Pass rate
88.5%
Above average — 4.5 pts ahead of the 84.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 96 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £44–£150
2016 Nissan Silvia MOT pass rate
- 2016
- typical 96,918 mi
Only 96 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Most common fault
Suspension
19.7% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2017 96.7% pass
- Avoid 2002 87.4% pass
Across the 8 years on record, a spread of 9.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 87.4%
- Typical mileage
- 97k mi
The 2016 Nissan Silvia MOT pass rate is 88.5% of its MOT tests — 4.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 19.7% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Nissan Silvia does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 3.1× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 17.3% of everything recorded on the 2016 Nissan Silvia, against 5.5% nationally — 11.8 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 19.7%, but at 21.0% 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.
- 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 84.0% and this one manages 88.5% — 4.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 18% 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 Nissan Silvia? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2016 Nissan Silvia compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 84.0%, so this figure is 4.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 87.4%. The median 2016 Nissan Silvia in this dataset had covered 96,918 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 96.7% of the time, April–September 84.8%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier", noted on 3.13% of tests.
- 96 recorded tests behind this page.
- 88.5% overall pass rate, 87.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Nissan Silvia, the average is 90.4% — best year 2017 (96.7%), worst 2002 (87.4%).
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
- 96
- Typical mileage (median)
- 96,918 mi
- Make and model
- Nissan Silvia
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Battery
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Silvia MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 73% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Silvia
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 28 | 82.1% |
| South West | 16 | 87.5% |
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.
What fails a 2016 Silvia
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 2016 Silvia
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 battery 3.1% of tests
“battery(ies) insecure”
Check the battery is secure and its terminals are clean and tight — a loose battery is a fail on its own, and a weak one shows up as slow cranking on a cold morning.
-
Check the exhaust and emissions 3.1% 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 2.1% 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 2016 Silvia through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £44–£150 — and 18% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £44–£150
- Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp does not emit a steady red light
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 18%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 96 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 Silvia, side by side
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.
- 2000 88.3% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2001 88.3% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2002 87.4% headlamp aim projected beam image…
- 2015 93.2% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2016 88.5%battery(ies) insecure but not…
- 2017 96.7% washers provides insufficient…
- 2018 90.3% battery(ies) insecure but not…
- 2019 94.9% headlamp lens slightly defective
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 2016 Nissan Silvia 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 2016 cars with a similar record
Closest pass rates among 2016 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 2016 Nissan Silvia 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 126 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 | 25 | 19.70% | 20.98% | −1.28 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 22 | 17.30% | 12.21% | +5.09 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 22 | 17.30% | 5.52% | +11.78 |
| Tyres | 14 | 11.00% | 19.76% | −8.76 |
| Brakes | 13 | 10.20% | 20.89% | −10.69 |
| Steering | 9 | 7.10% | 2.57% | +4.53 |
| Non-component advisories | 8 | 6.30% | 4.18% | +2.12 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 6 | 4.70% | 5.57% | −0.87 |
| Visibility | 6 | 4.70% | 4.97% | −0.27 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 1 | 0.80% | 1.76% | −0.96 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.1% | £60–140 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.1% | £60–250 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.1% | £18–45 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.1% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.1% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.1% | £60–250 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 2.1% | £45–95 |
| Rear fog lamp does not emit a steady red light Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 2.1% | £3–15 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.1% | £3–15 |
| Service brake performance efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.1% | £60–150 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 7.3% | £200–700 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 7.3% | £40–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 7.3% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 5.2% | £120–300 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 4.2% | £25–65 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Advisory | 4.2% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 8 | 87.5% | 7,140 mi |
| 30-60k | 3 | 100.0% | 53,698 mi |
| 60-90k | 27 | 96.3% | 75,799 mi |
| 90-120k | 39 | 84.6% | 106,049 mi |
| 120k+ | 16 | 81.3% | 152,776 mi |
Source: 96 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.
2016 Silvia MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2016 Nissan Silvia?
88.5% of the 96 2016 Nissan Silvia tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 84.0% for cars first used in 2016. First-attempt pass rate: 87.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2016 Nissan Silvia?
The three most recorded items are battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier (3.13%), catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (3.13%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (2.08%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2016 Nissan Silvia MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 87.5% of the time, falling to 81.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2016 Nissan Silvia in this dataset had covered 96,918 mi.
Does the season affect the 2016 Nissan Silvia MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 96.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 84.8%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.