Model Reports 5 min read Updated 18 Oct 2026

Nissan Juke 2018: reliability & common MOT faults

In 2025, 81 in every 100 first MOTs on a 2018 Nissan Juke were passes. Most common reason for a fail: Suspension arm ball joint (front).

Summary

A 2018 Nissan Juke passed first time about 1 in every 100 more often than the average of the 2017 and 2019 model years.

At a glance

How 22,918 first tests went in 2025.

Passed first time
81 in every 100
Did not pass first time
19 in every 1004,425 failed first-attempt tests
The typical car
7 yearsabout 43,139 miles
First tests counted
22,918

What failed most often

  1. Suspension arm ball joint (front)16 in every 100 failed tests
  2. Brake pads (front)11 in every 100 failed tests
  3. Windscreen washers8 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 Nissan Juke vehicles in 2025, not a prediction that any one car will have them. Faults are grouped by part of the car. They come from MOT defect codes, not manufacturer bulletins, recalls or a diagnosis of any one car.

Suspension

One fault: suspension arm ball joint (front), 7.6 times as often as on similar cars.

Figures below are measured across the 4,415 of 4,425 failed first attempts (99.8%) that recorded an odometer reading in 2025. Mileage is needed to compare like with like.

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.

Suspension arm ball joint (front)

Failed on 704 first tests7.6 times as often as similar carsStrong evidence

What it means

A suspension arm ball joint is failed under the general suspension pin, bush or joint wording. Excessively worn is Major, and likely to become detached is graded Dangerous.

Also noted as an advisory

Testers also noted it as an advisory, worn but not yet failing, on 134 first tests, 3.9 times as often as on similar cars.

Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Compared with cars of the same age and mileage. Advisories count notes recorded on failed first tests only.

Seat belts and restraints

One fault: seat belt condition (rear), 3.0 times as often as on similar cars.

Seat belt condition (rear)

Failed on 107 first tests3.0 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

What it means

Any sign of overstretching is a deficiency, and so is a cut anywhere on a child seat belt. On other belts the size of a cut decides it, with a stricter limit at the webbing edge than away from it. Webbing significantly stretched or weakened has rows in both Major and Dangerous grades.

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

Advisories

Other things testers noted as worn or close to failing, more often than on similar cars.

An advisory is a note from the tester about something that has not failed yet. It is an early warning, not a fail. Advisories for the faults above are shown with those faults.

Seat belt condition (front)

Noted on 62 first tests4.8 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Rigid brake pipes (front)

Noted on 109 first tests4.2 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

Exhaust system (rear)

Noted on 47 first tests3.2 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

Engine oil leaks (front)

Noted on 218 first tests2.9 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Rigid brake pipes (rear)

Noted on 72 first tests2.7 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

Suspension arm pins and bushes (front)

Noted on 458 first tests2.7 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Counts cover advisories recorded on failed first tests only, 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
81in every 100
Passed on the first test.
Fixed at the station
4in every 100
Failed, then fixed at the test station the same day.
Failed
15in every 100
Did not pass, and were not fixed at the test station.

First-attempt pass 80.7% of 22,918 first tests (2025): only cars that passed first time count. Official-style pass 84.8%: cars fixed at the test station also count as a pass. The 4 fixed and the 15 not fixed make the 19 in every 100 that did not pass first time.

Petrol and diesel

First testsTypical mileagePassed first time, as testedPassed first time, same mileage
Petrol18,85240,838 miles8181
Diesel4,06655,665 miles7780

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.

406080100201020152018Older carsNewer cars
40608010020102018Older carsNewer cars

Newer cars are younger, so look for a jump rather than the climb. A year earlier (2024), when these cars were a year younger, 83 in every 100 passed first time.

YearPassed first timeFirst tests
201052 in every 1004,318
201153 in every 10017,771
201255 in every 10024,566
201354 in every 10032,457
201459 in every 10034,461
201565 in every 10035,812
201670 in every 10035,185
201776 in every 10035,739
2018 This car81 in every 10022,918
201984 in every 10018,248
202086 in every 10016,966
202187 in every 10018,838
202293 in every 10015,992

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 Juke.

Of 2018 Juke vehicles with under 28,000 miles, 88 in every 100 passed their 2025 MOT first time. With 61,000 miles or more, 71 in every 100 did.

Under 28,0004,408 tests
88
28,000–38,0004,546 tests
85
38,000–48,000 Typical car4,738 tests
81
48,000–61,0004,599 tests
79
61,000 and over4,596 tests
71

Petrol or diesel?

Typical mileagePassed first time,
as tested		Passed first time,
same mileage
Petrol40,838 miles8181
Diesel55,665 miles7780

Figures are in every 100 first tests. Petrol cars look better on the raw figures only because diesel cars have done more miles (typically 55,665 against 40,838). 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 28,00038,000–48,00061,000 and over
Suspension arm ball joint (front)0.22.27.7
Brake pads (front)1.52.72.2
Windscreen washers0.91.62.1
Tyre tread depth (front)0.61.32.9
Tyre condition (rear)1.11.31.9

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

When a car fails

57in every 100

of failed cars had one item to fix.

17in every 100

of failed cars had three or more items to fix.

5in 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.

A 2018 Nissan Juke passed first time about 1 in every 100 more often than the average of the 2017 and 2019 model years. In 2025, 80.7% of 22,918 first MOTs on the 2018 Nissan Juke passed first time (PRS: items fixed at the station the same day, counted as a fail). The official-style rate including PRS is 84.8%. Among 4,425 failed first-attempt MOT tests (test year 2025), Suspension arm ball joint (front) appears more often than on similar cars (15.9% of those tests; 704 observed failures; about 7.6× more often than similar cars). 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.
Ranked by how often they were actually recorded, the items that most often failed a 2018 Nissan Juke at the first attempt were Suspension arm ball joint (front) (15.9%), Brake pads (front) (11.4%) and Windscreen washers (8.5%), 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.
Among failed first-attempt tests we highlight patterns that appear more often than on similar cars. Top example: Suspension arm ball joint (front) (15.9% of those tests; 704 observed failures; about 7.6× more often than similar cars). These are statistical signals, not a diagnosis of any individual car.
Suspension arm ball joint (front) shows up more often than on similar cars (15.9% of those tests; 704 observed failures; about 7.6× more often than similar cars). That does not prove a design fault. Age, mileage, and how the car was used still matter. Treat it as a pre-purchase checkpoint, not a manufacturer service bulletin.
Common MOT problem areas for the 2018 Nissan Juke include Suspension arm ball joint (front), Seat belt condition (rear). These are the faults that stand out compared with similar cars, not a complete list of what can go wrong on any individual car.
Advisories flag issues noted at the test and are not a fail rate. We show advisory patterns that appear more often than on similar cars among failed first-attempt tests, separate from common failure rows. Use them as early-warning checks, not as a pass/fail score.
This page highlights MOT failure patterns for the 2018 Nissan Juke (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.
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.

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