Pass rate
75.9%
Around average — 3.5 pts ahead of the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 54 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £56–£139
2005 Ford Dorchester MOT pass rate
- 2005
- typical 85,642 mi
Only 54 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
Brakes
32.3% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£55 for Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2014 83.2% pass
- Avoid 2008 72.6% pass
Across the 8 years on record, a spread of 10.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 71.1%
- Typical mileage
- 86k mi
The 2005 Ford Dorchester MOT pass rate is 75.9% of its MOT tests — 3.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 32.3% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Ford Dorchester does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.5× the national share
Brakes make up 32.3% of everything recorded on the 2005 Ford Dorchester, against 20.9% nationally — 11.4 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 75.9% — 3.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Based on a small sample. 54 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 Ford Dorchester? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2005 Ford Dorchester compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.4%, so this figure is 3.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 71.1%. The median 2005 Ford Dorchester in this dataset had covered 85,642 mi.
The single most recorded failure item is "Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength", noted on 7.41% of tests.
- 54 recorded tests behind this page.
- 75.9% overall pass rate, 71.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Ford Dorchester, the average is 77.0% — best year 2014 (83.2%), worst 2008 (72.6%).
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
- 54
- Typical mileage (median)
- 85,642 mi
- Make and model
- Ford Dorchester
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Corrosion Welding Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Dorchester MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 55% so small gaps stay visible.
What fails a 2005 Dorchester
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 Dorchester
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 corrosion 7.4% 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.
-
Check the wipers and washers 7.4% of tests
“washers provides insufficient washer liquid”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the screen.
-
Check the lights 3.7% of tests
“brake fluid warning lamp illuminated”
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 Dorchester through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £56–£139 — and 38% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £56–£139
- Cheapest common item: washers provides insufficient washer liquid
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 38%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 54 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 Dorchester, side by side
8 model years on record, from 2005 to 2014. Across them the pass rate runs from 72.6% to 83.2% — a spread of 10.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2005 75.9%component mounting prescribed…
- 2006 77.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 74.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 72.6% component mounting prescribed…
- 2009 76.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 77.5% rear fog lamp not working
- 2011 77.3% headlamp not working on dipped…
- 2014 83.2% shock absorbers has a serious…
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 Ford Dorchester 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
- Toyota Land Cruiser 76.0%
- BMW 120 76.1%
- BMW 1 Series 76.1%
- Land Rover Discovery 75.7%
- Volkswagen Touareg 75.6%
- BMW Z4 75.5%
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 Ford Dorchester 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 198 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 | 64 | 32.30% | 20.89% | +11.41 |
| Suspension | 39 | 19.70% | 20.98% | −1.28 |
| Tyres | 30 | 15.20% | 19.76% | −4.56 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 19 | 9.60% | 12.21% | −2.61 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 17 | 8.60% | 5.57% | +3.03 |
| Visibility | 10 | 5.10% | 4.97% | +0.13 |
| Non-component advisories | 6 | 3.00% | 4.18% | −1.18 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 6 | 3.00% | 0.82% | +2.18 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 4 | 2.00% | 5.52% | −3.52 |
| Steering | 3 | 1.50% | 2.57% | −1.07 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 7.4% | £180–450 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 7.4% | £5–15 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency less than 50% of the required value Brakes | Major | 5.6% | £45–110 |
| Service brake performance efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 5.6% | £60–150 |
| Brake fluid warning lamp illuminated Brakes | Minor | 3.7% | £3–15 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.7% | £45–110 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.7% | £3–15 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.7% | £5–20 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 3.7% | £80–180 |
| Service brake performance effort inadequate at a wheel Brakes | Major | 3.7% | £60–150 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 33.3% | £80–180 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 31.5% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 18.5% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 18.5% | £18–45 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Advisory | 13.0% | £180–450 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 11.1% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 7 | 85.7% | 45,010 mi |
| 60-90k | 25 | 80.0% | 76,236 mi |
| 90-120k | 19 | 63.2% | 108,777 mi |
| 120k+ | 3 | 100.0% | 127,117 mi |
Source: 54 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 Dorchester MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2005 Ford Dorchester?
75.9% of the 54 2005 Ford Dorchester tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.4% for cars first used in 2005. First-attempt pass rate: 71.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2005 Ford Dorchester?
The three most recorded items are component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (7.41%), washers provides insufficient washer liquid (7.41%), rbt (sp) efficiency less than 50% of the required value (5.56%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2005 Ford Dorchester MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 85.7% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2005 Ford Dorchester in this dataset had covered 85,642 mi.