Pass rate
Above average — 14.5 pts ahead of the 73.8% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 120 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £21–£66
Pass rate
Above average — 14.5 pts ahead of the 73.8% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 120 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £21–£66
Most common fault
Lamps & electrics
21.0% of faults · 12.2% nationally
Which year to buy
Across the 8 years on record, a spread of 9.3 points. See every year →
The 2000 Nissan Silvia MOT pass rate is 88.3% of its MOT tests — 14.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Lamps & electrics is the biggest single reason it fails, at 21.0% of what testers record.
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Nissan Silvia does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks make up 15.2% of everything recorded on the 2000 Nissan Silvia, against 5.5% nationally — 9.7 points above. Lamps & electrics are still the single largest share at 21.0%, but at 12.2% 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 Silvia? Get an email when these numbers change .
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.8%, so this figure is 14.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 87.3%. The median 2000 Nissan Silvia in this dataset had covered 89,487 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 85.4% of the time, April–September 90.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 3.33% 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.
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 60% so small gaps stay visible.
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 29 | 93.1% |
| West Midlands | 20 | 90.0% |
| South West | 17 | 76.5% |
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 the suspension joints 3.3% 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 exhaust and emissions 2.5% 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 lights 2.5% of tests
“rear fog lamp missing”
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.
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 £21–£66 — and 40% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 120 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 →
8 model years on record, from 2000 to 2019. Across them the pass rate runs from 87.4% to 96.7% — a spread of 9.3 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 2000 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 104 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 22 | 21.00% | 12.21% | +8.79 |
| Brakes | 19 | 18.10% | 20.89% | −2.79 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 16 | 15.20% | 5.52% | +9.68 |
| Suspension | 14 | 13.30% | 20.98% | −7.68 |
| Tyres | 11 | 10.50% | 19.76% | −9.26 |
| Non-component advisories | 6 | 5.70% | 4.18% | +1.52 |
| Steering | 6 | 5.70% | 2.57% | +3.13 |
| Visibility | 5 | 4.80% | 4.97% | −0.17 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 4 | 3.80% | 5.57% | −1.77 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 1 | 1.00% | 1.76% | −0.76 |
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.3% | £18–45 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.5% | £60–250 |
| Rear fog lamp missing Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.5% | £3–15 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.5% | £3–15 |
| Ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 1.7% | £18–45 |
| Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.7% | £60–140 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.7% | £18–45 |
| Individual direction indicators incorrect colour Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.7% | £3–12 |
| Switch missing Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.7% | £5–25 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 1.7% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 4.2% | £18–45 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 4.2% | £200–700 |
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 4.2% | £120–300 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 4.2% | £45–95 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 2.5% | £30–75 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 1.7% | £45–110 |
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1 | 100.0% | 15,168 mi |
| 30-60k | 16 | 68.8% | 53,583 mi |
| 60-90k | 45 | 88.9% | 76,144 mi |
| 90-120k | 31 | 93.5% | 103,430 mi |
| 120k+ | 27 | 92.6% | 146,336 mi |
Source: 120 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.
88.3% of the 120 2000 Nissan Silvia tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.8% for cars first used in 2000. First-attempt pass rate: 87.3%.
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (3.33%), catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (2.50%), rear fog lamp missing (2.50%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 92.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2000 Nissan Silvia in this dataset had covered 89,487 mi.
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 85.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 90.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.