Pass rate
71.0%
Below average — 1.4 pts behind the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 6,534 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £48–£134
2005 Fiat Punto MOT pass rate
- 2005
- typical 76,035 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
27.6% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2017 82.2% pass
- Avoid 2000 67.4% pass
Across the 19 years on record, a spread of 14.8 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 62.2%
- Typical mileage
- 76k mi
The 2005 Fiat Punto MOT pass rate is 71.0% of its MOT tests — 1.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.6% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.3× the national share
Suspension accounts for 27.6% of everything recorded on the 2005 Fiat Punto, against 21.0% nationally — 6.6 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 30% 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 Fiat Punto? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2005 Fiat Punto compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.4%, so this figure is 1.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 62.2%. The median 2005 Fiat Punto in this dataset had covered 76,035 mi.
98% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 70.9% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 71.3% of the time, April–September 70.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp lens slightly defective", noted on 6.20% of tests.
- 6,534 recorded tests behind this page.
- 71.0% overall pass rate, 62.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Fiat Punto, the average is 72.5% — best year 2017 (82.2%), worst 2000 (67.4%).
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
- 6,534
- Typical mileage (median)
- 76,035 mi
- Make and model
- Fiat Punto
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Headlight Bulb
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Punto MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 58% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (98% of tests).
Where the Fiat Punto is most common
Across all Punto model years on record (2000–2018): 88,452 Fiat Punto cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 226,305 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 3,024 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham (B) | 3,024 | 78.3% |
| 2 | Manchester (M) | 2,460 | 74.4% |
| 3 | Sheffield (S) | 2,435 | 75.3% |
| 4 | Stoke On Trent (ST) | 2,058 | 71.0% |
| 5 | Nottingham (NG) | 1,828 | 69.6% |
| 6 | Coventry (CV) | 1,755 | 74.7% |
| 7 | Leicester (LE) | 1,585 | 75.7% |
| 8 | Doncaster (DN) | 1,547 | 71.0% |
| 9 | Peterborough (PE) | 1,518 | 72.1% |
| 10 | Northampton (NN) | 1,457 | 72.9% |
| 11 | Warrington (WA) | 1,299 | 71.5% |
| 12 | Liverpool (L) | 1,275 | 74.9% |
| 13 | Bristol (BS) | 1,258 | 66.9% |
| 14 | Cardiff (CF) | 1,258 | 68.7% |
| 15 | Derby (DE) | 1,242 | 73.1% |
| 16 | Norwich (NR) | 1,202 | 73.1% |
| 17 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 1,198 | 71.6% |
| 18 | Chester (CH) | 1,164 | 68.6% |
| 19 | Glasgow (G) | 1,151 | 69.0% |
| 20 | Wakefield (WF) | 1,130 | 76.0% |
The twenty areas with the most Fiat Punto cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →
Regional pass rates for the Punto
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,360 | 72.4% |
| North West | 969 | 72.2% |
| East of England | 733 | 69.4% |
| South West | 724 | 67.7% |
| West Midlands | 682 | 71.8% |
| Yorkshire | 668 | 69.8% |
| East Midlands | 458 | 71.0% |
| London | 325 | 80.9% |
| Wales | 258 | 68.2% |
| North East | 203 | 66.0% |
| Scotland | 154 | 63.6% |
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 Punto
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 Punto
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 6.2% of tests
“headlamp lens slightly defective”
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 suspension joints 4.9% 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 corrosion 4.0% of tests
“component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength”
Look under the sills, around the jacking points and where the suspension mounts meet the body. Flaking, holed or crumbly metal fails; a brown stain on sound metal does not.
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 Punto through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £48–£134 — and 30% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £48–£134
- Cheapest common item: wipers does not clear the windscreen…
- £8–£22
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 30%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 6,534 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 Punto, side by side
19 model years on record, from 2000 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 67.4% to 82.2% — a spread of 14.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 67.4% prescribed areas prescribed area…
- 2001 73.4% prescribed areas prescribed area…
- 2002 69.5% prescribed areas prescribed area…
- 2003 68.7% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 68.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 71.0%headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2006 69.9% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2007 69.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 70.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 73.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 73.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 73.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 74.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 73.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 74.1% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2015 78.3% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2016 81.0% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2017 82.2% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2018 80.7% track rod end ball joint dust…
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 Fiat Punto 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
- Volkswagen Golf 71.0%
- MINI Mini 70.9%
- Skoda Octavia 71.1%
- MINI COOPER 70.9%
- Skoda Fabia 70.8%
- Volvo XC90 71.2%
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 Fiat Punto 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 20,678 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 | 5,796 | 27.60% | 20.98% | +6.62 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 3,201 | 15.20% | 12.21% | +2.99 |
| Brakes | 2,709 | 12.90% | 20.89% | −7.99 |
| Tyres | 2,606 | 12.40% | 19.76% | −7.36 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2,301 | 11.00% | 5.57% | +5.43 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2,048 | 9.80% | 5.52% | +4.28 |
| Visibility | 884 | 4.20% | 4.97% | −0.77 |
| Non-component advisories | 467 | 2.20% | 4.18% | −1.98 |
| Steering | 341 | 1.60% | 2.57% | −0.97 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 325 | 1.50% | 0.82% | +0.68 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.2% | £5–25 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.9% | £30–80 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 4.9% | £18–45 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 4.0% | £180–450 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.8% | £45–120 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.1% | £80–250 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 3.0% | £8–22 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.5% | £60–250 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.3% | £80–200 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 2.2% | £8–22 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 23.3% | £25–65 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 19.7% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 16.5% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 15.6% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 13.6% | £40–150 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 10.1% | £180–450 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 212 | 83.5% | 23,351 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,648 | 74.5% | 47,286 mi |
| 60-90k | 2,568 | 70.3% | 74,673 mi |
| 90-120k | 1,472 | 68.1% | 102,509 mi |
| 120k+ | 613 | 66.9% | 139,388 mi |
Source: 6,534 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 Punto MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2005 Fiat Punto?
71.0% of the 6,534 2005 Fiat Punto tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.4% for cars first used in 2005. First-attempt pass rate: 62.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2005 Fiat Punto?
The three most recorded items are headlamp lens slightly defective (6.20%), headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (5.89%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (4.88%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2005 Fiat Punto MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 83.5% of the time, falling to 66.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2005 Fiat Punto in this dataset had covered 76,035 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2005 Fiat Punto?
Petrol: 70.9% pass rate across 6,380 tests. Diesel: 74.0% pass rate across 154 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2005 Fiat Punto MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 71.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 70.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.