Pass rate
91.7%
Above average — 18.8 pts ahead of the 72.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 145 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £40–£130
2002 Morgan Aero MOT pass rate
- 2002
- typical 32,540 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
21.8% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2017 91.8% pass
- Avoid 2008 85.0% pass
Across the 5 years on record, a spread of 6.8 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 91.2%
- Typical mileage
- 33k mi
The 2002 Morgan Aero MOT pass rate is 91.7% of its MOT tests — 18.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 21.8% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Advisories: 5.0× the national share
Advisories make up 20.9% of everything recorded on the 2002 Morgan Aero, against 4.2% nationally — 16.7 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 21.8%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Most of what testers record here is advisory — worth reading, not worth walking away from on its own.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 72.9% and this one manages 91.7% — 18.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 29% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
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 Aero? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2002 Morgan Aero compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.9%, so this figure is 18.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 91.2%. The median 2002 Morgan Aero in this dataset had covered 32,540 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 94.7% of the time, April–September 90.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Wipers blade defective", noted on 2.76% of tests.
- 145 recorded tests behind this page.
- 91.7% overall pass rate, 91.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Morgan Aero, the average is 90.2% — best year 2017 (91.8%), worst 2008 (85.0%).
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
- 145
- Typical mileage (median)
- 32,540 mi
- Make and model
- Morgan Aero
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Wiper Blade
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Aero MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 79% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Aero
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 42 | 97.6% |
| South West | 36 | 86.1% |
| East of England | 17 | 88.2% |
| West Midlands | 16 | 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 Aero
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 2002 Aero
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 wipers and washers 2.8% of tests
“wipers blade defective”
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.
-
Check the exhaust and emissions 1.4% 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.
-
Check the suspension joints 0.7% 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.
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 Aero through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £40–£130 — and 29% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £40–£130
- Cheapest common item: wipers blade defective
- £8–£22
- Dearest common item: engine oil leaks leaking excessively from…
- £200–£700
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 29%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 145 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 Aero, side by side
5 model years on record, from 2002 to 2017. Across them the pass rate runs from 85.0% to 91.8% — a spread of 6.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2002 91.7%wipers blade defective
- 2008 85.0% headlamp aim too low
- 2009 89.5% headlamp aim too low
- 2016 89.5% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2017 91.8% windscreen damaged but not…
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 Aero 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 2002 cars with a similar record
- BMW M3 86.7%
- Porsche 911 85.5%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 85.2%
- Honda S2000 84.6%
- Mercedes-Benz Slk 81.2%
- BMW Z3 80.7%
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 Aero 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 109 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 | 24 | 21.80% | 20.98% | +0.82 |
| Non-component advisories | 23 | 20.90% | 4.18% | +16.72 |
| Steering | 16 | 14.50% | 2.57% | +11.93 |
| Tyres | 11 | 10.00% | 19.76% | −9.76 |
| Visibility | 9 | 8.20% | 4.97% | +3.23 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 8 | 7.30% | 12.21% | −4.91 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 7 | 6.40% | 5.52% | +0.88 |
| Brakes | 4 | 3.60% | 20.89% | −17.29 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 4 | 3.60% | 5.57% | −1.97 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3 | 2.70% | 1.76% | +0.94 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 2.8% | £8–22 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.4% | £60–250 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 0.69% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 0.69% | £18–45 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.69% | £200–700 |
| Exhaust system system insecure Body, chassis, structure | Major | 0.69% | £45–120 |
| Fixing loose Road Wheels | Rectified | 0.69% | £20–55 |
| Gradient tester (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 0.69% | £45–110 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.69% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.69% | £30–80 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 15.2% | £120–300 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 10.3% | £18–45 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Advisory | 7.6% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 4.8% | £45–95 |
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Advisory | 4.1% | £20–55 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 2.8% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 58 | 96.6% | 16,719 mi |
| 30-60k | 62 | 87.1% | 44,217 mi |
| 60-90k | 11 | 100.0% | 68,516 mi |
Source: 145 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 Aero MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2002 Morgan Aero?
91.7% of the 145 2002 Morgan Aero tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.9% for cars first used in 2002. First-attempt pass rate: 91.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2002 Morgan Aero?
The three most recorded items are wipers blade defective (2.76%), catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (1.38%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (0.69%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2002 Morgan Aero MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 96.6% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2002 Morgan Aero in this dataset had covered 32,540 mi.
Does the season affect the 2002 Morgan Aero MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 94.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 90.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.