Pass rate
83.5%
Around average — 11.3 pts ahead of the 72.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 206 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £47–£131
2004 Alfa Romeo Spider MOT pass rate
- 2004
- typical 71,242 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
27.8% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2011 86.7% pass
- Avoid 2000 71.0% pass
Across the 11 years on record, a spread of 15.7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 80.8%
- Typical mileage
- 71k mi
The 2004 Alfa Romeo Spider MOT pass rate is 83.5% of its MOT tests — 11.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.8% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Alfa Romeo Spider does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.3× the national share
Brakes make up 27.8% of everything recorded on the 2004 Alfa Romeo Spider, against 20.9% nationally — 6.9 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 72.2% and this one manages 83.5% — 11.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 17% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out
Watching a Alfa Romeo Spider? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2004 Alfa Romeo Spider compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.2%, so this figure is 11.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 80.8%. The median 2004 Alfa Romeo Spider in this dataset had covered 71,242 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 83.3% of the time, April–September 83.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt", noted on 3.40% of tests.
- 206 recorded tests behind this page.
- 83.5% overall pass rate, 80.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Alfa Romeo Spider, the average is 79.0% — best year 2011 (86.7%), worst 2000 (71.0%).
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
This page's data
- Tests analysed
- 206
- Typical mileage (median)
- 71,242 mi
- Make and model
- Alfa Romeo Spider
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Body Panel Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Spider MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 70% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Spider
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 65 | 81.5% |
| South West | 30 | 83.3% |
| East of England | 21 | 85.7% |
| West Midlands | 18 | 83.3% |
| North West | 18 | 88.9% |
Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.
What fails a 2004 Spider
Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.
A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.
Before your test
Three checks worth doing on a 2004 Spider
These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.
-
Check the suspension joints 2.9% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
-
Check the lights 2.4% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
Switch everything on and walk round the car: both headlamps on dip and main, every indicator, both brake lights, reverse, fog and the two number-plate lamps. A bulb is a few pounds and a five-minute job.
-
Check the windscreen 1.9% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
What it costs to get a 2004 Spider through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £47–£131 — and 17% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £47–£131
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot split or…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 17%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 206 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →
Every year of the Spider, side by side
11 model years on record, from 2000 to 2011. Across them the pass rate runs from 71.0% to 86.7% — a spread of 15.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 71.0% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2001 78.5% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2002 78.5% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2003 71.3% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2004 83.5%joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 80.1% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2007 79.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2008 79.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2009 85.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2010 85.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2011 86.7% coil spring fractured or broken
Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.
Compare the 2004 Alfa Romeo Spider with another year
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Other 2004 cars with a similar record
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class 83.1%
- Subaru Impreza 82.2%
- Porsche Boxster 81.5%
- Porsche Cayenne 81.1%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 86.7%
- Honda S2000 86.7%
Closest pass rates among 2004 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2004 Alfa Romeo Spider 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 303 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.
| Category | Items | This car | Nationally | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 85 | 27.80% | 20.89% | +6.91 |
| Suspension | 84 | 27.50% | 20.98% | +6.52 |
| Tyres | 39 | 12.70% | 19.76% | −7.06 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 32 | 10.50% | 5.57% | +4.93 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 24 | 7.80% | 5.52% | +2.28 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 19 | 6.20% | 12.21% | −6.01 |
| Visibility | 10 | 3.30% | 4.97% | −1.67 |
| Steering | 4 | 1.30% | 2.57% | −1.27 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3 | 1.00% | 1.76% | −0.76 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 3 | 1.00% | 0.82% | +0.18 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.4% | £80–250 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.9% | £18–45 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.9% | £45–110 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.4% | £5–20 |
| Service brake imbalance across an axle Brakes | Major | 2.4% | £45–110 |
| Service brake performance efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.4% | £60–150 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 1.9% | £80–250 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.9% | £80–200 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Major | 1.5% | £45–110 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.5% | £5–25 |
Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.
What testers noted without failing the car
Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 11.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.2% | £45–110 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 7.8% | £80–180 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 6.8% | £25–65 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 6.3% | £45–120 |
| Suspension arm corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 6.3% | £35–85 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 13 | 92.3% | 16,541 mi |
| 30-60k | 70 | 82.9% | 47,376 mi |
| 60-90k | 86 | 83.7% | 75,229 mi |
| 90-120k | 28 | 78.6% | 99,045 mi |
| 120k+ | 9 | 88.9% | 130,729 mi |
Source: 206 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.
2004 Spider MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2004 Alfa Romeo Spider?
83.5% of the 206 2004 Alfa Romeo Spider tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.2% for cars first used in 2004. First-attempt pass rate: 80.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2004 Alfa Romeo Spider?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (3.40%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (2.91%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (2.91%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2004 Alfa Romeo Spider MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 92.3% of the time, falling to 88.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2004 Alfa Romeo Spider in this dataset had covered 71,242 mi.
Does the season affect the 2004 Alfa Romeo Spider MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 83.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 83.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.