Model Reports 5 min read Updated 18 Oct 2026

Peugeot 207 2013: reliability & common MOT faults

In 2025, 55 in every 100 first MOTs on a 2013 Peugeot 207 were passes. Most common reason for a fail: Drive shaft joints and boots (front).

Summary

A 2013 Peugeot 207 passed first time about 5 in every 100 less often than the average of the 2012 and 2014 model years.

At a glance

How 2,551 first tests went in 2025.

Passed first time
55 in every 100
Did not pass first time
45 in every 1001,146 failed first-attempt tests
The typical car
12 yearsabout 73,948 miles
First tests counted
2,551

What failed most often

  1. Drive shaft joints and boots (front)15 in every 100 failed tests
  2. Coil spring (front)15 in every 100 failed tests
  3. Individual sidelight or tail light (front)13 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 2013 Peugeot 207 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.

Lamps and electrical

One fault: individual sidelight or tail light (rear), 5.4 times as often as on similar cars.

Figures below are measured across the 1,146 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.

Individual sidelight or tail light (rear)

Failed on 105 first tests5.4 times as often as similar carsStrong evidence

What it means

A position lamp showing red light to the front or white light to the rear is Major. Rear lamps must show a steady red light, and front ones can show white, predominantly white with a blue tinge, or yellow if combined in a yellow headlamp. With a multiple light source, up to half not working is Minor and more than half is Major.

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

Body and structure

Three faults. The strongest is the drive shaft joints and boots (front): 3.4 times as often as on similar cars.

Drive shaft joints and boots (front)

Failed on 171 first tests3.4 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

What it means

A constant velocity boot that is only severely deteriorated is Minor. It is Major once it is missing, split or insecure so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt. A transmission joint excessively worn is Major, and graded Dangerous when it is so worn it is likely to fail.

Exhaust system (front)

Failed on 28 first tests2.9 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

Exhaust fumes causing a danger to health of persons on board are graded Dangerous, and so is a silencer likely to become detached. Fumes entering the cabin are Major. One or more missing or defective mountings does not necessarily make the exhaust insecure, since testers assess the overall security of the system.

Also noted as an advisory

Testers also noted it as an advisory, worn but not yet failing, on 54 first tests, 3.2 times as often as on similar cars.

Exhaust system (rear)

Failed on 56 first tests2.8 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

Exhaust fumes causing a danger to health of persons on board are graded Dangerous, and so is a silencer likely to become detached. Fumes entering the cabin are Major. One or more missing or defective mountings does not necessarily make the exhaust insecure, since testers assess the overall security of the system.

Also noted as an advisory

Testers also noted it as an advisory, worn but not yet failing, on 62 first tests, 2.5 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.

Noise, emissions and leaks

Two faults. The strongest is the diesel emissions test (compression-ignition rules for vehicles from 01/07/2008): 2.4 times as often as on similar cars.

Diesel emissions test (compression-ignition rules for vehicles from 01/07/2008)

Failed on 29 first tests2.4 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

Petrol emissions not tested

Failed on 24 first tests2.3 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

On a petrol car, an emissions test recorded as not tested or unable to be completed is failed as Major. DVSA's wording gives no reason why.

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.

Anti-roll bar linkage ball joints (front)

Noted on 47 first tests3.2 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
55in every 100
Passed on the first test.
Fixed at the station
11in every 100
Failed, then fixed at the test station the same day.
Failed
34in every 100
Did not pass, and were not fixed at the test station.

First-attempt pass 55.1% of 2,551 first tests (2025): only cars that passed first time count. Official-style pass 65.6%: cars fixed at the test station also count as a pass. The 11 fixed and the 34 not fixed make the 45 in every 100 that did not pass first time.

Petrol and diesel

First testsTypical mileagePassed first time, as testedPassed first time, same mileage
Diesel1,30989,711 miles5256
Petrol1,24259,812 miles5853

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.

406080100200620072008200920102011201220132014Older carsNewer cars
40608010020102013Older 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, 56 in every 100 passed first time.

YearPassed first timeFirst tests
200649 in every 1003,983
200750 in every 10013,729
200848 in every 10015,279
200948 in every 10019,894
201049 in every 10021,385
201150 in every 10018,681
201252 in every 10012,178
2013 This car55 in every 1002,551
201468 in every 100934

If you are buying one

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

Mileage matters most on a 2013 Peugeot 207.

Of 2013 Peugeot 207 vehicles with under 47,000 miles, 73 in every 100 passed their 2025 MOT first time. With 105,000 miles or more, 46 in every 100 did.

Under 47,000512 tests
73
47,000–65,000516 tests
58
65,000–83,000 Typical car491 tests
53
83,000–105,000527 tests
46
105,000 and over505 tests
46

Petrol or diesel?

Typical mileagePassed first time,
as tested		Passed first time,
same mileage
Diesel89,711 miles5256
Petrol59,812 miles5853

Figures are in every 100 first tests. Petrol cars look better on the raw figures only because diesel cars have done more miles (typically 89,711 against 59,812). 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 47,00065,000–83,000105,000 and over
Drive shaft joints and boots (front)5.77.94.6
Coil spring (front)2.76.98.1
Individual sidelight or tail light (front)0.85.711.5
Headlight aim2.04.16.9
Brake light (rear)1.04.95.5

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

When a car fails

29in every 100

of failed cars had one item to fix.

45in every 100

of failed cars had three or more items to fix.

7in 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 2013 Peugeot 207 passed first time about 5 in every 100 less often than the average of the 2012 and 2014 model years. In 2025, 55.1% of 2,551 first MOTs on the 2013 Peugeot 207 passed first time (PRS: items fixed at the station the same day, counted as a fail). The official-style rate including PRS is 65.6%. Among 1,146 failed first-attempt MOT tests (test year 2025), Individual sidelight or tail light (rear) appears more often than on similar cars (9.2% of those tests; 105 observed failures; about 5.4× 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 2013 Peugeot 207 at the first attempt were Drive shaft joints and boots (front) (14.9%), Coil spring (front) (14.9%) and Individual sidelight or tail light (front) (12.9%), 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: Individual sidelight or tail light (rear) (9.2% of those tests; 105 observed failures; about 5.4× more often than similar cars). These are statistical signals, not a diagnosis of any individual car.
Individual sidelight or tail light (rear) shows up more often than on similar cars (9.2% of those tests; 105 observed failures; about 5.4× 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 2013 Peugeot 207 include Individual sidelight or tail light (rear), Drive shaft joints and boots (front), Exhaust system (front). 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 2013 Peugeot 207 (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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