Pass rate
62.4%
Below average — 10.7 pts behind the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 101 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £52–£139
2008 Chevrolet Epica MOT pass rate
- 2008
- typical 90,595 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
30.9% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2009 71.8% pass
- Avoid 2008 62.4% pass · this year
Across the 2 years on record, a spread of 9.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 49.3%
- Typical mileage
- 91k mi
The 2008 Chevrolet Epica MOT pass rate is 62.4% of its MOT tests — 10.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 30.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Chevrolet Epica does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.5× the national share
Brakes make up 30.9% of everything recorded on the 2008 Chevrolet Epica, against 20.9% nationally — 10.0 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 73.1%; this one manages 62.4% — 10.7 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 33% 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 Chevrolet Epica? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2008 Chevrolet Epica compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 10.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 49.3%. The median 2008 Chevrolet Epica in this dataset had covered 90,595 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 90% of tests, with a 61.5% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 65.1% of the time, April–September 60.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 13.86% of tests.
- 101 recorded tests behind this page.
- 62.4% overall pass rate, 49.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Chevrolet Epica, the average is 68.3% — best year 2009 (71.8%), worst 2008 (62.4%).
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
- 101
- Typical mileage (median)
- 90,595 mi
- Make and model
- Chevrolet Epica
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Epica MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 49% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (90% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Epica
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| North West | 29 | 55.2% |
| Yorkshire | 18 | 55.6% |
| East of England | 15 | 60.0% |
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 2008 Epica
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 2008 Epica
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 13.9% 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 battery 6.9% of tests
“battery(ies) insecure”
Check the battery is secure and its terminals are clean and tight — a loose battery is a fail on its own, and a weak one shows up as slow cranking on a cold morning.
-
Check the steering 6.9% 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.
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 2008 Epica through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £52–£139 — and 33% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £52–£139
- Cheapest common item: anti-lock braking system warning lamp…
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated,
- £120–£300
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 33%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 101 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 Epica, side by side
2 model years on record, from 2008 to 2009. Across them the pass rate runs from 62.4% to 71.8% — a spread of 9.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2008 62.4%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 71.8% joints constant velocity boot…
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 2008 Chevrolet Epica 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 2008 cars with a similar record
- Mazda Bongo 64.9%
- Nissan Qashqai 66.0%
- Ford Ka 66.2%
- Renault Grand Scenic 66.6%
- Fiat Bravo 67.3%
- Volkswagen Beetle 68.1%
Closest pass rates among 2008 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 2008 Chevrolet Epica 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 342 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 | 107 | 30.90% | 20.89% | +10.01 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 50 | 14.50% | 12.21% | +2.29 |
| Tyres | 40 | 11.60% | 19.76% | −8.16 |
| Suspension | 37 | 10.70% | 20.98% | −10.28 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 33 | 9.50% | 5.57% | +3.93 |
| Steering | 22 | 6.40% | 2.57% | +3.83 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 19 | 5.50% | 5.52% | −0.02 |
| Visibility | 16 | 4.60% | 4.97% | −0.37 |
| Non-component advisories | 11 | 3.20% | 4.18% | −0.98 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 7 | 2.00% | 1.76% | +0.24 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 13.9% | £5–20 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 10.9% | £80–250 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 9.9% | £45–110 |
| Anti-lock braking system warning lamp indicates an ABS fault Brakes | Major | 6.9% | £3–15 |
| Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.9% | £60–140 |
| Steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 6.9% | £120–300 |
| Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Steering | Major | 6.9% | £120–300 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 5.9% | £60–150 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Major | 5.0% | £45–110 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.0% | £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 | 21.8% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 20.8% | £80–180 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 19.8% | £45–110 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 12.9% | £200–700 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 7.9% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 7.9% | £40–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 6 | 83.3% | 51,215 mi |
| 60-90k | 44 | 61.4% | 72,152 mi |
| 90-120k | 26 | 57.7% | 103,114 mi |
| 120k+ | 25 | 64.0% | 143,149 mi |
Source: 101 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.
2008 Epica MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 Chevrolet Epica?
62.4% of the 101 2008 Chevrolet Epica tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 49.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 Chevrolet Epica?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (13.86%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (10.89%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (9.90%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 Chevrolet Epica MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 83.3% of the time, falling to 64.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Chevrolet Epica in this dataset had covered 90,595 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2008 Chevrolet Epica?
Diesel: 61.5% pass rate across 91 tests. Petrol: 70.0% pass rate across 10 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2008 Chevrolet Epica MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 65.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 60.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.