9th best-selling new car in the UK May 2026 - registration data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Ranked #303 car in the UK · Crossover SUV · 4,667 units sold last year
The Vauxhall Frontera revives an old name for a new value-led compact crossover - a practical, keenly-priced family SUV on the Stellantis small-car platform shared with the Citroen C3 Aircross, offered as a mild-hybrid petrol or an electric version. It majors on space, simplicity and low price rather than style or driving polish, with seven-seat capability on some versions. As a used buy it's an honest, affordable and roomy small SUV bought on sense.
Vauxhall
Frontera
No photo on file
combined
The short version
Forecourt score
Value 43 · Reliability 34 · Insurance 71
The Vauxhall Frontera holds its value about averagely and is cheaper to run than most. Its MOT-based reliability is good, 70 out of 100, ahead of 34% of the cars we track. On three-year value retention it ranks better than 43% of models.
The Forecourt score blends how this car ranks against the catalogue on value retention, reliability and insurance cost (weighted 40/40/20). Higher is better; running cost is not yet folded in.
Eligible for £1,500 off — UK Electric Car GrantBand 2
Applies to the Frontera Electric (54kWh). Applied at point of sale — no application needed. Details on gov.uk.
Estimates are tuned to the version you choose.
Fuel
Mild Hybrid · 1199cc
Power
136 ps
Drivetrain
FWD
Cam drive
Wet belt
Quoted MPG
53 mpg
The volume new Frontera (the reborn 2024 nameplate, now an SUV). 1.2 PureTech mHEV with 28 PS motor in the e-DCT. Wet belt; budget for the service - same engine as 3008/Mokka Hybrid.
Tidy and well looked-after for its age — the typical car.
Remembered as you browse other cars.
Optional — fills in the exact year and ULEZ status for your specific car. The registration isn’t stored.
Estimated market value
How we got this number — click for the breakdown, or to challenge it.£15,350
Range £12,350 – £18,600
medium confidence
How a 2024-registration Vauxhall Frontera loses value over time.
Based on the 2024 car with 15,600 miles you entered above — worth about £15,350 today — here is the cost of owning it for the next 5 years, at roughly 7,800 miles a year.
5-year total
£16,005
Per year
£3,201
All-in per mile
£0.41
Fuel per mile
15.1p
Best age to buy — around 4 years
A 4-year-old example loses roughly £1,550 a year — under half the £4,050 a one-year-old sheds. The steepest drop is behind it.
Uses current UK pump and home-charging prices (DESNZ weekly), typical-driver insurance and manufacturer service intervals. "Fuel per mile" is just the energy input — so an EV at ~9p and a diesel at ~22p make running-cost comparison direct. A guide; your own costs will vary.
Where this car ranks against the 340 vehicles in our index — higher is better.
Percentile rank across our full index. A measure is shown only where the data spreads meaningfully across the index.
How the available versions compare on price, running cost, and the headaches each tends to develop.
The default choice: lowest purchase price and easy upkeep, at the cost of higher fuel bills than a hybrid.
Watch for
Makes sense for high motorway mileage; less so for short urban hops, where the DPF struggles.
Watch for
Fuel/energy costs based on this week’s UK averages (w/c 22/06/2026) · Petrol 153.3p/L, Diesel 172.5p/L, Electricity 27.0p/kWh · DESNZ
Group 17 of 50 (mid — around the UK average) · Comprehensive · 3 years NCB
Indicative annual comprehensive premiums for this car, by driver age band and risk profile. Pick the combination closest to your circumstances.
Estimated annual premium · typical, age 33-39
£892/ year
Roughly £74 per month
Typical
Average UK driver — 3 years NCB, average postcode, no recent claims.| Age band | Lower risk | Typical | Higher risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age 17-25 | £2,034 | £2,542 | £3,305 |
| Age 26-32 | £1,061 | £1,249 | £1,524 |
| Age 33-39Selected | £785 | £892 | £1,053 |
| Age 40-49 | £666 | £740 | £859 |
| Age 50+ | £594 | £660 | £779 |
How we estimate this
Indicative annual comprehensive premium estimates. The 'Typical' figure represents an average UK driver in each age band; Lower and Higher risk show the realistic spread driven by factors UK insurers legitimately price on (postcode, occupation, claims history, NCB, voluntary excess, modifications). Based on 10,000 miles/yr, £250 voluntary excess, and the no-claims bonus selected above. Always get individual quotes before buying.
Adjust the annual mileage to match how you'll actually use the car. Insurance is what you selected above (age 33-39, typical risk, 3 yrs NCB).
Routine service
£185
Annual main-dealer service
Major service
£210
Every 2 years, annualised
Road tax
£195
Standard rate, post year-one
Fuel
£997
46 mpg, £1.49/L
Insurance
£892
Age 33-39, group 17
Clean-air zones
⚠ Depends on variantBased on London ULEZ standards — Birmingham, Bath, Bristol, Sheffield, Glasgow and other UK clean-air zones generally follow the same rules.
Excludes depreciation and unscheduled repairs (see next section).
What out-of-warranty repairs typically run, by mileage band. Your selected mileage is highlighted.
0-30k miles
£80
per year · low risk
30-60k miles
£240
per year · low risk
60-100k miles
£520
per year · medium risk
100k+ miles
£900
per year · high risk
205/60 R16 · 215/55 R17 · 225/45 R18
What a full set of four will cost you (including fit and balance), and which brand each tier of buyer should pick. A typical set lasts about 24,000 miles.
Budget
£300
set of 4, fitted · £60 per tyre
Mid-range
£440
set of 4, fitted · £95 per tyre
Premium
£620
set of 4, fitted · £140 per tyre
Factory options ranked by how much of their original cost they recover at resale. Anything above 70% return tends to make money back; below 40% is paying for your own enjoyment.
| Option | New cost | Added used value | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
Tow bar (factory-fit) Niche, but the buyers who want one will pay for it. | £650 | £450 | 69% |
Parking sensors & reversing camera Near-expected now — its absence costs more than its presence returns. | £500 | £300 | 60% |
Heated seats / cold-weather pack | £450 | £200 | 44% |
Metallic or premium paint Almost universal — an unusual colour is the bigger resale risk. | £600 | £200 | 33% |
Panoramic / opening roof | £1,100 | £350 | 32% |
Larger alloy wheels | £700 | £200 | 29% |
Drawn from owner reports and warranty data. Filtered for relevance to 15,600 miles.
Watch now
Failure typically happens around your current mileage.
Upcoming
A known weak point — but you haven't reached its usual mileage yet.
Already due
Past its usual failure mileage. Either already fixed, or about to.
General wear item — not a model-specific fault.
General wear item — not a model-specific fault.
General wear item — not a model-specific fault.
General wear item — not a model-specific fault.
"Parts low/medium/high" indicates how easy the replacement part is to source — discontinued or specialist parts mean longer workshop time and bigger bills.
How this model fares at its MOT as it ages — from 609 real DVSA test records.
MOT pass rate by age
A 7-year-old Frontera passes its MOT 50% of the time; by 21 years that has risen to 61.5%. The y-axis is zoomed to this model’s range so the trend is readable.
Longevity
Not enough older examples yet to gauge longevity.
Common MOT failures by mileage
The defect categories this Frontera fails on most often, and how the failure rate climbs as the miles add up — from the same DVSA test records.
| Category | 0-30k | 30-60k | 60-100k | 100k+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 3% | 2% | 16% | 18% |
| Suspension | — | 3% | 8% | 14% |
| Driver's view | 7% | 2% | 6% | 4% |
| Emissions | 3% | 6% | 3% | 4% |
| Lighting & signalling | — | 2% | 10% | 4% |
| Tyres & wheels | — | 2% | 3% | 6% |
Share of MOT tests in each mileage band with at least one defect in that category. The peak band for each is highlighted.
Typical mileage by age
The average odometer reading for a Frontera at MOT, by age — measured from the same DVSA records, not assumed. A useful yardstick for whether a given car has done more or fewer miles than its age suggests.
Mean recorded mileage at MOT by vehicle age, from DVSA test records (ages with at least 10 tests shown).
Good
MOT outlook
Insufficient MOT history at this car's reference age — too few tests to compute a reliable percentile.
Safety recalls
Manufacturers occasionally issue safety recalls to fix a fault free of charge. You can check whether the Vauxhall Frontera, or your exact vehicle, has any outstanding recalls on the official DVSA service.
Check on GOV.UKOpens the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency recall checker. Choose the make, model and year of manufacture — no registration needed.
A general indicator from UK 2025 theft data and this car’s characteristics — not a prediction for any one vehicle.
Whole-car theft
Higher
Desirable SUVs like this are relay-theft targets — keyless entry can be exploited from the driveway in under a minute.
Parts theft
Higher
Hybrid versions are a catalytic-converter target — a hybrid cat is rich in precious metals and can be cut out in about a minute.
Worth doing
Whether driving a Vauxhall Frontera into a UK clean-air zone will cost you anything. Rules use the same Euro standard across most zones — petrol from 2006 and diesel from 2015 onwards are exempt; pure electric is always exempt.
| City | Area | Daily charge | Likely outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | All of Greater London (within the M25) | £12.50 | Likely exempt Hybrid petrol engines from 2006 meet Euro 4. |
| Birmingham | Inside the A4540 Middleway | £8.00 | Likely exempt Hybrid petrol engines from 2006 meet Euro 4. |
| Bristol | City centre and part of the Portway | £9.00 | Likely exempt Hybrid petrol engines from 2006 meet Euro 4. |
| Glasgow | City centre | — | Likely exempt Hybrid petrol engines from 2006 meet Euro 4. |
| Edinburgh | City centre | — | Likely exempt Hybrid petrol engines from 2006 meet Euro 4. |
| Aberdeen | City centre | — | Likely exempt Hybrid petrol engines from 2006 meet Euro 4. |
| Dundee | City centre | — | Likely exempt Hybrid petrol engines from 2006 meet Euro 4. |
Model-level guidance only. To check a specific registration, use the official gov.uk clean-air zone checker. Zone charges and boundaries are set by local councils and change over time.
How well-supported Vauxhall is across the UK — a practical read on how easy servicing, parts and warranty work will be to find.
Franchised UK dealers
~195
Large network
Mass-market
Network size relative to the UK's largest (Vauxhall is 4.3% of all franchised outlets)
Servicing, parts and warranty work are easy to find UK-wide, and most independent garages know the brand well — which keeps maintenance competitive.
For context, the UK has roughly 4,500 franchised car-dealer outlets in total, plus about 15,500 independent garages.
Approximate figures, curated from public UK industry sources (NFDA, Car Dealer Magazine). Franchised networks shrink year on year — these indicate network size, not an exact count.
Length
4,350 mm
Width
1,810 mm
Height
1,560 mm
Kerb weight
1,400 kg
Boot
420–1,300 L
Fuel tank
48 L
Of every Vauxhall Frontera ever registered in the UK, this is what's actively on the road, parked off the road on a SORN, or gone for good.
Total ever registered
14,159
Currently taxed & on road
5,083
36% of all registered
SORN (off road)
4,242
30% of all registered
Scrapped or exported
4,834
UK fleet trend — 2014 to 2025
+757.2% vs 2024Source: DfT VEH0124 vehicle licensing statistics (year-end 2025) · Updated 1 Jul 2026
Common questions
Similar cars
Same underpinnings
Multi-energy small-car platform supporting petrol, diesel and electric powertrains. Used across PSA/Stellantis B-segment cars. Different badges, often substantially different residuals, but broadly the same mechanicals and repair cost profile.
Peugeot
208
Peugeot
2008
Vauxhall
Corsa
Vauxhall
Mokka
Vauxhall
Crossland
DS
3
Fiat
600
Alfa Romeo
Junior
Citroen
C4
Citroen
C3
Citroen
C3 Aircross
Common Modular Platform · Stellantis
Common questions
Answers are generated from this car's Forecourt data — DVSA MOT records, DfT licensing statistics and our valuation model — and update with the weekly data refresh.