Pass rate
Below average — 7.5 pts behind the 72.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 1,970 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £55–£149
Pass rate
Below average — 7.5 pts behind the 72.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 1,970 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £55–£149
Most common fault
Suspension
24.5% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
Across the 6 years on record, a spread of 2.6 points. See every year →
The 2004 Mitsubishi Space Star MOT pass rate is 64.7% of its MOT tests — 7.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.5% of what testers record.
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mitsubishi Space Star does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis accounts for 10.7% of everything recorded on the 2004 Mitsubishi Space Star, against 5.6% nationally — 5.1 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 24.5%, 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 Space Star? Get an email when these numbers change .
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.2%, so this figure is 7.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 52.4%. The median 2004 Mitsubishi Space Star in this dataset had covered 84,417 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 76% of tests, with a 65.0% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 66.0% of the time, April–September 63.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength", noted on 10.41% 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.
Corrosion Welding Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 51% so small gaps stay visible.
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (76% of tests).
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 512 | 60.5% |
| South East | 449 | 68.4% |
| West Midlands | 224 | 64.3% |
| North West | 149 | 63.1% |
| East of England | 145 | 66.9% |
| Yorkshire | 138 | 65.2% |
| East Midlands | 105 | 63.8% |
| London | 99 | 76.8% |
| Wales | 72 | 59.7% |
| North East | 52 | 57.7% |
| Scotland | 25 | 68.0% |
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 corrosion 10.4% 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 suspension joints 9.9% 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 lights 6.9% of tests
“headlamp lens slightly defective”
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.
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 £55–£149 — and 26% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 1,970 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 →
6 model years on record, from 2000 to 2005. Across them the pass rate runs from 63.7% to 66.3% — a spread of 2.6 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 2004 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 7,623 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 | 1,900 | 24.50% | 20.98% | +3.52 |
| Brakes | 1,749 | 22.60% | 20.89% | +1.71 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,028 | 13.30% | 12.21% | +1.09 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 826 | 10.70% | 5.57% | +5.13 |
| Tyres | 779 | 10.10% | 19.76% | −9.66 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 412 | 5.30% | 5.52% | −0.22 |
| Steering | 368 | 4.80% | 2.57% | +2.23 |
| Visibility | 277 | 3.60% | 4.97% | −1.37 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 161 | 2.10% | 1.76% | +0.34 |
| Non-component advisories | 123 | 1.60% | 4.18% | −2.58 |
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 10.4% | £180–450 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 9.9% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 7.2% | £80–250 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.9% | £5–25 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.6% | £5–20 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 6.5% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 5.5% | £80–250 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 5.3% | £45–110 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.6% | £30–80 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 3.8% | £8–22 |
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 | 22.8% | £80–180 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 19.1% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 13.4% | £45–110 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Advisory | 13.1% | £180–450 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 12.9% | £18–45 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 12.1% | £200–700 |
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 17 | 94.1% | 26,102 mi |
| 30-60k | 397 | 71.3% | 48,231 mi |
| 60-90k | 727 | 65.3% | 75,975 mi |
| 90-120k | 462 | 61.5% | 102,921 mi |
| 120k+ | 367 | 59.1% | 142,712 mi |
Source: 1,970 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.
64.7% of the 1,970 2004 Mitsubishi Space Star tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.2% for cars first used in 2004. First-attempt pass rate: 52.4%.
The three most recorded items are component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (10.41%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (9.90%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (7.16%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 94.1% of the time, falling to 59.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2004 Mitsubishi Space Star in this dataset had covered 84,417 mi.
Petrol: 65.0% pass rate across 1,496 tests. Diesel: 63.7% pass rate across 474 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 66.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 63.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.