Pass rate
84.3%
Around average — 5.7 pts ahead of the 78.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 83 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £36–£95
2013 MG 3 MOT pass rate
- 2013
- 2 trims combined
- typical 65,787 mi
Only 83 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.
Most common fault
Suspension
33.0% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £40–£65 for Shock absorber leaking. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 92.9% pass
- Avoid 2013 84.3% pass · this year
Across the 5 years on record, a spread of 8.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 81.9%
- Typical mileage
- 66k mi
The 2013 MG 3 MOT pass rate is 84.3% of its MOT tests — 5.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 33.0% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how MG 3 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.6× the national share
Suspension accounts for 33.0% of everything recorded on the 2013 MG 3, against 21.0% nationally — 12.0 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.
- 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 78.6% and this one manages 84.3% — 5.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 30% 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 MG 3? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every MG 3 first registered in 2013 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2013 MG 3 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 78.6%, so this figure is 5.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 81.9%. The median 2013 MG 3 in this dataset had covered 65,787 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 89.4% of the time, April–September 77.8%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded", noted on 4.82% of tests.
- 83 recorded tests behind this page.
- 84.3% overall pass rate, 81.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the MG 3, the average is 91.2% — best year 2023 (92.9%), worst 2013 (84.3%).
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
- 83
- Typical mileage (median)
- 65,787 mi
- Make and model
- MG 3
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Brake Pipe
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the 3 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 58% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the 3
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 29 | 86.2% |
| East of England | 22 | 86.4% |
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 2013 3
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 2013 3
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 brake pipes 4.8% of tests
“rigid brake pipes excessively corroded”
Brake pipes run under the car, usually in front of the rear wheels. Flaking or crusty metal is what fails; a light dusting of surface rust does not. Worth asking a garage to look while it is on a ramp.
-
Check the suspension joints 3.6% of tests
“ball joint excessively worn”
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 3.6% 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.
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 2013 3 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £36–£95 — and 30% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £36–£95
- Cheapest common item: srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot split or…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 30%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 83 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 3, side by side
5 model years on record, from 2013 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 84.3% to 92.9% — a spread of 8.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2013 84.3%rigid brake pipes excessively…
- 2020 90.1% headlamp aim too low
- 2021 91.3% headlamp aim too low
- 2022 91.9% headlamp aim too low
- 2023 92.9% headlamp aim too low
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 2013 MG 3 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 2013 cars with a similar record
- Land Rover Range Rover 84.3%
- BMW 4 Series 84.2%
- BMW X6 84.4%
- Honda Civic 84.5%
- BMW X5 84.1%
- MINI COOPER 84.6%
Closest pass rates among 2013 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 2013 MG 3 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 175 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 | 58 | 33.00% | 20.98% | +12.02 |
| Brakes | 48 | 27.30% | 20.89% | +6.41 |
| Tyres | 27 | 15.30% | 19.76% | −4.46 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 11 | 6.20% | 12.21% | −6.01 |
| Non-component advisories | 10 | 5.70% | 4.18% | +1.52 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 9 | 5.10% | 5.57% | −0.47 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 5 | 2.80% | 5.52% | −2.72 |
| Visibility | 3 | 1.70% | 4.97% | −3.27 |
| Steering | 2 | 1.10% | 2.57% | −1.47 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 2 | 1.10% | 0.82% | +0.28 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 4.8% | £80–180 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.6% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.6% | £5–25 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.4% | £80–250 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.4% | £5–25 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 2.4% | £30–75 |
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 2.4% | £3–12 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 2.4% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.4% | £80–200 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Rectified | 1.2% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 22.9% | £80–180 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 20.5% | £45–95 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 15.7% | £180–450 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 12.1% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.8% | £45–110 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 10.8% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 12 | 100.0% | 20,353 mi |
| 30-60k | 24 | 95.8% | 40,279 mi |
| 60-90k | 34 | 73.5% | 74,713 mi |
| 90-120k | 10 | 80.0% | 101,064 mi |
| 120k+ | 3 | 66.7% | 126,088 mi |
Source: 83 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.
2013 3 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2013 MG 3?
84.3% of the 83 2013 MG 3 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 78.6% for cars first used in 2013. First-attempt pass rate: 81.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2013 MG 3?
The three most recorded items are rigid brake pipes excessively corroded (4.82%), ball joint excessively worn (3.61%), headlamp lens slightly defective (3.61%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2013 MG 3 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 2013 MG 3 in this dataset had covered 65,787 mi.
Does the season affect the 2013 MG 3 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 89.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 77.8%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.