Pass rate
Below average — 2.5 pts behind the 74.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 488 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £66–£173
Pass rate
Below average — 2.5 pts behind the 74.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 488 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £66–£173
Most common fault
Brakes
16.3% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
Across the 17 years on record, a spread of 11.1 points. See every year →
The 2009 Nissan Figaro MOT pass rate is 71.5% of its MOT tests — 2.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 16.3% of what testers record.
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Nissan Figaro does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks make up 13.9% of everything recorded on the 2009 Nissan Figaro, against 5.5% nationally — 8.4 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 16.3%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
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 Figaro? Get an email when these numbers change .
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.0%, so this figure is 2.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 64.5%. The median 2009 Nissan Figaro in this dataset had covered 90,520 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 77.3% of the time, April–September 68.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength", noted on 4.71% 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 58% so small gaps stay visible.
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 144 | 72.9% |
| West Midlands | 74 | 71.6% |
| East of England | 65 | 66.2% |
| Yorkshire | 44 | 72.7% |
| North East | 32 | 65.6% |
| North West | 27 | 63.0% |
| Scotland | 26 | 76.9% |
| London | 25 | 84.0% |
| East Midlands | 24 | 70.8% |
| South West | 23 | 73.9% |
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.
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 4.7% 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 lights 2.9% 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 steering 2.9% of tests
“steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt”
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.
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 £66–£173 — and 28% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 488 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 →
17 model years on record, from 2001 to 2017. Across them the pass rate runs from 67.2% to 78.3% — a spread of 11.1 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 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.
Shares of the 1,116 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 | 185 | 16.30% | 20.89% | −4.59 |
| Suspension | 160 | 14.10% | 20.98% | −6.88 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 158 | 13.90% | 5.52% | +8.38 |
| Tyres | 134 | 11.80% | 19.76% | −7.96 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 133 | 11.70% | 12.21% | −0.51 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 133 | 11.70% | 5.57% | +6.13 |
| Steering | 89 | 7.80% | 2.57% | +5.23 |
| Visibility | 61 | 5.40% | 4.97% | +0.43 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 33 | 2.90% | 1.76% | +1.14 |
| Non-component advisories | 30 | 2.60% | 4.18% | −1.58 |
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 4.7% | £180–450 |
| Service brake imbalance across an axle Brakes | Major | 3.3% | £45–110 |
| Prescribed areas prescribed area strength or continuity significantly reduced Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 3.1% | £40–120 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.9% | £5–20 |
| Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Steering | Major | 2.9% | £120–300 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 2.9% | £8–22 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.5% | £3–15 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.5% | £80–200 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.3% | £80–250 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 2.3% | £18–45 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 17.0% | £200–700 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 13.1% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 11.9% | £80–180 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 9.8% | £45–95 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 9.6% | £25–65 |
| Other components leaking Steering | Advisory | 6.2% | £60–200 |
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 6 | 83.3% | 22,294 mi |
| 30-60k | 51 | 80.4% | 50,562 mi |
| 60-90k | 174 | 74.7% | 76,701 mi |
| 90-120k | 133 | 68.4% | 103,621 mi |
| 120k+ | 124 | 66.1% | 140,956 mi |
Source: 488 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.
71.5% of the 488 2009 Nissan Figaro tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.0% for cars first used in 2009. First-attempt pass rate: 64.5%.
The three most recorded items are component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (4.71%), service brake imbalance across an axle (3.28%), prescribed areas prescribed area strength or continuity significantly reduced (3.07%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 83.3% of the time, falling to 66.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2009 Nissan Figaro in this dataset had covered 90,520 mi.
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 77.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 68.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.