Pass rate
90.4%
Above average — 18.0 pts ahead of the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 104 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £30–£95
2005 Aston Martin Vantage MOT pass rate
- 2005
- typical 50,841 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
40.8% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2022 97.7% pass
- Avoid 2005 90.4% pass · this year
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 7.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 89.4%
- Typical mileage
- 51k mi
The 2005 Aston Martin Vantage MOT pass rate is 90.4% of its MOT tests — 18.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 40.8% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Aston Martin Vantage does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 2.0× the national share
Brakes make up 40.8% of everything recorded on the 2005 Aston Martin Vantage, against 20.9% nationally — 19.9 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 72.4% and this one manages 90.4% — 18.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Based on a small sample. 104 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
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 Aston Martin Vantage? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2005 Aston Martin Vantage compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.4%, so this figure is 18.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 89.4%. The median 2005 Aston Martin Vantage in this dataset had covered 50,841 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 91.3% of the time, April–September 89.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction", noted on 1.92% of tests.
- 104 recorded tests behind this page.
- 90.4% overall pass rate, 89.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Aston Martin Vantage, the average is 94.7% — best year 2022 (97.7%), worst 2005 (90.4%).
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
- 104
- Typical mileage (median)
- 50,841 mi
- Make and model
- Aston Martin Vantage
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Indicator Bulb
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Vantage MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 73% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Vantage
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 22 | 90.9% |
| South East | 18 | 94.4% |
| East of England | 15 | 86.7% |
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 2005 Vantage
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 2005 Vantage
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 lights 1.9% of tests
“malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction”
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 exhaust and emissions 1.0% of tests
“catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits”
Listen for a blow at idle and have someone rev it gently. Then look at the tailpipe smoke: blue is oil, white when warm is coolant, black is over-fuelling. Any of those and the emissions test is the least of it.
-
Check the coil springs 1.0% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
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 2005 Vantage through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £30–£95 — and 42% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £30–£95
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 42%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 104 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 Vantage, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2005 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 90.4% to 97.7% — a spread of 7.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2005 90.4%malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2006 93.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 93.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 93.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 94.0% wipers blade defective
- 2010 93.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 93.7% headlamp cleaning device for led…
- 2012 93.2% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2013 93.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 93.8% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2015 95.5% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2016 96.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 95.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 95.2% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2019 95.9% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2020 95.9% headlamp aim too high
- 2021 96.8% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 97.7% has a cut in excess of the…
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 2005 Aston Martin Vantage 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 2005 cars with a similar record
- Bentley Continental 90.2%
- Porsche 911 88.6%
- BMW M3 88.1%
- Honda S2000 87.1%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 86.1%
- Porsche Boxster 84.6%
Closest pass rates among 2005 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 2005 Aston Martin Vantage 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 76 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 | 31 | 40.80% | 20.89% | +19.91 |
| Tyres | 23 | 30.30% | 19.76% | +10.54 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 6 | 7.90% | 12.21% | −4.31 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 6 | 7.90% | 5.52% | +2.38 |
| Visibility | 3 | 3.90% | 4.97% | −1.07 |
| Suspension | 2 | 2.60% | 20.98% | −18.38 |
| Non-component advisories | 2 | 2.60% | 4.18% | −1.58 |
| Steering | 1 | 1.30% | 2.57% | −1.27 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 1 | 1.30% | 1.76% | −0.46 |
| Road Wheels | 1 | 1.30% | 0.75% | +0.55 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.9% | £3–12 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 1.9% | £60–150 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.96% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.96% | £60–250 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 0.96% | £25–65 |
| Electronic stability control switch not functioning correctly Brakes | Major | 0.96% | £45–110 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.96% | £30–80 |
| Horn not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.96% | £8–25 |
| Individual direction indicators not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.96% | £3–12 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.96% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 15.4% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 9.6% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 8.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 6.7% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres | Advisory | 3.9% | £45–95 |
| Bonnet primary retaining device excessively deteriorated Visibility | Advisory | 1.9% | £20–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 12 | 91.7% | 23,862 mi |
| 30-60k | 53 | 96.2% | 46,804 mi |
| 60-90k | 32 | 81.3% | 75,375 mi |
| 90-120k | 7 | 85.7% | 98,370 mi |
Source: 104 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.
2005 Vantage MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2005 Aston Martin Vantage?
90.4% of the 104 2005 Aston Martin Vantage tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.4% for cars first used in 2005. First-attempt pass rate: 89.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2005 Aston Martin Vantage?
The three most recorded items are malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction (1.92%), service brake performance excessively binding (1.92%), catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits (0.96%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2005 Aston Martin Vantage MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 91.7% of the time, falling to 85.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2005 Aston Martin Vantage in this dataset had covered 50,841 mi.
Does the season affect the 2005 Aston Martin Vantage MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 91.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 89.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.