Pass rate
93.9%
Above average — 2.7 pts ahead of the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 5,440 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £46–£113
2021 Land Rover Defender MOT pass rate
- 2021
- 3 trims combined
- typical 32,332 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
42.3% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Part only £55–£85 for Tread depth below 1.6 mm. What fitting it takes →
2.4 pts up across model years — 1.1% in 2000, 3.5% in 2021.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 100.0% pass
- Avoid 2000 74.7% pass
Across the 22 years on record, a spread of 25.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 93.6%
- Typical mileage
- 32k mi
The 2021 Land Rover Defender MOT pass rate is 93.9% of its MOT tests — 2.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 42.3% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Land Rover Defender does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.1× the national share
Tyres make up 42.3% of everything recorded on the 2021 Land Rover Defender, against 19.8% nationally — 22.5 points above. Check all four tyres yourself, including the inner shoulders, and look at the date stamp — a tyre can pass on tread and still be six years old.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 29% 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 Land Rover Defender? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Land Rover Defender first registered in 2021 is combined here — 3 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2021 Land Rover Defender compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 2.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 93.6%. The median 2021 Land Rover Defender in this dataset had covered 32,332 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 86% of tests, with a 93.8% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 94.5% of the time, April–September 93.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 3.31% of tests.
- 5,440 recorded tests behind this page.
- 93.9% overall pass rate, 93.6% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Land Rover Defender, the average is 80.3% — best year 2023 (100.0%), worst 2000 (74.7%).
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
- 5,440
- Typical mileage (median)
- 32,332 mi
- Make and model
- Land Rover Defender
- 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 Defender MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (86% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Defender
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,094 | 93.1% |
| North West | 700 | 94.1% |
| East of England | 598 | 94.6% |
| Yorkshire | 587 | 95.1% |
| Scotland | 490 | 93.5% |
| West Midlands | 489 | 95.9% |
| South West | 489 | 92.6% |
| East Midlands | 338 | 93.2% |
| North East | 227 | 96.0% |
| London | 227 | 93.0% |
| Wales | 201 | 90.5% |
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 2021 Defender
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 2021 Defender
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 3.3% 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 wipers and washers 0.6% of tests
“wipers blade defective”
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 0.5% of tests
“position lamp not working”
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 2021 Defender through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £46–£113 — and 29% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £46–£113
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 29%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 5,440 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 Defender, side by side
22 model years on record, from 2000 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 74.7% to 100.0% — a spread of 25.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 74.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2001 75.0% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2002 75.8% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2003 75.7% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2004 76.2% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2005 76.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2006 76.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2007 77.3% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2008 78.6% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2009 77.9% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2010 78.9% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2011 79.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 81.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 82.8% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2014 85.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 87.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 90.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 85.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 92.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 93.9%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2022 94.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2023 100.0% window excessively tinted 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 2021 Land Rover Defender 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 2021 cars with a similar record
- Citroen C1 93.9%
- Hyundai Tucson N 93.9%
- Toyota Aygo 94.0%
- Jaguar I-Pace 94.0%
- Toyota Corolla Gr 94.0%
- Volvo XC40 R-Design T4 94.0%
Closest pass rates among 2021 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 2021 Land Rover Defender 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 2,426 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 1,040 | 42.30% | 19.76% | +22.54 |
| Brakes | 570 | 23.20% | 20.89% | +2.31 |
| Visibility | 260 | 10.60% | 4.97% | +5.63 |
| Non-component advisories | 219 | 8.90% | 4.18% | +4.72 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 128 | 5.20% | 12.21% | −7.01 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 54 | 2.20% | 5.52% | −3.32 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 49 | 2.00% | 1.76% | +0.24 |
| Suspension | 47 | 1.90% | 20.98% | −19.08 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 36 | 1.50% | 0.82% | +0.68 |
| Road Wheels | 23 | 0.90% | 0.75% | +0.15 |
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 | 3.3% | £80–200 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.5% | £45–95 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.61% | £8–22 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.53% | £5–25 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.48% | £3–12 |
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 0.46% | £3–12 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.46% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.39% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.37% | £30–80 |
| Daytime running lamps not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.35% | £3–15 |
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 | 10.1% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 5.0% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 3.9% | £45–110 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 2.4% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 1.9% | £20–80 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 1.6% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 2,330 | 96.3% | 21,092 mi |
| 30-60k | 2,719 | 92.4% | 41,094 mi |
| 60-90k | 344 | 90.4% | 69,564 mi |
| 90-120k | 37 | 91.9% | 96,042 mi |
| 120k+ | 8 | 75.0% | 168,316 mi |
Source: 5,440 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.
2021 Defender MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 Land Rover Defender?
93.9% of the 5,440 2021 Land Rover Defender tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 93.6%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 Land Rover Defender?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.31%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.53%), wipers blade defective (0.61%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 Land Rover Defender MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 96.3% of the time, falling to 75.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 Land Rover Defender in this dataset had covered 32,332 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2021 Land Rover Defender?
Diesel: 93.8% pass rate across 4,697 tests. Petrol: 94.7% pass rate across 700 tests. Hybrid: 100.0% pass rate across 22 tests. Other: 90.5% pass rate across 21 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2021 Land Rover Defender MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 94.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 93.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.