Pass rate
92.2%
Above average — 1.5 pts ahead of the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 179 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £11–£31
2020 MG Mg MOT pass rate
- 2020
- 2 trims combined
- typical 78,917 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
43.2% 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 2021 92.2% pass
- Avoid 2022 84.8% pass
Across the 3 years on record, a spread of 7.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 91.7%
- Typical mileage
- 79k mi
The 2020 MG Mg MOT pass rate is 92.2% of its MOT tests — 1.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 43.2% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 3.2× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 39.2% of everything recorded on the 2020 MG MG, against 12.2% nationally — 27.0 points above. Tyres are still the single largest share at 43.2%, but at 19.8% 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.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 81% of the repairs this model fails on cost under £30 in parts. The pass rate matters less than what a bad afternoon at the test centre actually costs you.
- Based on a small sample. 179 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 MG Mg? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every MG Mg first registered in 2020 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2020 MG Mg compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 1.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 91.7%. The median 2020 MG Mg in this dataset had covered 78,917 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 93.5% of the time, April–September 90.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 6.15% of tests.
- 179 recorded tests behind this page.
- 92.2% overall pass rate, 91.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the MG Mg, the average is 91.5% — best year 2021 (92.2%), worst 2022 (84.8%).
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
- 179
- Typical mileage (median)
- 78,917 mi
- Make and model
- MG Mg
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Mg MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 77% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the MG Mg is most common
Across all Mg model years on record (2020–2022): 775 MG Mg cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 2,206 tests. London (NW) has the most, with 82 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 | London (NW) | 82 | 88.0% |
| 2 | London (E) | 68 | 92.6% |
| 3 | London (SE) | 59 | 85.6% |
| 4 | London (W) | 44 | 97.8% |
| 5 | Wembley (HA) | 35 | 93.4% |
| 6 | Croydon (CR) | 32 | 92.3% |
| 7 | Hayes (UB) | 30 | 94.8% |
| 8 | London (N) | 29 | 95.7% |
| 9 | London (SW) | 25 | 96.1% |
| 10 | Hounslow (TW) | 24 | 92.3% |
| 11 | Romford (RM) | 18 | 97.0% |
| 12 | Birmingham (B) | 18 | 86.7% |
| 13 | Ilford (IG) | 18 | 90.0% |
| 14 | Dartford (DA) | 14 | 87.5% |
| 15 | Sutton (SM) | 12 | 100.0% |
| 16 | Chester (CH) | 12 | 93.5% |
| 17 | Liverpool (L) | 12 | — |
| 18 | High Wycombe (HP) | 11 | 77.8% |
| 19 | Edinburgh (EH) | 10 | 80.0% |
| 20 | Bromley (BR) | 9 | — |
The twenty areas with the most MG Mg 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 Mg
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| London | 83 | 92.8% |
| South East | 48 | 91.7% |
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 2020 Mg
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 2020 Mg
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 6.2% 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 tyre tread 2.2% 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 2020 Mg through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £11–£31 — and 81% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £11–£31
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm
- £45–£95
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 81%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 179 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 Mg, side by side
3 model years on record, from 2020 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 84.8% to 92.2% — a spread of 7.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2020 92.2%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2021 92.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2022 84.8% shock absorbers has a serious…
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 2020 MG Mg 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 2020 cars with a similar record
- Jeep Renegade 92.2%
- MINI COOPER 92.3%
- Fiat Panda 92.3%
- Volkswagen Polo 92.1%
- Volvo XC40 92.1%
- Toyota Prius 92.1%
Closest pass rates among 2020 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 2020 MG Mg 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 9 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 125 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 | 54 | 43.20% | 19.76% | +23.44 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 49 | 39.20% | 12.21% | +26.99 |
| Suspension | 9 | 7.20% | 20.98% | −13.78 |
| Brakes | 5 | 4.00% | 20.89% | −16.89 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2 | 1.60% | 5.52% | −3.92 |
| Visibility | 2 | 1.60% | 4.97% | −3.37 |
| Non-component advisories | 2 | 1.60% | 4.18% | −2.58 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1 | 0.80% | 5.57% | −4.77 |
| Steering | 1 | 0.80% | 2.57% | −1.77 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.2% | £5–20 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 3.9% | £3–12 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 2.8% | £5–20 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.2% | £3–12 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 2.2% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.7% | £5–25 |
| Rear reflectors defective or damaged by up to 50% of the reflecting surface Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.7% | £5–25 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.1% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.1% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.1% | £5–25 |
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 | 16.8% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres | Advisory | 3.9% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 2.8% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 2.8% | £40–150 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 2.2% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 1.7% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 5 | 100.0% | 23,138 mi |
| 30-60k | 45 | 93.3% | 48,256 mi |
| 60-90k | 57 | 93.0% | 73,975 mi |
| 90-120k | 38 | 94.7% | 105,255 mi |
| 120k+ | 34 | 85.3% | 154,289 mi |
Source: 179 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.
2020 Mg MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 MG Mg?
92.2% of the 179 2020 MG Mg tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 91.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 MG Mg?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (6.15%), stop lamp not working (3.91%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps (2.79%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2020 MG Mg MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 85.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 MG Mg in this dataset had covered 78,917 mi.
Does the season affect the 2020 MG Mg MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 93.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 90.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.