Pass rate
80.9%
Around average — 8.0 pts ahead of the 72.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 131 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £27–£85
2002 Lexus GS430 MOT pass rate
- 2002
- typical 111,964 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
26.5% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2001 85.9% pass
- Avoid 2002 80.9% pass · this year
Across the 4 years on record, a spread of 5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 77.7%
- Typical mileage
- 112k mi
The 2002 Lexus GS430 MOT pass rate is 80.9% of its MOT tests — 8.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.5% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.2× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 12.0% of everything recorded on the 2002 Lexus Gs430, against 5.5% nationally — 6.5 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 26.5%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
- 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 72.9% and this one manages 80.9% — 8.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Based on a small sample. 131 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 Lexus GS430? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2002 Lexus GS430 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.9%, so this figure is 8.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 77.7%. The median 2002 Lexus GS430 in this dataset had covered 111,964 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 79.3% of the time, April–September 84.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 4.58% of tests.
- 131 recorded tests behind this page.
- 80.9% overall pass rate, 77.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Lexus GS430, the average is 84.3% — best year 2001 (85.9%), worst 2002 (80.9%).
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
- 131
- Typical mileage (median)
- 111,964 mi
- Make and model
- Lexus GS430
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the GS430 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the GS430
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 30 | 66.7% |
| South East | 22 | 90.9% |
| Yorkshire | 15 | 66.7% |
| East of England | 15 | 93.3% |
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 2002 GS430
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 2002 GS430
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 suspension joints 4.6% 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 4.6% of tests
“malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction”
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 windscreen 4.6% 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.
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 2002 GS430 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £27–£85 — and 42% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £27–£85
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- 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
- 42%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 131 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 GS430, side by side
4 model years on record, from 2001 to 2005. Across them the pass rate runs from 80.9% to 85.9% — a spread of 5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2001 85.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 80.9%ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2003 84.7% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2005 84.4% 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 2002 Lexus GS430 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 2002 cars with a similar record
- BMW Z3 80.7%
- Mercedes-Benz Slk 81.2%
- Subaru Impreza 80.5%
- Porsche Boxster 80.3%
- Jaguar XK8 79.8%
- Land Rover Range Rover 77.4%
Closest pass rates among 2002 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 2002 Lexus GS430 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 291 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 | 77 | 26.50% | 20.98% | +5.52 |
| Brakes | 51 | 17.50% | 20.89% | −3.39 |
| Tyres | 37 | 12.70% | 19.76% | −7.06 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 35 | 12.00% | 5.52% | +6.48 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 33 | 11.30% | 12.21% | −0.91 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 23 | 7.90% | 5.57% | +2.33 |
| Visibility | 12 | 4.10% | 4.97% | −0.87 |
| Steering | 9 | 3.10% | 2.57% | +0.53 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 8 | 2.70% | 1.76% | +0.94 |
| Non-component advisories | 6 | 2.10% | 4.18% | −2.08 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 4.6% | £18–45 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 4.6% | £3–12 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.6% | £80–200 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 3.0% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp lens seriously defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.0% | £5–25 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.0% | £5–25 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.0% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.3% | £18–45 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.3% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.3% | £60–250 |
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 | 19.1% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 14.5% | £40–150 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 13.7% | £18–45 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 7.6% | £180–450 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.1% | £45–110 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 6.1% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 10 | 100.0% | 39,771 mi |
| 60-90k | 23 | 82.6% | 77,210 mi |
| 90-120k | 41 | 82.9% | 105,039 mi |
| 120k+ | 57 | 75.4% | 155,386 mi |
Source: 131 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.
2002 GS430 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2002 Lexus GS430?
80.9% of the 131 2002 Lexus GS430 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.9% for cars first used in 2002. First-attempt pass rate: 77.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2002 Lexus GS430?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (4.58%), malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction (4.58%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (4.58%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2002 Lexus GS430 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 75.4% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2002 Lexus GS430 in this dataset had covered 111,964 mi.
Does the season affect the 2002 Lexus GS430 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 79.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 84.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.