Used buying checklist

Mitsubishi Space Star reliability, common problems and used buying checks

A used Mitsubishi Space Star looks worse than average for reliability in UK MOT data: 33.9% of 2,555 tests failed, compared with 18.7% across all indexed models. A good example should have a clean MOT history for corrosion and structure, suspension and steering, and lights and electrical.

Sources used: DVSA MOT tests (Apr 2026); vehicle recalls (Apr 2026); MOT fault wording (May 2025). MOT data does not capture every reliability issue, especially intermittent engine, gearbox or infotainment faults that do not appear during the test.

• 33.9% MOT failure rate
• Median tested mileage 83,825 miles
• 865 failed MOT tests analysed

Most useful finding

Corrosion and structure is the clearest area to check

Corrosion and structure is the clearest named problem area in this model's MOT history (101.6 MOT notes per 100 tests). Example MOT phrases from this area include prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength, or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of a body mounting, and corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened.

Example MOT phrases to search in the car's history:

• prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength
• or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of a body mounting
• corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened
• prescribed area excessively damaged significantly reducing structural strength
• ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt
• ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt
• ball joint excessively worn
• ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated
• inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources
• lens slightly defective

Before you view one

Focus on corrosion and structure, suspension and steering, and lights and electrical

The model's recorded failure rate is 33.9%, +15.1 percentage points compared with the average across all models. Use the seller questions below to check whether repeat MOT notes have actually been repaired.

• MOT tests analysed2,555 tests
• Median tested mileage83,825 miles
• Failed MOT tests865

Used buyer verdict

Should you buy a used Mitsubishi Space Star?

66.1% of the MOT tests we analysed for this model passed. The model's recorded failure rate is 33.9%, +15.1 percentage points compared with the average across all models. This is a buying brief for the exact car in front of you: clean repeat history matters more than badge reputation.

Worse than average in our MOT data

Green light if The car has a tidy MOT pattern, recent repairs for corrosion and structure, suspension and steering, and lights and electrical, matching tyres, and paperwork for service or recall work.

Renegotiate if The latest MOT mentions corrosion and structure, suspension and steering, and lights and electrical, consumables are due together, or the seller cannot show what was fixed after advisories.

Walk away if Dangerous defects, corrosion near structural areas, warning lights, or the same component family keep returning without clear repair evidence.

• Repeat unresolved MOT notes for corrosion and structure, suspension and steering, and lights and electrical
• corrosion and structure appearing across more than one MOT
• Any dangerous MOT failure on the exact car, especially if the same area appears again later
• No paperwork showing applicable recall work has been completed
• A seller who cannot explain MOT wording such as "prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength"

What should I check first?

Start with corrosion and structure, suspension and steering, lights and electrical, and emissions, engine, and exhaust. The checklist on this page explains why each area is being recommended, what to inspect, and what to ask the seller. Each item shows whether it comes from MOT results, recall notices, or a standard used-car check.

• Corrosion and structure Seen in MOT results

  Corrosion and structure is one of the most common MOT problem areas for this model (101.6 MOT notes per 100 tests).

  What to check: Inspect sills, subframes, mounting points, arches, and underside corrosion advisories.

  • Ask the seller: Has any sill, subframe, mounting-point, chassis, or structural corrosion advisory been repaired properly?
  • Example MOT wording: prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength; or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of a body mounting; corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened
  • Where it shows up: seen across most mileage ranges
• Suspension and steering Seen in MOT results

  Suspension and steering is one of the most common MOT problem areas for this model (43.0 MOT notes per 100 tests).

  What to check: Listen for knocks, check uneven tyre wear, and inspect steering play.

  • Ask the seller: Has any suspension, steering, ball-joint, spring, or wheel-bearing advisory been repaired?
  • Example MOT wording: ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt; ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt; ball joint excessively worn
  • Where it shows up: seen across most mileage ranges
• Lights and electrical Seen in MOT results

  Lights and electrical is one of the most common MOT problem areas for this model (38.3 MOT notes per 100 tests).

  What to check: Check every lamp, warning light, horn, battery condition, and dashboard messages.

  • Ask the seller: Have any lighting, warning-light, horn, battery, or electrical MOT notes come back more than once?
  • Example MOT wording: inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources; lens slightly defective; has a product on the lens so that the light output is severely reduced
  • Where it shows up: seen across most mileage ranges
• Emissions, engine, and exhaust Seen in MOT results

  Emissions, engine, and exhaust is one of the most common MOT problem areas for this model (19.0 MOT notes per 100 tests).

  What to check: Check warning lights, smoke, exhaust leaks, recent emissions failures, and service history.

  • Ask the seller: Has the car had repeat emissions, smoke, exhaust, lambda, or engine-warning MOT failures?
  • Example MOT wording: leaking excessively from engine; has a major leak of exhaust gases; Fuel Pipe/s corroded
  • Where it shows up: most visible around 50-100k, 100-150k, 150-200k, and 200k+ miles
• Windscreen, wipers, and mirrors Seen in MOT results

  Windscreen, wipers, and mirrors is one of the most common MOT problem areas for this model (11.7 MOT notes per 100 tests).

  What to check: Check windscreen damage, wiper operation, washers, mirrors, and demisting.

  • Ask the seller: Have windscreen, wiper, washer, mirror, or demisting faults appeared in recent MOT history?
  • Example MOT wording: damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view; does not clear the windscreen effectively; Items removed from drivers view prior to test
  • Where it shows up: most visible around 0-50k miles
• Tyres and wheels Seen in MOT results

  Tyres and wheels is one of the most common MOT problem areas for this model (2.0 MOT notes per 100 tests).

  What to check: Check tyre age, tread depth, sidewall damage, wheel condition, and alignment wear.

  • Ask the seller: Have uneven tyre wear, damaged tyres, wheel damage, or alignment issues been corrected?
  • Example MOT wording: Nail in tyre; has no recorded effort at a wheel; Spare tyre defective

What changes with mileage?

Past 100k miles on the Mitsubishi Space Star, MOT records most often point to corrosion and structure, suspension and steering, and lights and electrical.

Common MOT problem areas

2,555 MOT tests analysed for this model

1,774 Distinct vehicles represented

33.9% Recorded MOT test failure rate — +15.1 percentage points vs all models

Common faults: what usually fails on this model?

Corrosion and structure is the clearest named problem area in the MOT history (101.6 MOT notes per 100 tests). These counts are issue notes, not failure rates, because a single MOT can list several faults.

Corrosion and structure

• prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength
• or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of a body mounting

101.6 MOT notes per 100 tests

Suspension and steering

• ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt
• ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt

43.0 MOT notes per 100 tests

Lights and electrical

• inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources
• lens slightly defective

38.3 MOT notes per 100 tests

Emissions, engine, and exhaust

• leaking excessively from engine
• has a major leak of exhaust gases

19.0 MOT notes per 100 tests

Windscreen, wipers, and mirrors

• damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view
• does not clear the windscreen effectively

11.7 MOT notes per 100 tests

Tyres and wheels

• Nail in tyre
• has no recorded effort at a wheel

2.0 MOT notes per 100 tests

Brakes

• remains on when the brakes are released

0.1 MOT notes per 100 tests

Recall-related areas to verify

Official recall areas

Manufacturer recall notices for the Mitsubishi Space Star mainly involve one area: seatbelts and safety systems. Treat each as something to verify on the specific car you are viewing; the recall table below shows the official notice text.

Seatbelts and safety systems

• Possible incorrect wiring of airbag

1 recall · 325 vehicles

Mileage and age checks

Mileage changes: what starts showing up after high mileage?

Past 100k miles on the Mitsubishi Space Star, MOT records most often point to corrosion and structure, suspension and steering, and lights and electrical. On lower-mileage cars, the most common named areas are corrosion and structure, suspension and steering, and lights and electrical.

Mileage range	Tests	Vehicles	Failure rate (vs all models)	Median mileage
0-50k	312	241	23.1%+12.3 percentage points vs all models	40,984 miles
50-100k	1,380	964	33.5%+12.8 percentage points vs all models	75,434 miles
100-150k	714	474	38.4%+12.2 percentage points vs all models	117,750 miles
150-200k	113	77	44.3%+17.0 percentage points vs all models	166,885 miles
200k+	13	9	38.5%+11.9 percentage points vs all models	223,610 miles

Problem areas by mileage

Past 100k miles on the Mitsubishi Space Star, MOT records most often point to corrosion and structure, suspension and steering, and lights and electrical.

Mileage range	Car areas most often recorded	Specific MOT defect examples
0-50k	Corrosion and structure (64.7 MOT notes per 100 tests) Suspension and steering (19.2 MOT notes per 100 tests) Lights and electrical (18.6 MOT notes per 100 tests)	No exact MOT wording is available for this mileage range.
50-100k	Corrosion and structure (104.2 MOT notes per 100 tests) Suspension and steering (43.5 MOT notes per 100 tests) Lights and electrical (38.9 MOT notes per 100 tests)	No exact MOT wording is available for this mileage range.
100-150k	Corrosion and structure (111.8 MOT notes per 100 tests) Suspension and steering (50.7 MOT notes per 100 tests) Lights and electrical (45.2 MOT notes per 100 tests)	No exact MOT wording is available for this mileage range.
150-200k	Corrosion and structure (116.8 MOT notes per 100 tests) Suspension and steering (54.9 MOT notes per 100 tests) Lights and electrical (45.1 MOT notes per 100 tests)	No exact MOT wording is available for this mileage range.
200k+	Corrosion and structure (169.2 MOT notes per 100 tests) Emissions, engine, and exhaust (84.6 MOT notes per 100 tests) Suspension and steering (76.9 MOT notes per 100 tests)	No exact MOT wording is available for this mileage range.

Fair comparisons: is this problem normal for its age?

The MOT failure rate rises from 0.0% at 0-3 years to 33.9% at 15+ years. Compare the car with the nearest age range before treating a fault as normal wear or a warning sign. The average MOT failure rate across all models in the same dataset is 18.7%. The highest failure rate by age is 33.9% for 15+ years cars, based on 2,552 tests.

Age range	Tests	Vehicles	Failure rate (vs all models)	Median age
0-3 years 2023–2026 reg.	1	1	0.0%-8.4 percentage points vs all models	2.9 years
6-10 years 2016–2020 reg.	2	2	0.0%-16.6 percentage points vs all models	7.0 years
15+ years pre-2011 reg.	2,552	1,770	33.9%+8.0 percentage points vs all models	19.3 years

Recall records and data freshness

Recall context: are there safety notices to know about?

1 relevant recall notice appear for this model. Treat them as safety checks to verify for the exact car, not as normal MOT wear.

2002-12-20	POSSIBLE INCORRECT WIRING OF AIRBAG There is a possibility that the right hand airbag sensor is programmed with the wrong sensing direction software. This might cause the right hand side airbag not to deploy in case of collision to the right hand side. All recalled vehicles will have the right hand side impact sensor replaced with the latest version.

Related searches

Common ways people look up the Mitsubishi Space Star. Each link runs the search and lands on the relevant section of this report.

• Mitsubishi Space Star common problems
• Mitsubishi Space Star reliability
• Mitsubishi Space Star after 100k miles
• Mitsubishi Space Star after 200k miles
• Mitsubishi Space Star high mileage common problems
• Mitsubishi Space Star age related problems
• Mitsubishi Space Star MOT failures
• Mitsubishi Space Star recalls

Related reliability guides

Sources used: DVSA MOT tests (Apr 2026); vehicle recalls (Apr 2026); MOT fault wording (May 2025). These are patterns from many MOT tests and recall notices. They help you decide what to inspect and what to ask; they do not certify the condition of one specific car.