Pass rate
71.9%
Below average — 1.4 pts behind the 73.3% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 221 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £61–£169
2001 Mazda 626 MOT pass rate
- 2001
- typical 88,395 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
31.4% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £35–£75 for Suspension pin or bush excessively worn. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2002 74.1% pass
- Avoid 2000 70.4% pass
Across the 3 years on record, a spread of 3.7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 64.2%
- Typical mileage
- 88k mi
The 2001 Mazda 626 MOT pass rate is 71.9% of its MOT tests — 1.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 31.4% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.5× the national share
Suspension accounts for 31.4% of everything recorded on the 2001 Mazda 626, against 21.0% nationally — 10.4 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 28% 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.
- Based on a small sample. 221 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 Mazda 626? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2001 Mazda 626 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.3%, so this figure is 1.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 64.2%. The median 2001 Mazda 626 in this dataset had covered 88,395 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 94% of tests, with a 72.6% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 70.9% of the time, April–September 73.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength", noted on 6.79% of tests.
- 221 recorded tests behind this page.
- 71.9% overall pass rate, 64.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mazda 626, the average is 71.9% — best year 2002 (74.1%), worst 2000 (70.4%).
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
- 221
- Typical mileage (median)
- 88,395 mi
- Make and model
- Mazda 626
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
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 626 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 57% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (94% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the 626
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 88 | 75.0% |
| South West | 36 | 66.7% |
| East of England | 20 | 70.0% |
| Scotland | 15 | 73.3% |
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 2001 626
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 626
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 6.8% 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 lights 4.1% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
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 suspension joints 3.2% 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.
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 626 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £61–£169 — and 28% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £61–£169
- Cheapest common item: mirrors slightly damaged
- £3–£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
- 28%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 221 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 626, side by side
3 model years on record, from 2000 to 2002. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.4% to 74.1% — a spread of 3.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 70.4% component mounting prescribed…
- 2001 71.9%component mounting prescribed…
- 2002 74.1% component mounting prescribed…
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 Mazda 626 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
- Honda Civic 72.0%
- Volkswagen Polo 71.8%
- Skoda Octavia 71.8%
- Renault Megane Scenic 71.8%
- Ford Puma 72.1%
- Audi Tt 72.2%
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 Mazda 626 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 694 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 | 219 | 31.40% | 20.98% | +10.42 |
| Brakes | 133 | 19.10% | 20.89% | −1.79 |
| Tyres | 98 | 14.00% | 19.76% | −5.76 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 83 | 11.90% | 5.57% | +6.33 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 63 | 9.00% | 12.21% | −3.21 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 26 | 3.70% | 5.52% | −1.82 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 25 | 3.60% | 1.76% | +1.84 |
| Visibility | 20 | 2.90% | 4.97% | −2.07 |
| Non-component advisories | 17 | 2.40% | 4.18% | −1.78 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 10 | 1.40% | 0.82% | +0.58 |
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 | 6.8% | £180–450 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 5.0% | £80–250 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 4.1% | £45–110 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.1% | £5–20 |
| Mirrors slightly damaged Visibility | Minor | 3.6% | £3–15 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.2% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.3% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.3% | £40–150 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 2.3% | £8–22 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.8% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 22.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 15.8% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 14.9% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 14.5% | £40–150 |
| Suspension arm corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 12.2% | £35–85 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 11.3% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1 | 100.0% | 20,540 mi |
| 30-60k | 32 | 65.6% | 48,878 mi |
| 60-90k | 82 | 73.2% | 73,745 mi |
| 90-120k | 52 | 78.8% | 103,460 mi |
| 120k+ | 54 | 66.7% | 148,066 mi |
Source: 221 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 626 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2001 Mazda 626?
71.9% of the 221 2001 Mazda 626 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.3% for cars first used in 2001. First-attempt pass rate: 64.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2001 Mazda 626?
The three most recorded items are component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (6.79%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (4.98%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (4.07%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2001 Mazda 626 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 66.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2001 Mazda 626 in this dataset had covered 88,395 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2001 Mazda 626?
Petrol: 72.6% pass rate across 208 tests. Diesel: 61.5% pass rate across 13 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2001 Mazda 626 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 70.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 73.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.