Pass rate
91.9%
Above average — 2.9 pts behind the 94.8% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 967 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £27–£65
2023 MG Zs MOT pass rate
- 2023
- 3 trims combined
- typical 21,061 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
33.2% 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 →
1.6 pts down across model years — 4.7% in 2002, 3.1% in 2023.
Which year to buy
- Best 2024 96.9% pass
- Avoid 2003 70.4% pass
Across the 14 years on record, a spread of 26.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 91.3%
- Typical mileage
- 21k mi
The 2023 MG Zs MOT pass rate is 91.9% of its MOT tests — 2.9 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 33.2% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how MG Zs does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.7× the national share
Tyres make up 33.2% of everything recorded on the 2023 MG Zs, against 19.8% nationally — 13.4 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.
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 Zs? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every MG Zs first registered in 2023 is combined here — 3 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2023 MG Zs compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 94.8%, so this figure is 2.9 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 91.3%. The median 2023 MG Zs in this dataset had covered 21,061 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 73% of tests, with a 93.3% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 93.1% of the time, April–September 89.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 1.96% of tests.
- 967 recorded tests behind this page.
- 91.9% overall pass rate, 91.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the MG Zs, the average is 87.4% — best year 2024 (96.9%), worst 2003 (70.4%).
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
- 967
- Typical mileage (median)
- 21,061 mi
- Make and model
- MG Zs
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
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 Zs MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 76% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (73% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Zs
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| London | 209 | 91.9% |
| South East | 138 | 91.3% |
| Scotland | 118 | 83.1% |
| North West | 106 | 93.4% |
| East of England | 97 | 91.8% |
| Yorkshire | 72 | 94.4% |
| Wales | 56 | 94.6% |
| West Midlands | 47 | 100.0% |
| South West | 43 | 97.7% |
| North East | 41 | 92.7% |
| East Midlands | 40 | 92.5% |
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 2023 Zs
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 2023 Zs
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 2.0% 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 0.9% 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.
-
Check the windscreen 0.9% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new 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 2023 Zs through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £27–£65 — and 50% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £27–£65
- Cheapest common item: front fog lamps not working
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 50%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 967 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 Zs, side by side
14 model years on record, from 2001 to 2024. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.4% to 96.9% — a spread of 26.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2001 71.2% component mounting prescribed…
- 2002 72.6% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2003 70.4% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2004 73.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 75.3% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2006 74.9% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2017 80.0% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2018 83.9% headlamp not working on dipped…
- 2019 85.5% headlamp not working on dipped…
- 2020 89.1% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 91.4% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 89.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2023 91.9%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2024 96.9% has a cut in excess of the…
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 2023 MG Zs 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 2023 cars with a similar record
- Tesla Model Y 92.9%
- Polestar Polestar 94.6%
- Kia Niro 95.5%
- Toyota Corolla 95.7%
- Mercedes-Benz Eqe 96.5%
- Ford Puma 96.5%
Closest pass rates among 2023 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 2023 MG Zs 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 549 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 | 184 | 33.20% | 19.76% | +13.44 |
| Brakes | 135 | 24.40% | 20.89% | +3.51 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 84 | 15.20% | 12.21% | +2.99 |
| Non-component advisories | 58 | 10.50% | 4.18% | +6.32 |
| Suspension | 38 | 6.90% | 20.98% | −14.08 |
| Visibility | 25 | 4.50% | 4.97% | −0.47 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 11 | 2.00% | 5.52% | −3.52 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 6 | 1.10% | 1.76% | −0.66 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 5 | 0.90% | 0.82% | +0.08 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 3 | 0.50% | 5.57% | −5.07 |
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 | 2.0% | £5–20 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.3% | £5–20 |
| Front fog lamps not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.0% | £3–15 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.0% | £45–95 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.0% | £5–20 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.93% | £30–80 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.93% | £45–95 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 0.93% | £80–200 |
| Tyre pressure monitoring system malfunctioning or obviously inoperative Tyres | Rectified | 0.83% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres | Rectified | 0.72% | £45–95 |
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 | 7.9% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.8% | £45–110 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 3.9% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 3.0% | £18–45 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 2.5% | £45–95 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 2.3% | £30–75 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 690 | 94.2% | 16,548 mi |
| 30-60k | 242 | 86.4% | 41,199 mi |
| 60-90k | 33 | 84.8% | 71,981 mi |
| 90-120k | 1 | 100.0% | 97,541 mi |
Source: 967 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.
2023 Zs MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2023 MG Zs?
91.9% of the 967 2023 MG Zs tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 94.8% for cars first used in 2023. First-attempt pass rate: 91.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2023 MG Zs?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (1.96%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps (1.34%), front fog lamps not working (1.03%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2023 MG Zs MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 94.2% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2023 MG Zs in this dataset had covered 21,061 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2023 MG Zs?
Petrol: 93.3% pass rate across 705 tests. Electric: 88.1% pass rate across 261 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2023 MG Zs MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 93.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 89.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.