Used car guide · 1984–2019

Toyota Carina common problems and MOT failures

What goes wrong on a used Toyota Carina, year by year: known faults from UK buying guides, the parts flagged at MOT more than on other cars (from 1,391 MOTs done during 2023–2025), and what to check before you buy one.

1,391MOTs done in 2023–2025, all years of this model

2,778on the UK register

Pick the year

Most years have their own guide. The year is when the car was first registered (it’s on the logbook, or check the reg below).

2019 2009 2008 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984

What usually goes wrong with a Toyota Carina?

We haven’t found widely reported faults for the Toyota Carina in the UK buying guides we use yet. That doesn’t mean it has none, so check the car carefully and look at the MOT weak spots below.

Toyota Carina MOT pass rate by year

Older cars fail more, so compare each year with all cars registered the same year.

Year	Pass first time	All cars that year	MOT tests
1997	61%	65% -4	303 (small sample)
1996	55%	66% -11	254 (small sample)
1995	68%	67% +1	183 (small sample)
1994	60%	67% -7	218 (small sample)
1993	67%	68% -1	158 (small sample)
1992	66%	69% -3	111 (small sample)
1991	68%	71% -3	164 (small sample)

Looking at a Toyota Carina?

Check the actual car: its own MOT history and what to ask the seller. Free, no sign-up.

Where this comes from: MOT figures are the DVSA’s anonymised results for every MOT test done in Great Britain during 2023–2025, grouped by the year each car was first registered. How many are on the road is from the Department for Transport’s vehicle licensing statistics. Known faults are from UK buying guides, in our own words, with links. How we score