Pass rate
94.5%
Above average — 10.5 pts ahead of the 84.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 55 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £41–£95
2016 McLaren 540 MOT pass rate
- 2016
- typical 22,278 mi
Only 55 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
50.0% 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 →
Which year to buy
- Best 2016 94.5% pass · this year
- Avoid 2017 91.5% pass
Across the 2 years on record, a spread of 3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 94.4%
- Typical mileage
- 22k mi
The 2016 McLaren 540 MOT pass rate is 94.5% of its MOT tests — 10.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 50.0% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.5× the national share
Tyres make up 50.0% of everything recorded on the 2016 McLaren 540, against 19.8% nationally — 30.2 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.
- 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 84.0% and this one manages 94.5% — 10.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 20% 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 McLaren 540? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2016 McLaren 540 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 84.0%, so this figure is 10.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 94.4%. The median 2016 McLaren 540 in this dataset had covered 22,278 mi.
The single most recorded failure item is "Has ply or cords exposed", noted on 1.82% of tests.
- 55 recorded tests behind this page.
- 94.5% overall pass rate, 94.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the McLaren 540, the average is 92.3% — best year 2016 (94.5%), worst 2017 (91.5%).
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
- 55
- Typical mileage (median)
- 22,278 mi
- Make and model
- McLaren 540
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Tyres
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the 540 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 84% so small gaps stay visible.
What fails a 2016 540
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 2016 540
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 lights 1.8% of tests
“individual direction indicators light intensity significantly reduced”
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 shock absorbers 1.8% of tests
“shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak”
Press down hard on each corner of the car and let go. It should settle in one bounce; if it keeps rocking, or you can see oil weeping down a shock absorber, that is the fault a tester will find.
-
Check the tyre tread 1.8% of tests
“tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”
Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.
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 2016 540 through its MOT
Across the 5 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £41–£95 — and 20% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 5 common items
- £41–£95
- Cheapest common item: individual direction indicators light…
- £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
- 20%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 55 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 540, side by side
2 model years on record, from 2016 to 2017. Across them the pass rate runs from 91.5% to 94.5% — a spread of 3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2016 94.5%has ply or cords exposed
- 2017 91.5% coil spring fractured or broken
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 2016 McLaren 540 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 2016 cars with a similar record
- Lexus Rx 94.4%
- Porsche Boxster 94.6%
- Porsche Cayman 94.8%
- Jaguar F-Type 93.9%
- Bentley Continental 95.2%
- Porsche 911 95.7%
Closest pass rates among 2016 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 2016 McLaren 540 5 failure items · 3 advisories · 5 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 10 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 | 5 | 50.00% | 19.76% | +30.24 |
| Suspension | 2 | 20.00% | 20.98% | −0.98 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1 | 10.00% | 12.21% | −2.21 |
| Visibility | 1 | 10.00% | 4.97% | +5.03 |
| Non-component advisories | 1 | 10.00% | 4.18% | +5.82 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.8% | £45–95 |
| Individual direction indicators light intensity significantly reduced Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.8% | £3–12 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 1.8% | £30–75 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.8% | £45–95 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.8% | £80–200 |
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 | 5.5% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Items removed from drivers view prior to test Non-component advisories | Advisory | 1.8% | £20–80 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 1.8% | £30–75 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 42 | 92.9% | 19,085 mi |
| 30-60k | 11 | 100.0% | 40,121 mi |
| 60-90k | 2 | 100.0% | 62,802 mi |
Source: 55 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.
2016 540 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2016 McLaren 540?
94.5% of the 55 2016 McLaren 540 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 84.0% for cars first used in 2016. First-attempt pass rate: 94.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2016 McLaren 540?
The three most recorded items are has ply or cords exposed (1.82%), individual direction indicators light intensity significantly reduced (1.82%), shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (1.82%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2016 McLaren 540 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 92.9% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2016 McLaren 540 in this dataset had covered 22,278 mi.