Pass rate
76.8%
Around average — 3.5 pts ahead of the 73.3% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 5,839 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £65–£180
2001 MG Mgf MOT pass rate
- 2001
- 2 trims combined
- typical 61,780 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
26.7% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2003 80.3% pass
- Avoid 2000 75.0% pass
Across the 4 years on record, a spread of 5.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 72.3%
- Typical mileage
- 62k mi
The 2001 MG Mgf MOT pass rate is 76.8% of its MOT tests — 3.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.7% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.3× the national share
Suspension accounts for 26.7% of everything recorded on the 2001 MG Mgf, against 21.0% nationally — 5.7 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 73.3% and this one manages 76.8% — 3.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 9% 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 Mgf? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every MG Mgf first registered in 2001 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2001 MG Mgf compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.3%, so this figure is 3.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 72.3%. The median 2001 MG Mgf in this dataset had covered 61,780 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 76.0% of the time, April–September 77.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements", noted on 3.84% of tests.
- 5,839 recorded tests behind this page.
- 76.8% overall pass rate, 72.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the MG Mgf, the average is 76.1% — best year 2003 (80.3%), worst 2000 (75.0%).
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
- 5,839
- Typical mileage (median)
- 61,780 mi
- Make and model
- MG Mgf
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Brake Discs and Pads Set
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Mgf MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 56% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the MG Mgf is most common
Across all Mgf model years on record (2000–2003): 4,191 MG Mgf cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 9,884 tests. Peterborough (PE) has the most, with 164 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 | Peterborough (PE) | 164 | 77.6% |
| 2 | Derby (DE) | 131 | 80.9% |
| 3 | Birmingham (B) | 122 | 78.7% |
| 4 | Nottingham (NG) | 98 | 79.3% |
| 5 | Coventry (CV) | 91 | 74.4% |
| 6 | Sheffield (S) | 83 | 79.8% |
| 7 | Gloucester (GL) | 83 | 75.8% |
| 8 | Norwich (NR) | 82 | 74.8% |
| 9 | Ashford (TN) | 82 | 82.0% |
| 10 | Portsmouth (PO) | 74 | 69.7% |
| 11 | Oxford (OX) | 74 | 71.4% |
| 12 | Southampton (SO) | 71 | 75.9% |
| 13 | Cambridge (CB) | 71 | 81.9% |
| 14 | Leicester (LE) | 71 | 72.1% |
| 15 | Guildford (GU) | 69 | 77.2% |
| 16 | Reading (RG) | 65 | 78.2% |
| 17 | Bristol (BS) | 64 | 69.3% |
| 18 | Yeovil (BA) | 64 | 75.3% |
| 19 | Chelmsford (CM) | 64 | 79.9% |
| 20 | Exeter (EX) | 62 | 67.4% |
The twenty areas with the most MG Mgf 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 Mgf
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,168 | 78.2% |
| East of England | 892 | 78.7% |
| South West | 815 | 73.0% |
| West Midlands | 764 | 76.4% |
| East Midlands | 543 | 77.3% |
| Yorkshire | 506 | 77.7% |
| North West | 476 | 77.9% |
| Scotland | 233 | 73.0% |
| Wales | 222 | 75.2% |
| North East | 146 | 77.4% |
| London | 74 | 75.7% |
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 2001 Mgf
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 Mgf
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 2.2% 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 exhaust and emissions 2.0% of tests
“catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits”
Listen for a blow at idle and have someone rev it gently. Then look at the tailpipe smoke: blue is oil, white when warm is coolant, black is over-fuelling. Any of those and the emissions test is the least of it.
-
Check the battery 1.8% of tests
“battery(ies) insecure”
Check the battery is secure and its terminals are clean and tight — a loose battery is a fail on its own, and a weak one shows up as slow cranking on a cold morning.
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 Mgf through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £65–£180 — and 9% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £65–£180
- Cheapest common item: wipers does not clear the windscreen…
- £8–£22
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 9%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 5,839 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 Mgf, side by side
4 model years on record, from 2000 to 2003. Across them the pass rate runs from 75.0% to 80.3% — a spread of 5.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 75.0% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2001 76.8%rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2002 75.3% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2003 80.3% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
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 MG Mgf 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
- BMW 3 Series 76.7%
- Toyota Corolla 76.7%
- BMW 530 76.9%
- Lexus IS200 77.6%
- Saab 9-3 75.8%
- Toyota RAV4 75.6%
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 MG Mgf 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 11,871 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 | 3,218 | 26.70% | 20.98% | +5.72 |
| Brakes | 3,089 | 25.60% | 20.89% | +4.71 |
| Tyres | 1,270 | 10.50% | 19.76% | −9.26 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1,188 | 9.90% | 5.52% | +4.38 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,127 | 9.40% | 12.21% | −2.81 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 660 | 5.50% | 5.57% | −0.07 |
| Visibility | 551 | 4.60% | 4.97% | −0.37 |
| Steering | 356 | 3.00% | 2.57% | +0.43 |
| Non-component advisories | 278 | 2.30% | 4.18% | −1.88 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 134 | 1.10% | 0.82% | +0.28 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.8% | £45–110 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 2.2% | £180–450 |
| Service brake performance efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.1% | £60–150 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.0% | £60–250 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 2.0% | £60–150 |
| Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.8% | £60–140 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.8% | £60–250 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.8% | £80–200 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.8% | £8–22 |
| Suspension arm corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Major | 1.5% | £35–85 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 13.1% | £45–110 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 9.9% | £180–450 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 9.6% | £80–180 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 9.2% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 8.9% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 7.1% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 505 | 87.5% | 22,075 mi |
| 30-60k | 2,250 | 78.8% | 47,290 mi |
| 60-90k | 2,310 | 75.1% | 73,366 mi |
| 90-120k | 650 | 69.7% | 101,396 mi |
| 120k+ | 120 | 64.2% | 135,948 mi |
Source: 5,839 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 Mgf MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2001 MG Mgf?
76.8% of the 5,839 2001 MG Mgf tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.3% for cars first used in 2001. First-attempt pass rate: 72.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2001 MG Mgf?
The three most recorded items are rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (3.84%), component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (2.16%), service brake performance efficiency below requirements (2.11%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2001 MG Mgf MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 87.5% of the time, falling to 64.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2001 MG Mgf in this dataset had covered 61,780 mi.
Does the season affect the 2001 MG Mgf MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 76.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 77.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.