Pass rate
88.5%
Above average — 15.4 pts ahead of the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 924 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £40–£108
2008 Honda S2000 MOT pass rate
- 2008
- typical 56,001 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
24.2% 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 91.6% pass
- Avoid 2003 83.5% pass
Across the 10 years on record, a spread of 8.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 87.4%
- Typical mileage
- 56k mi
The 2008 Honda S2000 MOT pass rate is 88.5% of its MOT tests — 15.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.2% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Visibility: 2.1× the national share
Visibility accounts for 10.2% of everything recorded on the 2008 Honda S2000, against 5.0% nationally — 5.2 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 24.2%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Wipers, washers and a chip in the driver’s eyeline are the three quickest ways to fail a test that the car otherwise deserves to pass.
- 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 73.1% and this one manages 88.5% — 15.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 25% 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 Honda S2000? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2008 Honda S2000 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 15.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 87.4%. The median 2008 Honda S2000 in this dataset had covered 56,001 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 88.5% of the time, April–September 88.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 3.90% of tests.
- 924 recorded tests behind this page.
- 88.5% overall pass rate, 87.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Honda S2000, the average is 86.3% — best year 2009 (91.6%), worst 2003 (83.5%).
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
- 924
- Typical mileage (median)
- 56,001 mi
- Make and model
- Honda S2000
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
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 S2000 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 68% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Honda S2000 is most common
Across all S2000 model years on record (2000–2009): 6,906 Honda S2000 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 16,024 tests. Guildford (GU) has the most, with 237 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 | Guildford (GU) | 237 | 88.2% |
| 2 | Birmingham (B) | 171 | 89.6% |
| 3 | Reading (RG) | 157 | 85.0% |
| 4 | Peterborough (PE) | 134 | 85.0% |
| 5 | Coventry (CV) | 134 | 85.9% |
| 6 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 134 | 89.7% |
| 7 | Ashford (TN) | 133 | 84.6% |
| 8 | Sheffield (S) | 128 | 89.0% |
| 9 | Bristol (BS) | 126 | 86.2% |
| 10 | Southampton (SO) | 120 | 87.8% |
| 11 | Leicester (LE) | 119 | 85.8% |
| 12 | Northampton (NN) | 115 | 86.0% |
| 13 | Crawley (RH) | 114 | 87.1% |
| 14 | High Wycombe (HP) | 114 | 86.2% |
| 15 | Nottingham (NG) | 112 | 88.7% |
| 16 | Gloucester (GL) | 110 | 87.7% |
| 17 | Oxford (OX) | 107 | 86.8% |
| 18 | Portsmouth (PO) | 105 | 84.9% |
| 19 | Poole (BH) | 104 | 85.5% |
| 20 | Norwich (NR) | 100 | 91.0% |
The twenty areas with the most Honda S2000 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 S2000
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 234 | 88.9% |
| South West | 118 | 86.4% |
| North West | 103 | 85.4% |
| West Midlands | 97 | 90.7% |
| Scotland | 85 | 84.7% |
| East of England | 84 | 92.9% |
| Yorkshire | 69 | 91.3% |
| East Midlands | 64 | 95.3% |
| North East | 30 | 83.3% |
| Wales | 24 | 83.3% |
| London | 16 | 81.3% |
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 S2000
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 S2000
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 3.9% 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 1.8% 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 the lights 1.6% 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.
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 S2000 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £40–£108 — and 25% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £40–£108
- Cheapest common item: washers not working
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 25%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 924 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 S2000, side by side
10 model years on record, from 2000 to 2009. Across them the pass rate runs from 83.5% to 91.6% — a spread of 8.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 83.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2001 84.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2002 84.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2003 83.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2004 86.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2005 87.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2006 87.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2007 87.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 88.5%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 91.6% windscreen damaged but not…
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 Honda S2000 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
- Porsche Boxster 89.4%
- BMW M3 90.0%
- Audi A8 87.0%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 86.7%
- Porsche 911 91.0%
- Bentley Continental 91.4%
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 Honda S2000 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 804 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 | 195 | 24.20% | 20.89% | +3.31 |
| Suspension | 180 | 22.30% | 20.98% | +1.32 |
| Tyres | 153 | 19.00% | 19.76% | −0.76 |
| Visibility | 82 | 10.20% | 4.97% | +5.23 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 66 | 8.20% | 12.21% | −4.01 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 46 | 5.70% | 5.52% | +0.18 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 30 | 3.70% | 5.57% | −1.87 |
| Non-component advisories | 28 | 3.50% | 4.18% | −0.68 |
| Steering | 13 | 1.60% | 2.57% | −0.97 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 11 | 1.40% | 1.76% | −0.36 |
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 | 3.9% | £80–200 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 1.8% | £18–45 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 1.7% | £60–150 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.6% | £5–25 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.2% | £5–20 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.1% | £60–250 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 1.1% | £18–45 |
| Washers not working Visibility | Major | 1.1% | £5–15 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 0.87% | £45–95 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 0.87% | £18–45 |
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 | 6.9% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 5.7% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 3.9% | £80–180 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 3.7% | £25–65 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Advisory | 3.0% | £60–150 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 2.8% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 143 | 93.7% | 21,689 mi |
| 30-60k | 363 | 90.1% | 45,987 mi |
| 60-90k | 256 | 85.9% | 72,305 mi |
| 90-120k | 124 | 87.1% | 105,452 mi |
| 120k+ | 38 | 76.3% | 144,338 mi |
Source: 924 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 S2000 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 Honda S2000?
88.5% of the 924 2008 Honda S2000 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 87.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 Honda S2000?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.90%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (1.84%), service brake performance excessively binding (1.73%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 Honda S2000 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 93.7% of the time, falling to 76.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Honda S2000 in this dataset had covered 56,001 mi.
Does the season affect the 2008 Honda S2000 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 88.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 88.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.