 first tests (2025): only cars that passed first time count. Official-style pass 88.6%: cars fixed at the test station also count as a pass. The 3 fixed and the 11 not fixed make the 14 in every 100 that did not pass first time.

By fuel type

First testsTypical mileagePassed first time, as testedPassed first time, same mileage

Petrol8,82044,353 miles8686

Diesel2,39553,918 miles8485

Hybrid2,06253,666 miles8385

Figures are in every 100 first tests. Cars with more miles usually fail more often, so the same-mileage figure gives every fuel the mileage mix of all the cars in this year.

Same model, other years

Passed first time in every 100, all tested in 2025.

Newer cars are younger, so look for a jump rather than the climb. A year earlier (2024), when these cars were a year younger, 87 in every 100 passed first time.

Year	Passed first time	First tests
2010	67 in every 100	1,255
2011	69 in every 100	8,679
2012	72 in every 100	6,545
2013	75 in every 100	2,951
2014	79 in every 100	12,131
2015	82 in every 100	8,751
2016	83 in every 100	8,836
2017	86 in every 100	10,567
2018 This car	86 in every 100	13,277
2019	88 in every 100	13,302
2020	90 in every 100	7,717
2021	90 in every 100	7,080
2022	91 in every 100	7,401

If you are buying one

What this year's MOT record means for the decision in front of you.

Mileage matters most on a 2018 Countryman.

Of 2018 Countryman vehicles with under 33,000 miles, 91 in every 100 passed their 2025 MOT first time. With 65,000 miles or more, 79 in every 100 did.

Under 33,0002,691 tests

91

33,000–43,0002,703 tests

88

43,000–52,000 Typical car2,472 tests

86

52,000–65,0002,763 tests

82

65,000 and over2,647 tests

79

Petrol or diesel?

	Typical mileage	Passed first time, as tested	Passed first time, same mileage
Petrol	44,353 miles	86	86
Diesel	53,918 miles	84	85

Figures are in every 100 first tests. Petrol cars look better on the raw figures only because diesel cars have done more miles (typically 53,918 against 44,353). At the same mileage there is no clear difference between the two.

What to check at your mileage

How often each fault turned up on a failed first test, by the car's mileage. Read it as: what is likely to need looking at on a car like the one in front of you.

	Under 33,000	43,000–52,000	65,000 and over
Tyre condition (rear)	1.4	2.3	3.8
Windscreen wipers (front)	1.2	1.4	1.5
Headlight aim (front)	0.4	1.0	2.5
Tyre tread depth (front)	0.7	1.1	1.4
Brake pads (rear)	0.9	0.7	1.3

Faults per 100 first tests, by the car's mileage at the test.

When a car fails

60in every 100

of failed cars had one item to fix.

13in every 100

of failed cars had three or more items to fix.

4in every 100

of all first tests had a defect the tester marked dangerous (unsafe to drive away).

Every figure here is a first-attempt MOT rate from DVSA open data for this model line, for cars of this model year tested in 2025. Each mileage band holds a fifth of the tests. MOTs do not test engine or gearbox internals, so this is a pre-purchase checklist, not a full reliability score.

FAQs

Short answers about how to read this model-year guide.

Is the 2018 MINI Countryman reliable?

A 2018 MINI Countryman passed first time about 2 in every 100 less often than the average of the 2017 and 2019 model years. In 2025, 85.5% of 13,277 first MOTs on the 2018 MINI Countryman passed first time (PRS: items fixed at the station the same day, counted as a fail). The official-style rate including PRS is 88.6%. Among 1,925 failed first-attempt MOT tests (test year 2025), we highlight MOT failure patterns that show up more often than on cars of a similar age and mileage when the sample is large enough to trust. There is no single reliability score here; this is a pre-purchase checklist built from DVSA open data, not a guarantee for any individual car.

What is most likely to fail on a 2018 MINI Countryman?

Ranked by how often they were actually recorded, the items that most often failed a 2018 MINI Countryman at the first attempt were Tyre condition (rear) (18.0%), Windscreen wipers (front) (8.7%) and Headlight aim (front) (8.6%), each as a share of the year's failed first attempts. That is what goes wrong most often on the car. The common faults table shows a different measure: faults that are unusual compared with similar cars.

What does this MINI Countryman 2018 MOT report cover?

This page highlights MOT failure patterns for the 2018 MINI Countryman (registration year) using UK DVSA open data for the selected test year. Patterns are compared with cars of a similar age and mileage. It is a buyer checklist from MOT defect statistics, not a full service history or manufacturer service-bulletin list.

Does this include engine and gearbox problems?

No. MOT tests do not cover engine internals, gearboxes, or many electronic modules. Patterns here come from MOT defect statistics only and should not be read as engine or gearbox reliability scores.

About this data

How this page is built and what it can (and can't) say.

These figures come from UK MOT open data for this model year. We surface common failure patterns against similar cars, not a full reliability score, and not a pass/fail verdict on any individual vehicle.

2024 2025

What we include

UK Class 4 cars only. Normal MOT tests (not retests); first test per vehicle per calendar year; results pass, PRS, or fail.

Same-day repairs

PRS means the car failed items that were fixed at the test station and then passed the same day. We count PRS as a first-attempt fail in headline rates so same-day repairs do not hide problems.

How we compare

We compare this model year with other Class 4 cars of similar age and mileage in the same test year. This model family is left out of the peer group so the car is not measured against itself.

What this does not cover

MOTs do not cover engine internals, gearboxes, or many electronics; this is not a full reliability score.
Common faults come from MOT defect stats, not manufacturer TSBs or recalls.
Age and mileage matching reduces, but does not remove, differences in how cars were used and maintained.
If the data for a car is too thin to say anything useful, we say so rather than guess.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.