Pass rate
95.5%
Above average — 22.2 pts ahead of the 73.3% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 110 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £47–£175
2001 Lotus Exige MOT pass rate
- 2001
- typical 32,460 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
26.8% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 97.7% pass
- Avoid 2004 87.3% pass
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 10.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 95.4%
- Typical mileage
- 32k mi
The 2001 Lotus Exige MOT pass rate is 95.5% of its MOT tests — 22.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.8% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 4.4× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 24.4% of everything recorded on the 2001 Lotus Exige, against 5.5% nationally — 18.9 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 26.8%, but at 20.9% 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 73.3% and this one manages 95.5% — 22.2 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 Lotus Exige? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2001 Lotus Exige compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.3%, so this figure is 22.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 95.4%. The median 2001 Lotus Exige in this dataset had covered 32,460 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 97.7% of the time, April–September 93.9%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits", noted on 2.73% of tests.
- 110 recorded tests behind this page.
- 95.5% overall pass rate, 95.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Lotus Exige, the average is 92.9% — best year 2021 (97.7%), worst 2004 (87.3%).
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
- 110
- Typical mileage (median)
- 32,460 mi
- Make and model
- Lotus Exige
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Emissions Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Exige MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 87% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Lotus Exige is most common
Across all Exige model years on record (2000–2021): 2,164 Lotus Exige cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 4,001 tests. Guildford (GU) has the most, with 201 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) | 201 | 88.2% |
| 2 | Northampton (NN) | 107 | 88.5% |
| 3 | Nottingham (NG) | 68 | 89.6% |
| 4 | Edinburgh (EH) | 59 | 91.4% |
| 5 | Ashford (TN) | 58 | 89.4% |
| 6 | Chelmsford (CM) | 58 | 97.8% |
| 7 | Wakefield (WF) | 57 | 98.5% |
| 8 | Norwich (NR) | 56 | 93.0% |
| 9 | Reading (RG) | 54 | 96.8% |
| 10 | Crewe (CW) | 51 | 95.2% |
| 11 | Harrogate (HG) | 50 | 96.6% |
| 12 | Ipswich (IP) | 49 | 92.4% |
| 13 | Derby (DE) | 43 | 94.1% |
| 14 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 43 | 91.2% |
| 15 | Coventry (CV) | 42 | 93.3% |
| 16 | Southampton (SO) | 40 | 96.0% |
| 17 | Leicester (LE) | 39 | 98.4% |
| 18 | Birmingham (B) | 38 | 96.0% |
| 19 | Bristol (BS) | 37 | 91.2% |
| 20 | Gloucester (GL) | 36 | 91.9% |
The twenty areas with the most Lotus Exige 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 Exige
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 39 | 97.4% |
| East Midlands | 19 | 94.7% |
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 2001 Exige
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 2001 Exige
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 exhaust and emissions 2.7% of tests
“catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits”
Listen for a blow at idle and have someone rev it gently. Then look at the tailpipe smoke: blue is oil, white when warm is coolant, black is over-fuelling. Any of those and the emissions test is the least of it.
-
Check the horn 1.8% of tests
“horn not working”
Press it. That is the whole check, and a surprising number of cars fail on it.
-
Check the wipers and washers 1.8% of tests
“wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively”
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.
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 2001 Exige through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £47–£175 — and 25% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £47–£175
- Cheapest common item: wipers does not clear the windscreen…
- £8–£22
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 20%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 25%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 110 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 Exige, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2000 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 87.3% to 97.7% — a spread of 10.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 89.2% position lamp not working
- 2001 95.5%catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2004 87.3% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2005 89.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 90.3% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2007 91.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 91.6% registration plates does not…
- 2009 95.5% anti-lock braking system warning…
- 2010 93.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 93.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 94.3% wipers blade defective
- 2015 93.2% individual direction indicators…
- 2016 94.2% headlamp aim too low
- 2017 93.3% headlamp aim too low
- 2018 94.7% registration plates does not…
- 2019 93.8% headlamp aim too low
- 2020 93.9% headlamp aim too high
- 2021 97.7% has a cut in excess of the…
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 2001 Lotus Exige 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 2001 cars with a similar record
- Porsche 911 86.3%
- Jaguar XK8 80.6%
- Porsche Boxster 80.5%
- Mercedes-Benz Slk 80.3%
- BMW Z3 79.5%
- Subaru Impreza 79.3%
Closest pass rates among 2001 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 2001 Lotus Exige 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 8 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 41 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 | 11 | 26.80% | 20.89% | +5.91 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 10 | 24.40% | 5.52% | +18.88 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 6 | 14.60% | 12.21% | +2.39 |
| Tyres | 4 | 9.80% | 19.76% | −9.96 |
| Visibility | 4 | 9.80% | 4.97% | +4.83 |
| Suspension | 2 | 4.90% | 20.98% | −16.08 |
| Non-component advisories | 2 | 4.90% | 4.18% | +0.72 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2 | 4.90% | 1.76% | +3.14 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.7% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.8% | £60–250 |
| Horn not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.8% | £8–25 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 1.8% | £60–150 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.8% | £8–22 |
| Brake performance not tested unable to be tested Brakes | Major | 0.91% | £60–150 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.91% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.91% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.91% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.91% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 2.7% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 2.7% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 1.8% | £120–300 |
| Anti-roll bar corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 0.91% | £12–30 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 0.91% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 0.91% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 45 | 95.6% | 20,559 mi |
| 30-60k | 48 | 95.8% | 42,461 mi |
| 60-90k | 13 | 100.0% | 75,590 mi |
| 90-120k | 3 | 100.0% | 114,173 mi |
Source: 110 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.
2001 Exige MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2001 Lotus Exige?
95.5% of the 110 2001 Lotus Exige tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.3% for cars first used in 2001. First-attempt pass rate: 95.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2001 Lotus Exige?
The three most recorded items are catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (2.73%), catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits (1.82%), horn not working (1.82%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2001 Lotus Exige MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 95.6% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2001 Lotus Exige in this dataset had covered 32,460 mi.
Does the season affect the 2001 Lotus Exige MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 97.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 93.9%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.