Pass rate
69.7%
Below average — 2.5 pts behind the 72.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 122 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £41–£104
2004 Mazda E Series MOT pass rate
- 2004
- typical 123,288 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
25.1% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2018 84.5% pass
- Avoid 2012 63.9% pass
Across the 12 years on record, a spread of 20.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 59.8%
- Typical mileage
- 123k mi
The 2004 Mazda E Series MOT pass rate is 69.7% of its MOT tests — 2.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.1% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mazda E Series does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 1.4× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 17.4% of everything recorded on the 2004 Mazda E Series, against 12.2% nationally — 5.2 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 25.1%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Walk round the car with the lights on before the test: bulbs, indicators and number-plate lamps are the cheapest failures to prevent and among the most common.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 33% 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. 122 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 E Series? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2004 Mazda E Series compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.2%, so this figure is 2.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 59.8%. The median 2004 Mazda E Series in this dataset had covered 123,288 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 64.2% of the time, April–September 73.9%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 9.84% of tests.
- 122 recorded tests behind this page.
- 69.7% overall pass rate, 59.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mazda E Series, the average is 72.7% — best year 2018 (84.5%), worst 2012 (63.9%).
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
- 122
- Typical mileage (median)
- 123,288 mi
- Make and model
- Mazda E Series
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
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 E Series MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 49% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the E Series
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 66 | 65.2% |
| South East | 21 | 81.0% |
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 2004 E Series
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 2004 E Series
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 9.8% 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 7.4% 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.
-
Check the wipers and washers 6.6% 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 2004 E Series through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £41–£104 — and 33% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £41–£104
- Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp not working
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 33%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 122 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 E Series, side by side
12 model years on record, from 2000 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 63.9% to 84.5% — a spread of 20.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 72.1% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2001 70.9% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2002 74.6% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2003 75.4% rear fog lamp not working
- 2004 69.7%ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2011 64.1% component mounting prescribed…
- 2012 63.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 66.4% component mounting prescribed…
- 2014 75.1% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2015 73.6% component mounting prescribed…
- 2017 74.1% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2018 84.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
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 2004 Mazda E Series 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 2004 cars with a similar record
- Land Rover Freelander 69.7%
- Vauxhall Vectra 69.7%
- Citroen Xsara 69.5%
- Volvo V50 69.5%
- Honda Cr-V 70.0%
- Ford Mondeo 70.1%
Closest pass rates among 2004 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 2004 Mazda E Series 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 371 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 | 94 | 25.10% | 20.98% | +4.12 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 65 | 17.40% | 12.21% | +5.19 |
| Brakes | 56 | 15.00% | 20.89% | −5.89 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 39 | 10.40% | 5.57% | +4.83 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 38 | 10.20% | 5.52% | +4.68 |
| Tyres | 35 | 9.40% | 19.76% | −10.36 |
| Steering | 15 | 4.00% | 2.57% | +1.43 |
| Visibility | 13 | 3.50% | 4.97% | −1.47 |
| Non-component advisories | 11 | 2.90% | 4.18% | −1.28 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 5 | 1.30% | 1.76% | −0.46 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 9.8% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 7.4% | £5–25 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 6.6% | £8–22 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 5.7% | £18–45 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 4.9% | £180–450 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 4.9% | £18–45 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 4.1% | £18–45 |
| Integral vehicle structure condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Major | 4.1% | £180–450 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.1% | £3–15 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.3% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 18.9% | £200–700 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Advisory | 10.7% | £180–450 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 10.7% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 10.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 9.8% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 8.2% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 5 | 60.0% | 50,490 mi |
| 60-90k | 26 | 80.8% | 77,031 mi |
| 90-120k | 21 | 57.1% | 100,928 mi |
| 120k+ | 70 | 70.0% | 170,448 mi |
Source: 122 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.
2004 E Series MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2004 Mazda E Series?
69.7% of the 122 2004 Mazda E Series tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.2% for cars first used in 2004. First-attempt pass rate: 59.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2004 Mazda E Series?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (9.84%), headlamp lens slightly defective (7.38%), wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively (6.56%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2004 Mazda E Series MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 60.0% of the time, falling to 70.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2004 Mazda E Series in this dataset had covered 123,288 mi.
Does the season affect the 2004 Mazda E Series MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 64.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 73.9%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.