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2002 Morgan 4/4 MOT pass rate

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Pass rate

91.0%

Above average — 18.1 pts ahead of the 72.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 289 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £66–£165

Which year to buy

  • Best 2017 98.4% pass
  • Avoid 2001 89.0% pass

Across the 19 years on record, a spread of 9.4 points. See every year →

First-attempt pass
90.7%
Typical mileage
26k mi

The 2002 Morgan 4/4 MOT pass rate is 91.0% of its MOT tests — 18.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.8% of what testers record.

MOT PASS RATES

The 2002 Morgan 4/4 on the real record

91.0% of 2002 Morgan 4/4 MOTs passed — 289 tests, 2023–2025

Pass rate

The answer from the DVSA's class-4 MOT records.

Expert verdict

Steering: 5.5× the national share

Steering accounts for 14.1% of everything recorded on the 2002 Morgan 4/4, against 2.6% nationally — 11.5 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 26.8%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Ask for the steering to be checked for play with the wheels on the ground, not on a jack.

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 Morgan 4/4? Get an email when these numbers change .

How does the 2002 Morgan 4/4 compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 72.9%, so this figure is 18.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 90.7%. The median 2002 Morgan 4/4 in this dataset had covered 25,875 mi.

Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 88.0% of the time, April–September 92.4%.

The single most recorded failure item is "Steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt", noted on 2.08% of tests.

  • 289 recorded tests behind this page.
  • 91.0% overall pass rate, 90.7% on a first attempt.
  • Across every year of the Morgan 4/4, the average is 91.9% — best year 2017 (98.4%), worst 2001 (89.0%).

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
289
Typical mileage (median)
25,875 mi
Make and model
Morgan 4/4
Updated
2026-11-07

Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.

Top part to budget for

Steering Rack

Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.

Does mileage affect the 4/4 MOT pass rate?

0-30k 95.2%
30-60k 85.1%
60-90k 88.0%
120k+ 50.0%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 42% so small gaps stay visible.

Where the Morgan 4/4 is most common

Across all 4/4 model years on record (2000–2018): 1,372 Morgan 4/4 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 3,089 tests. Ashford (TN) has the most, with 93 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 Share of all Tests Pass rate
1 Ashford (TN) 93 6.8% 235 91.9%
2 Milton Keynes (MK) 60 4.4% 162 83.3%
3 Worcester (WR) 60 4.4% 143 93.7%
4 Reading (RG) 45 3.3% 92 95.7%
5 Bristol (BS) 44 3.2% 86 95.3%
6 Exeter (EX) 38 2.8% 91 87.9%
7 Chelmsford (CM) 37 2.7% 85 92.9%
8 Crewe (CW) 37 2.7% 63 96.8%
9 Salisbury (SP) 35 2.6% 81 90.1%
10 Preston (PR) 33 2.4% 75 100.0%
11 Doncaster (DN) 32 2.3% 74 95.9%
12 Gloucester (GL) 30 2.2% 58 87.9%
13 Ipswich (IP) 30 2.2% 54 100.0%
14 Perth (PH) 28 2% 62 91.9%
15 Stevenage (SG) 27 2% 62 98.4%
16 Guildford (GU) 24 1.7% 53 86.8%
17 Poole (BH) 23 1.7% 49 85.7%
18 Coventry (CV) 23 1.7% 46 80.4%
19 Southampton (SO) 19 1.4% 39 87.2%
20 Derby (DE) 18 1.3% 48 85.4%

The twenty areas with the most Morgan 4/4 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 4/4

Region Tests Pass rate
South East 65 90.8%
West Midlands 49 89.8%
East of England 40 95.0%
South West 31 90.3%
Scotland 30 96.7%
Yorkshire 26 76.9%
North West 19 100.0%

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.

What fails a 2002 4/4

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.

Brakes 26.8%
+5.9 pts vs national national 20.9% Price brakes parts
Suspension 20.8%
in line with the national share national 21.0% Price suspension parts
Steering 14.1%
+11.5 pts vs national national 2.6% Price steering parts
Lamps & electrics 10.1%
−2.1 pts vs national national 12.2% Order bulbs & wipers
Show the other 6 fault categories
  • Body & chassis 8.1%
  • Visibility 7.4%
  • Seat belts 4.7%
  • Emissions & leaks 4.0%
  • Advisories 2.0%
  • Tyres 1.3%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2002 Morgan 4/4 tests — a composition, so they add to 100% across all sections, not per test.

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 2002 4/4

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.

  1. Check the steering 2.1% of tests

    “steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated,”

    With the wheels straight, rock the steering wheel gently with the engine off — more than about an inch of free play before the wheels move is worth investigating. Split rack gaiters are cheap to replace and commonly recorded.

  2. Check the windscreen 1.0% 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.

  3. Check the wipers and washers 0.7% of tests

    “washers provides insufficient washer liquid”

    Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the 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 2002 4/4 through its MOT

Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £66–£165 — and 12% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 10 common items
£66–£165
Cheapest common item: washers provides insufficient washer liquid
£5–£15
Dearest common item: steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated,
£120–£300
Common items a careful owner can do at home
60%
Repairs that still cost under £30
12%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 289 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 4/4, side by side

19 model years on record, from 2000 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 89.0% to 98.4% — a spread of 9.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.

  1. 2000 92.4% steering rack gaiter damaged or…
  2. 2001 89.0% steering rack gaiter missing or…
  3. 2002 91.0%
    steering rack gaiter damaged or…
  4. 2003 91.4% service brake imbalance across an…
  5. 2004 89.3% windscreen damaged but not…
  6. 2005 89.9% steering rack gaiter damaged or…
  7. 2006 91.4% washers not working
  8. 2007 95.8% headlamp aim too high
  9. 2008 94.2% headlamp aim too low
  10. 2009 94.0% windscreen damaged but not…
  11. 2010 92.7% windscreen damaged but not…
  12. 2011 91.3% service brake imbalance across an…
  13. 2012 94.3% stop lamp all not working
  14. 2013 95.1% service brake performance…
  15. 2014 90.6% windscreen damaged but not…
  16. 2015 90.4% rear fog lamp not working
  17. 2016 89.4% service brake performance…
  18. 2017 98.4% steering rack gaiter missing or…
  19. 2018 91.2% service brake imbalance across an…

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 2002 Morgan 4/4 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.

Compare 2002 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

Other 2002 cars with a similar record

Closest pass rates among 2002 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 2002 Morgan 4/4 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 148 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
Brakes 40 26.80% 20.89% +5.91
Suspension 31 20.80% 20.98% −0.18
Steering 21 14.10% 2.57% +11.53
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15 10.10% 12.21% −2.11
Body, chassis, structure 12 8.10% 5.57% +2.53
Visibility 11 7.40% 4.97% +2.43
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems 7 4.70% 0.82% +3.88
Noise, emissions and leaks 6 4.00% 5.52% −1.52
Non-component advisories 3 2.00% 4.18% −2.18
Tyres 2 1.30% 19.76% −18.46

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 289 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost Part
Steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering Minor 2.1% £120–300 Steering Rack →
Service brake imbalance across an axle Brakes Major 1.7% £45–110 Brake Discs and Pads Set →
Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes Major 1.7% £60–150 Brake Servicing →
Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Steering Major 1.4% £120–300 Steering Rack →
Pedal anti-slip provision missing Brakes Major 1.0% £45–110 Brake Discs and Pads Set →
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility Minor 1.0% £80–200 Windscreen →
Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility Major 0.69% £5–15 Windscreen Washer →
Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension Major 0.69% £20–55 Wheel Hub Bearing Kit →
Wipers blade defective Visibility Minor 0.69% £8–22 Wiper Blade →
Ball joint excessively worn Suspension Major 0.35% £18–45 Ball Joint →

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.

Items recorded as advisory on this vehicle
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost
Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes Advisory 4.2% £60–150
Steering rack has excessive free play detected at the steering wheel (steering rack fitted) Steering Advisory 3.1% £120–300
Service brake imbalance across an axle Brakes Advisory 2.1% £45–110
Swivel pins and bushes swivel pin and/or bush excessively worn Suspension Advisory 2.1% £40–150
Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension Advisory 2.1% £20–55
Exhaust system system insecure Body, chassis, structure Advisory 1.7% £45–120

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage Tests Pass rate Median odometer
0-30k 165 95.2% 16,195 mi
30-60k 94 85.1% 40,591 mi
60-90k 25 88.0% 70,001 mi
120k+ 2 50.0% 191,024 mi

Source: 289 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.

2002 4/4 MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2002 Morgan 4/4?

91.0% of the 289 2002 Morgan 4/4 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.9% for cars first used in 2002. First-attempt pass rate: 90.7%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2002 Morgan 4/4?

The three most recorded items are steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (2.08%), service brake imbalance across an axle (1.73%), service brake performance excessively binding (1.73%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2002 Morgan 4/4 MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 95.2% of the time, falling to 50.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2002 Morgan 4/4 in this dataset had covered 25,875 mi.

Does the season affect the 2002 Morgan 4/4 MOT pass rate?

Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 88.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 92.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.