Pass rate
89.9%
Above average — 17.5 pts ahead of the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 168 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £45–£131
2005 Caterham Seven (S3) MOT pass rate
- 2005
- typical 23,604 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
36.2% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2000 93.7% pass
- Avoid 2007 86.4% pass
Across the 13 years on record, a spread of 7.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 89.0%
- Typical mileage
- 24k mi
The 2005 Caterham Seven (S3) MOT pass rate is 89.9% of its MOT tests — 17.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 36.2% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Caterham Seven (S3) does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.7× the national share
Suspension accounts for 36.2% of everything recorded on the 2005 Caterham Seven (S3), against 21.0% nationally — 15.2 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.
- 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 89.9% — 17.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 27% 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 Caterham Seven (S3)? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2005 Caterham Seven (S3) compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.4%, so this figure is 17.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 89.0%. The median 2005 Caterham Seven (S3) in this dataset had covered 23,604 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 91.2% of the time, April–September 89.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits", noted on 1.79% of tests.
- 168 recorded tests behind this page.
- 89.9% overall pass rate, 89.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Caterham Seven (S3), the average is 90.3% — best year 2000 (93.7%), worst 2007 (86.4%).
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
- 168
- Typical mileage (median)
- 23,604 mi
- Make and model
- Caterham Seven (S3)
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Emissions Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Seven (S3) MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 76% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Seven (S3)
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 43 | 95.3% |
| East of England | 26 | 88.5% |
| East Midlands | 25 | 92.0% |
| Yorkshire | 19 | 84.2% |
| South West | 17 | 100.0% |
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 Seven (S3)
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 Seven (S3)
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 exhaust and emissions 1.8% of tests
“catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside 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 steering 1.8% of tests
“steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated,”
With the wheels straight, rock the steering wheel gently with the engine off — more than about an inch of free play before the wheels move is worth investigating. Split rack gaiters are cheap to replace and commonly recorded.
-
Check the lights 1.2% of tests
“headlamp aim too high”
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.
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 Seven (S3) through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £45–£131 — and 27% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £45–£131
- Cheapest common item: washers provides insufficient washer liquid
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated,
- £120–£300
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 27%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 168 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 Seven (S3), side by side
13 model years on record, from 2000 to 2012. Across them the pass rate runs from 86.4% to 93.7% — a spread of 7.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 93.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2001 87.5% catalyst emissions carbon…
- 2002 89.4% steering rack gaiter damaged or…
- 2003 89.4% steering rack gaiter damaged or…
- 2004 91.0% steering rack gaiter damaged or…
- 2005 89.9%catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2006 89.6% side repeaters not working
- 2007 86.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 92.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 92.9% wipers blade defective
- 2010 92.2% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2011 88.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 91.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
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 Caterham Seven (S3) 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%
- Aston Martin DB9 91.3%
- BMW M3 88.1%
- Honda S2000 87.1%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 86.1%
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 Caterham Seven (S3) 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 130 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 47 | 36.20% | 20.98% | +15.22 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 24 | 18.50% | 12.21% | +6.29 |
| Tyres | 12 | 9.20% | 19.76% | −10.56 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 11 | 8.50% | 5.52% | +2.98 |
| Brakes | 9 | 6.90% | 20.89% | −13.99 |
| Non-component advisories | 8 | 6.20% | 4.18% | +2.02 |
| Steering | 7 | 5.40% | 2.57% | +2.83 |
| Visibility | 6 | 4.60% | 4.97% | −0.37 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 4 | 3.10% | 1.76% | +1.34 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2 | 1.50% | 5.57% | −4.07 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.8% | £60–250 |
| Steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 1.8% | £120–300 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.2% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.2% | £30–80 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.2% | £5–25 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 1.2% | £45–110 |
| Registration plates missing Identification of the vehicle | Major | 1.2% | £20–80 |
| Side repeaters not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.2% | £5–25 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 1.2% | £5–15 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.2% | £80–200 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Advisory | 9.5% | £20–55 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 6.0% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 5.4% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 4.8% | £18–45 |
| Non-component advisories Coolant leak Non-component advisories | Advisory | 3.0% | £20–80 |
| Wheel bearings rough when rotated Suspension | Advisory | 3.0% | £20–55 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 106 | 93.4% | 17,212 mi |
| 30-60k | 53 | 84.9% | 41,369 mi |
| 60-90k | 6 | 100.0% | 63,431 mi |
Source: 168 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 Seven (S3) MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2005 Caterham Seven (S3)?
89.9% of the 168 2005 Caterham Seven (S3) tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.4% for cars first used in 2005. First-attempt pass rate: 89.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2005 Caterham Seven (S3)?
The three most recorded items are catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (1.79%), steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (1.79%), headlamp aim too high (1.19%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2005 Caterham Seven (S3) MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 93.4% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2005 Caterham Seven (S3) in this dataset had covered 23,604 mi.
Does the season affect the 2005 Caterham Seven (S3) MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 91.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 89.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.