Pass rate
81.3%
Around average — 7.3 pts ahead of the 74.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 2,385 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £12–£34
2009 Nissan Elgrand MOT pass rate
- 2009
- 2 trims combined
- typical 77,182 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
22.2% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2012 83.6% pass
- Avoid 2000 65.2% pass
Across the 22 years on record, a spread of 18.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 77.9%
- Typical mileage
- 77k mi
The 2009 Nissan Elgrand MOT pass rate is 81.3% of its MOT tests — 7.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.2% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Nissan Elgrand 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 81.3% — 7.3 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 Elgrand? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Nissan Elgrand first registered in 2009 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2009 Nissan Elgrand compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.0%, so this figure is 7.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 77.9%. The median 2009 Nissan Elgrand in this dataset had covered 77,182 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 94% of tests, with a 82.4% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 81.5% of the time, April–September 81.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 3.56% of tests.
- 2,385 recorded tests behind this page.
- 81.3% overall pass rate, 77.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Nissan Elgrand, the average is 77.4% — best year 2012 (83.6%), worst 2000 (65.2%).
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
- 2,385
- Typical mileage (median)
- 77,182 mi
- Make and model
- Nissan Elgrand
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Elgrand MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 61% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (94% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Elgrand
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 490 | 79.8% |
| West Midlands | 271 | 89.3% |
| South West | 266 | 72.6% |
| Wales | 247 | 84.6% |
| North West | 236 | 81.4% |
| Scotland | 196 | 74.0% |
| Yorkshire | 181 | 87.3% |
| East Midlands | 134 | 79.9% |
| North East | 130 | 80.0% |
| London | 125 | 90.4% |
| East of England | 109 | 78.9% |
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 Elgrand
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 Elgrand
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 suspension joints 3.6% 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 lights 1.9% 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 brakes 1.6% of tests
“brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick”
Look through the spokes of each wheel at the pad — less than 3mm of friction material, or a lip on the disc edge, is the usual failure. Check the handbrake holds on a slope with a few clicks, not at the top of its travel.
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 Elgrand through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £12–£34 — and 46% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £12–£34
- Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp not working
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated
- £18–£45
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 100%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 46%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 2,385 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 Elgrand, side by side
22 model years on record, from 2000 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 65.2% to 83.6% — a spread of 18.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 65.2% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2001 71.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2002 73.6% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2003 72.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2004 75.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 76.9% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2006 78.4% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2007 79.3% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2008 80.2% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2009 81.3%ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2010 81.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 82.3% component mounting prescribed…
- 2012 83.6% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2013 78.5% rear fog lamp not working
- 2014 77.1% rear fog lamp not working
- 2015 73.0% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2016 71.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2017 72.9% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2018 73.5% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2019 76.2% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2020 76.0% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2021 76.8% 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 Elgrand 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
- Toyota Hi-Ace 81.3%
- BMW 525 80.9%
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class 80.9%
- BMW X5 80.8%
- BMW X6 81.8%
- Subaru Impreza 80.8%
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 Elgrand 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 3,423 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 | 766 | 22.20% | 20.98% | +1.22 |
| Brakes | 764 | 22.10% | 20.89% | +1.21 |
| Tyres | 590 | 17.10% | 19.76% | −2.66 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 578 | 16.80% | 12.21% | +4.59 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 168 | 4.90% | 5.57% | −0.67 |
| Visibility | 163 | 4.70% | 4.97% | −0.27 |
| Steering | 125 | 3.60% | 2.57% | +1.03 |
| Non-component advisories | 119 | 3.40% | 4.18% | −0.78 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 114 | 3.30% | 5.52% | −2.22 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 36 | 1.00% | 0.82% | +0.18 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.6% | £18–45 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.0% | £18–45 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.9% | £5–20 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.8% | £5–25 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 1.8% | £18–45 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.8% | £5–25 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.8% | £3–15 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.6% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 1.5% | £18–45 |
| Rear fog lamp missing Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.5% | £3–15 |
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 | 13.8% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 11.4% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.6% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 5.5% | £40–150 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 4.4% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 2.4% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 37 | 86.5% | 22,610 mi |
| 30-60k | 515 | 87.2% | 49,525 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,067 | 83.0% | 74,691 mi |
| 90-120k | 514 | 77.6% | 102,194 mi |
| 120k+ | 243 | 69.1% | 151,844 mi |
Source: 2,385 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 Elgrand MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2009 Nissan Elgrand?
81.3% of the 2,385 2009 Nissan Elgrand tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.0% for cars first used in 2009. First-attempt pass rate: 77.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2009 Nissan Elgrand?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (3.56%), linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.05%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (1.93%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2009 Nissan Elgrand MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 86.5% of the time, falling to 69.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2009 Nissan Elgrand in this dataset had covered 77,182 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2009 Nissan Elgrand?
Petrol: 82.4% pass rate across 2,231 tests. Diesel: 65.6% pass rate across 151 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2009 Nissan Elgrand MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 81.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 81.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.