Pass rate
83.7%
Around average — 9.7 pts ahead of the 74.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 590 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £33–£97
2009 Nissan 350 Z MOT pass rate
- 2009
- typical 72,094 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
26.0% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2013 92.9% pass
- Avoid 2002 74.4% pass
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 18.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 81.6%
- Typical mileage
- 72k mi
The 2009 Nissan 350 Z MOT pass rate is 83.7% of its MOT tests — 9.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.0% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Nissan 350 Z does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
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 74.0% and this one manages 83.7% — 9.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
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 Nissan 350 Z? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2009 Nissan 350 Z compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.0%, so this figure is 9.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 81.6%. The median 2009 Nissan 350 Z in this dataset had covered 72,094 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 83.6% of the time, April–September 83.8%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 2.71% of tests.
- 590 recorded tests behind this page.
- 83.7% overall pass rate, 81.6% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Nissan 350 Z, the average is 80.1% — best year 2013 (92.9%), worst 2002 (74.4%).
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
- 590
- Typical mileage (median)
- 72,094 mi
- Make and model
- Nissan 350 Z
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the 350 Z MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 60% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the 350 Z
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 133 | 85.7% |
| East of England | 99 | 82.8% |
| South West | 83 | 78.3% |
| West Midlands | 63 | 79.4% |
| Yorkshire | 52 | 80.8% |
| North West | 49 | 87.8% |
| East Midlands | 39 | 87.2% |
| Wales | 24 | 87.5% |
| Scotland | 19 | 94.7% |
| London | 19 | 84.2% |
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 2009 350 Z
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 2009 350 Z
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 windscreen 2.7% 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 lights 2.4% 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.
-
Check the suspension joints 2.4% of tests
“pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn”
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 2009 350 Z through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £33–£97 — and 38% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £33–£97
- Cheapest common item: washers not working
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 38%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 590 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 350 Z, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2002 to 2019. Across them the pass rate runs from 74.4% to 92.9% — a spread of 18.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2002 74.4% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2003 78.8% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2004 78.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2005 78.7% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2006 77.9% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2007 81.1% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2008 79.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 83.7%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 86.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 87.3% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2012 92.4% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2013 92.9% catalyst emissions carbon…
- 2014 92.0% tread depth below requirements of…
- 2015 92.4% catalyst emissions carbon…
- 2016 90.3% tread depth below requirements of…
- 2017 90.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 91.1% tread depth below requirements of…
- 2019 91.9% ball joint dust cover severely…
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 2009 Nissan 350 Z 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 2009 cars with a similar record
- Lexus IS250 83.7%
- Jaguar Xk 83.8%
- Lexus RX450H 83.6%
- Jaguar Xkr 83.2%
- Toyota Iq 82.9%
- Lexus RX400H 82.9%
Closest pass rates among 2009 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 2009 Nissan 350 Z 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 826 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 | 217 | 26.00% | 20.89% | +5.11 |
| Tyres | 157 | 18.80% | 19.76% | −0.96 |
| Suspension | 145 | 17.30% | 20.98% | −3.68 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 103 | 12.30% | 12.21% | +0.09 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 64 | 7.70% | 5.57% | +2.13 |
| Visibility | 56 | 6.70% | 4.97% | +1.73 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 48 | 5.70% | 5.52% | +0.18 |
| Steering | 15 | 1.80% | 2.57% | −0.77 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 12 | 1.40% | 1.76% | −0.36 |
| Non-component advisories | 9 | 1.10% | 4.18% | −3.08 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.7% | £80–200 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.4% | £5–25 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.4% | £40–150 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.0% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 2.0% | £45–95 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.9% | £5–20 |
| Washers not working Visibility | Major | 1.7% | £5–15 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £60–250 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 1.5% | £45–120 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.5% | £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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 13.1% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 12.7% | £80–180 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 7.1% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 6.3% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 5.3% | £40–150 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 4.9% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 35 | 88.6% | 20,943 mi |
| 30-60k | 163 | 87.1% | 46,589 mi |
| 60-90k | 247 | 84.2% | 75,098 mi |
| 90-120k | 104 | 81.7% | 101,784 mi |
| 120k+ | 41 | 68.3% | 135,118 mi |
Source: 590 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.
2009 350 Z MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2009 Nissan 350 Z?
83.7% of the 590 2009 Nissan 350 Z tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.0% for cars first used in 2009. First-attempt pass rate: 81.6%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2009 Nissan 350 Z?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.71%), headlamp lens slightly defective (2.37%), pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn (2.37%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2009 Nissan 350 Z MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 88.6% of the time, falling to 68.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2009 Nissan 350 Z in this dataset had covered 72,094 mi.
Does the season affect the 2009 Nissan 350 Z MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 83.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 83.8%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.