Pass rate
73.2%
Below average — 0.1 pts ahead of the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 95,905 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £35–£128
2008 MINI Mini MOT pass rate
- 2008
- 6 trims combined
- typical 92,034 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
19.7% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2017 94.3% pass
- Avoid 2001 68.2% pass
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 26.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 66.4%
- Typical mileage
- 92k mi
The 2008 MINI Mini MOT pass rate is 73.2% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 19.7% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 3.5× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 19.5% of everything recorded on the 2008 MINI Mini, against 5.5% nationally — 14.0 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 19.7%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
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 MINI Mini? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every MINI Mini first registered in 2008 is combined here — 6 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2008 MINI Mini compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 0.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 66.4%. The median 2008 MINI Mini in this dataset had covered 92,034 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 82% of tests, with a 72.9% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 73.4% of the time, April–September 73.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 5.51% of tests.
- 95,905 recorded tests behind this page.
- 73.2% overall pass rate, 66.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the MINI Mini, the average is 76.0% — best year 2017 (94.3%), worst 2001 (68.2%).
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
- 95,905
- Typical mileage (median)
- 92,034 mi
- Make and model
- MINI Mini
- 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 Mini MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 62% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (82% of tests).
Where the MINI Mini is most common
Across all Mini model years on record (2001–2018): 432,690 MINI Mini cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 1,024,160 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 12,469 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 | Birmingham (B) | 12,469 | 80.6% |
| 2 | Peterborough (PE) | 8,603 | 76.4% |
| 3 | Ashford (TN) | 8,284 | 75.9% |
| 4 | Sheffield (S) | 8,094 | 79.1% |
| 5 | Guildford (GU) | 7,916 | 75.4% |
| 6 | Reading (RG) | 7,908 | 77.5% |
| 7 | Bristol (BS) | 7,771 | 71.9% |
| 8 | Nottingham (NG) | 7,493 | 74.2% |
| 9 | Portsmouth (PO) | 7,414 | 72.6% |
| 10 | Leicester (LE) | 6,849 | 77.6% |
| 11 | Brighton (BN) | 6,736 | 71.5% |
| 12 | Coventry (CV) | 6,553 | 77.9% |
| 13 | Chelmsford (CM) | 6,270 | 78.2% |
| 14 | Oxford (OX) | 6,155 | 75.7% |
| 15 | Crawley (RH) | 5,827 | 76.1% |
| 16 | Northampton (NN) | 5,778 | 73.8% |
| 17 | Gloucester (GL) | 5,760 | 73.2% |
| 18 | Norwich (NR) | 5,729 | 74.6% |
| 19 | Manchester (M) | 5,711 | 78.2% |
| 20 | Southampton (SO) | 5,522 | 74.2% |
The twenty areas with the most MINI Mini 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 Mini
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 23,291 | 74.5% |
| South West | 12,469 | 68.8% |
| East of England | 11,945 | 74.0% |
| West Midlands | 9,391 | 75.3% |
| North West | 9,197 | 73.0% |
| Yorkshire | 7,195 | 73.2% |
| East Midlands | 6,216 | 72.4% |
| Scotland | 4,855 | 68.4% |
| London | 4,367 | 81.0% |
| Wales | 3,892 | 69.5% |
| North East | 3,073 | 74.8% |
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 2008 Mini
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 2008 Mini
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 5.5% 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 windscreen 5.1% 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.
-
Check the exhaust and emissions 4.3% of tests
“catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside 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.
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 2008 Mini through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £35–£128 — and 51% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £35–£128
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 51%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 95,905 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 Mini, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2001 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 68.2% to 94.3% — a spread of 26.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2001 68.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 69.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 70.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 70.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 70.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 71.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 72.0% position lamp not working
- 2008 73.2%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 74.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 79.6% position lamp not working
- 2011 81.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 83.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 84.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 86.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 91.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 89.7% wipers does not clear the…
- 2017 94.3% tread depth below requirements of…
- 2018 85.9% has a bulge, caused by separation…
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 2008 MINI Mini 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 2008 cars with a similar record
- Ford Focus 73.2%
- Nissan Note 73.1%
- Ford Ranger 73.1%
- Hyundai Getz 73.4%
- Honda Fr-V 72.9%
- Volkswagen Golf 73.6%
Closest pass rates among 2008 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 2008 MINI Mini 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 253,383 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 | 50,621 | 19.70% | 20.98% | −1.28 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 50,287 | 19.50% | 5.52% | +13.98 |
| Brakes | 43,971 | 17.10% | 20.89% | −3.79 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 37,932 | 14.70% | 12.21% | +2.49 |
| Tyres | 32,751 | 12.70% | 19.76% | −7.06 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 11,848 | 4.60% | 5.57% | −0.97 |
| Visibility | 10,809 | 4.20% | 4.97% | −0.77 |
| Non-component advisories | 7,309 | 2.80% | 4.18% | −1.38 |
| Steering | 4,212 | 1.60% | 2.57% | −0.97 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3,643 | 1.40% | 1.76% | −0.36 |
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 | 5.5% | £5–20 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.1% | £5–25 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 5.1% | £80–200 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 4.3% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 4.0% | £60–250 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.2% | £5–25 |
| Catalyst emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.0% | £60–250 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.9% | £3–12 |
| Position lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.8% | £5–25 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.6% | £60–250 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 22.8% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 16.7% | £45–95 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 14.4% | £180–450 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 13.3% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 10.0% | £40–150 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 8.7% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1,168 | 89.4% | 22,176 mi |
| 30-60k | 10,890 | 81.5% | 49,239 mi |
| 60-90k | 33,000 | 74.1% | 76,588 mi |
| 90-120k | 33,190 | 70.6% | 103,569 mi |
| 120k+ | 17,614 | 70.2% | 141,967 mi |
Source: 95,905 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.
2008 Mini MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 MINI Mini?
73.2% of the 95,905 2008 MINI Mini tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 66.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 MINI Mini?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (5.51%), position lamp not working (5.12%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (5.10%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 MINI Mini MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 89.4% of the time, falling to 70.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 MINI Mini in this dataset had covered 92,034 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2008 MINI Mini?
Petrol: 72.9% pass rate across 78,396 tests. Diesel: 74.7% pass rate across 17,505 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2008 MINI Mini MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 73.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 73.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.