Ford Mondeo vs Volkswagen Passat: which is the better used buy?

Neither, on the evidence. Their first-time MOT pass rates sit 1.5 percentage points apart once each is compared against the national rate for cars of the same age, which is too close to call (we name a winner only at 2 points or more). A pass with rectification at the station counts as a pass here, and as a failure in DVSA's own initial-test measure. Pick on the specific faults each is prone to instead.

73.4% of Ford Mondeos pass their MOT first time (17,644 tests in DVSA's records) and 77.0% of Volkswagen Passats pass their MOT first time (17,732 tests). The national first-time rate is 77.3%, but cars of the Ford Mondeo's age average 72.7% and cars of the Volkswagen Passat's age 74.8% — so the Ford Mondeo runs 0.7 points better than its age group and the Volkswagen Passat runs 2.2 points better than its own. A pass with rectification at the station counts as a pass here, and as a failure in DVSA's own initial-test measure.

Ford Mondeo: No year is named: DVSA’s MOT table rates 2013 and 2014 registrations level with all cars registered those years and 2015 to 2017 above. The recalls that matter most depend on build date, engine and gearbox, not the registration year: every car built 6 February 2007 to 28 February 2017 is in the Takata air bag inflator recall R/2020/013 (DVSA gives one total of 219,738 vehicles for the whole campaign), 2.0 diesels built 19 September 2014 to 28 September 2015 are in R/2018/053 (overheating could crack the oil sump), EcoBoost manuals built to May 2018 are in the clutch-plate recalls, and every car built from 13 February 2014 to 11 February 2019 is in R/2019/212 (possible battery acid leakage around the negative terminal). Volkswagen Passat: DQ200 dry-clutch DSG failures around 75,000 miles are the most reported fault on owner forums, with a mechatronic replacement at £1,500–£2,500. How often they happen is not known, so treat it as a reason to test the gearbox hard rather than a fault every early car has. The DVSA MOT table on this page rates 2015, 2016 and 2017 registrations above all cars registered those years, so they are not named as years to avoid. Judge a Passat by its registration, service history and the checks below rather than by year.

On fuel it depends on the engine. Ford Mondeo: No sourced real-world figure for the Mondeo, so none is printed: the official lab figure depends on the engine and on the test cycle the car was approved under, so use the figure for the exact version you are looking at. Volkswagen Passat: 47–54 mpg real-world for 2.0 TDI 150. For cars registered from April 2017, vehicle tax works the same way for both: the £200/year standard rate from the second year, hybrids included, plus the £440/year Expensive Car Supplement in years 2–6 on a car that listed at over £40,000 new — the price when new, not what you pay for it used. Any Ford Mondeo or Volkswagen Passat registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 pays a CO2 band instead, roughly £20–£790/year (2026/27 rates). Insurance differs mainly by driver and postcode rather than by model, so treat any model-level insurance figure with caution.