Pass rate
95.5%
Above average — 22.5 pts ahead of the 73.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 66 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £55–£169
2007 Caterham Super MOT pass rate
- 2007
- typical 21,510 mi
Only 66 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Most common fault
Suspension
40.0% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2007 95.5% pass · this year
- Avoid 2003 83.8% pass
Across the 12 years on record, a spread of 11.7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 95.2%
- Typical mileage
- 22k mi
The 2007 Caterham Super MOT pass rate is 95.5% of its MOT tests — 22.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 40.0% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Caterham Super does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.9× the national share
Suspension accounts for 40.0% of everything recorded on the 2007 Caterham Super, against 21.0% nationally — 19.0 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 73.0% and this one manages 95.5% — 22.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 0% 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 Super? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2007 Caterham Super compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.0%, so this figure is 22.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 95.2%. The median 2007 Caterham Super in this dataset had covered 21,510 mi.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 3.03% of tests.
- 66 recorded tests behind this page.
- 95.5% overall pass rate, 95.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Caterham Super, the average is 92.0% — best year 2007 (95.5%), worst 2003 (83.8%).
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
- 66
- Typical mileage (median)
- 21,510 mi
- Make and model
- Caterham Super
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Super MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 81% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Super
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| East Midlands | 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 2007 Super
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 2007 Super
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 windscreen 3.0% 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.
-
Check the suspension joints 1.5% of tests
“ball joint excessively worn”
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 exhaust and emissions 1.5% 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.
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 2007 Super through its MOT
Across the 9 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £55–£169 — and 0% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 9 common items
- £55–£169
- Cheapest common item: ball joint excessively worn
- £18–£45
- Dearest common item: steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated,
- £120–£300
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 44%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 0%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 66 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 Super, side by side
12 model years on record, from 2001 to 2012. Across them the pass rate runs from 83.8% to 95.5% — a spread of 11.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2001 91.1% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2002 95.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2003 83.8% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2004 90.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2005 84.6% position lamp not working
- 2006 94.1% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2007 95.5%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 93.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 93.7% headlamp aim too low
- 2010 93.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 91.8% steering rack gaiter damaged or…
- 2012 94.2% steering rack gaiter damaged or…
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 2007 Caterham Super 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 2007 cars with a similar record
- Aston Martin V8 Vantage 92.2%
- Bentley Continental 92.1%
- Aston Martin DB9 91.4%
- Porsche 911 89.7%
- Porsche Boxster 87.3%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 85.5%
Closest pass rates among 2007 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 2007 Caterham Super 9 failure items · 6 advisories · 6 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 20 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 | 8 | 40.00% | 20.98% | +19.02 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 4 | 20.00% | 5.52% | +14.48 |
| Tyres | 3 | 15.00% | 19.76% | −4.76 |
| Brakes | 2 | 10.00% | 20.89% | −10.89 |
| Visibility | 2 | 10.00% | 4.97% | +5.03 |
| Steering | 1 | 5.00% | 2.57% | +2.43 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.0% | £80–200 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.5% | £18–45 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £60–250 |
| Flexible brake hoses slightly chafed Brakes | Minor | 1.5% | £25–70 |
| Shock absorbers insecurely attached Suspension | Major | 1.5% | £30–75 |
| Steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 1.5% | £120–300 |
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Major | 1.5% | £20–55 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 3.0% | £18–45 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 3.0% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 3.0% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 1.5% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively damaged Brakes | Advisory | 1.5% | £80–180 |
| Transmission oil leaks leaking excessively from transmission Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 1.5% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 47 | 97.9% | 17,188 mi |
| 30-60k | 19 | 89.5% | 42,399 mi |
Source: 66 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.
2007 Super MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2007 Caterham Super?
95.5% of the 66 2007 Caterham Super tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.0% for cars first used in 2007. First-attempt pass rate: 95.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2007 Caterham Super?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.03%), ball joint excessively worn (1.52%), catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (1.52%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2007 Caterham Super MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 97.9% of the time, falling to 89.5% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2007 Caterham Super in this dataset had covered 21,510 mi.