Pass rate
89.0%
Above average — 5.0 pts ahead of the 84.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 318 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £38–£113
2016 Nissan Skyline MOT pass rate
- 2016
- typical 81,201 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
23.8% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2012 100.0% pass
- Avoid 2002 84.8% pass
Across the 19 years on record, a spread of 15.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 88.0%
- Typical mileage
- 81k mi
The 2016 Nissan Skyline MOT pass rate is 89.0% of its MOT tests — 5.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 23.8% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Nissan Skyline does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Steering: 3.9× the national share
Steering accounts for 10.0% of everything recorded on the 2016 Nissan Skyline, against 2.6% nationally — 7.4 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 23.8%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Ask for the steering to be checked for play with the wheels on the ground, not on a jack.
- 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 89.0% — 5.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Based on a small sample. 318 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
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 Skyline? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2016 Nissan Skyline compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 84.0%, so this figure is 5.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 88.0%. The median 2016 Nissan Skyline in this dataset had covered 81,201 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 84.2% of the time, April–September 91.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 2.52% of tests.
- 318 recorded tests behind this page.
- 89.0% overall pass rate, 88.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Nissan Skyline, the average is 89.3% — best year 2012 (100.0%), worst 2002 (84.8%).
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
- 318
- Typical mileage (median)
- 81,201 mi
- Make and model
- Nissan Skyline
- 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 Skyline MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 75% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Skyline
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 77 | 88.3% |
| East of England | 66 | 86.4% |
| South West | 55 | 85.5% |
| East Midlands | 21 | 95.2% |
| Wales | 19 | 89.5% |
| Yorkshire | 19 | 94.7% |
| West Midlands | 16 | 100.0% |
| Scotland | 16 | 81.3% |
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 Skyline
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 Skyline
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 2.5% 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 steering 2.5% of tests
“steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated,”
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.
-
Check the lights 2.2% 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.
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 Skyline through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £38–£113 — and 38% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £38–£113
- Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp not working
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated,
- £120–£300
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 38%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 318 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 Skyline, side by side
19 model years on record, from 2000 to 2020. Across them the pass rate runs from 84.8% to 100.0% — a spread of 15.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 92.0% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2001 90.8% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2002 84.8% battery(ies) insecure but not…
- 2003 86.8% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2004 88.2% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 90.4% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2006 87.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 87.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2008 88.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 89.2% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2010 91.9% brake linings less than 1.5 mm…
- 2012 100.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2014 87.3% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2015 90.6% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2016 89.0%ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2017 92.6% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2018 91.5% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2019 89.1% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2020 87.3% all direction indicators flashing…
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 Skyline 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
- Volkswagen Golf 89.0%
- BMW 330 89.0%
- Toyota Aygo 89.1%
- Honda Hr-V 89.1%
- Kia Venga 89.1%
- Mitsubishi Mirage 88.9%
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 Skyline 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 384 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 | 93 | 23.80% | 20.98% | +2.82 |
| Tyres | 55 | 14.10% | 19.76% | −5.66 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 54 | 13.80% | 12.21% | +1.59 |
| Steering | 39 | 10.00% | 2.57% | +7.43 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 38 | 9.70% | 5.52% | +4.18 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 33 | 8.40% | 5.57% | +2.83 |
| Brakes | 30 | 7.70% | 20.89% | −13.19 |
| Non-component advisories | 24 | 6.10% | 4.18% | +1.92 |
| Visibility | 12 | 3.10% | 4.97% | −1.87 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 6 | 1.50% | 1.76% | −0.26 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.5% | £18–45 |
| Steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 2.5% | £120–300 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.2% | £5–20 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.9% | £60–250 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.6% | £3–15 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.3% | £45–95 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.3% | £5–25 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 1.3% | £18–45 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.3% | £8–22 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.94% | £60–250 |
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 | 10.1% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 6.3% | £40–150 |
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 6.0% | £120–300 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 5.7% | £200–700 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 4.1% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 3.8% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 13 | 92.3% | 19,191 mi |
| 30-60k | 58 | 96.6% | 46,840 mi |
| 60-90k | 129 | 89.1% | 75,621 mi |
| 90-120k | 83 | 83.1% | 101,940 mi |
| 120k+ | 35 | 88.6% | 153,007 mi |
Source: 318 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 Skyline MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2016 Nissan Skyline?
89.0% of the 318 2016 Nissan Skyline tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 84.0% for cars first used in 2016. First-attempt pass rate: 88.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2016 Nissan Skyline?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (2.52%), steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (2.52%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (2.20%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2016 Nissan Skyline MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 92.3% of the time, falling to 88.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2016 Nissan Skyline in this dataset had covered 81,201 mi.
Does the season affect the 2016 Nissan Skyline MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 84.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 91.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.