Pass rate
Around average — 4.3 pts ahead of the 72.5% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 499 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £50–£132
Pass rate
Around average — 4.3 pts ahead of the 72.5% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 499 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £50–£132
Most common fault
Suspension
22.4% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
Across the 14 years on record, a spread of 15.8 points. See every year →
The 2006 Mitsubishi Pajero MOT pass rate is 76.8% of its MOT tests — 4.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.4% of what testers record.
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mitsubishi Pajero does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis accounts for 17.6% of everything recorded on the 2006 Mitsubishi Pajero, against 5.6% nationally — 12.0 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 22.4%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
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 Mitsubishi Pajero? Get an email when these numbers change .
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.5%, so this figure is 4.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 71.7%. The median 2006 Mitsubishi Pajero in this dataset had covered 134,024 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 89% of tests, with a 75.7% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 76.6% of the time, April–September 77.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 6.41% of tests.
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 63% so small gaps stay visible.
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (89% of tests).
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 97 | 74.2% |
| Yorkshire | 77 | 77.9% |
| West Midlands | 71 | 85.9% |
| South West | 61 | 68.9% |
| North West | 51 | 76.5% |
| Wales | 33 | 75.8% |
| Scotland | 31 | 90.3% |
| East of England | 31 | 77.4% |
| North East | 19 | 73.7% |
| East Midlands | 18 | 61.1% |
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.
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
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 6.4% 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 suspension joints 5.6% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
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 exhaust and emissions 4.4% of tests
“exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases”
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.
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £50–£132 — and 23% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 499 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 →
14 model years on record, from 2000 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 73.6% to 89.4% — a spread of 15.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
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.
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Closest pass rates among 2006 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.
Shares of the 1,572 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 | 356 | 22.40% | 20.98% | +1.42 |
| Brakes | 316 | 19.90% | 20.89% | −0.99 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 279 | 17.60% | 5.57% | +12.03 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 162 | 10.20% | 5.52% | +4.68 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 155 | 9.80% | 12.21% | −2.41 |
| Steering | 106 | 6.70% | 2.57% | +4.13 |
| Non-component advisories | 62 | 3.90% | 4.18% | −0.28 |
| Tyres | 61 | 3.80% | 19.76% | −15.96 |
| Visibility | 46 | 2.90% | 4.97% | −2.07 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 29 | 1.80% | 0.82% | +0.98 |
| 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 | 6.4% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 5.6% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 4.6% | £80–250 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 4.4% | £45–120 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 3.8% | £18–45 |
| Chassis condition or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of a body mounting Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.4% | £180–450 |
| Prescribed areas prescribed area strength or continuity significantly reduced Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 3.4% | £40–120 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.4% | £80–200 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.2% | £3–15 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 3.2% | £80–180 |
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.
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 | 25.4% | £80–180 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 24.3% | £200–700 |
| Chassis condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 11.2% | £180–450 |
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Advisory | 11.2% | £20–55 |
| Integral vehicle structure condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 8.4% | £180–450 |
| Non-component advisories Fuel Pipe/s corroded Non-component advisories | Advisory | 8.0% | £180–450 |
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 23 | 78.3% | 55,262 mi |
| 60-90k | 57 | 89.5% | 76,941 mi |
| 90-120k | 112 | 82.1% | 106,414 mi |
| 120k+ | 303 | 71.9% | 171,661 mi |
Source: 499 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.
76.8% of the 499 2006 Mitsubishi Pajero tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.5% for cars first used in 2006. First-attempt pass rate: 71.7%.
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (6.41%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (5.61%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (4.61%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 78.3% of the time, falling to 71.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2006 Mitsubishi Pajero in this dataset had covered 134,024 mi.
Diesel: 75.7% pass rate across 445 tests. Petrol: 85.2% pass rate across 54 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 76.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 77.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.