Pass rate
71.3%
Below average — 1.6 pts behind the 72.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 115 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £50–£139
2002 Opel Astra MOT pass rate
- 2002
- 4 trims combined
- typical 105,843 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
28.2% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2003 81.0% pass
- Avoid 2007 69.1% pass
Across the 6 years on record, a spread of 11.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 62.5%
- Typical mileage
- 106k mi
The 2002 Opel Astra MOT pass rate is 71.3% of its MOT tests — 1.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 28.2% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.3× the national share
Suspension accounts for 28.2% of everything recorded on the 2002 Opel Astra, against 21.0% nationally — 7.2 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 15% 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.
- Based on a small sample. 115 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 Opel Astra? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Opel Astra first registered in 2002 is combined here — 4 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2002 Opel Astra compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.9%, so this figure is 1.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 62.5%. The median 2002 Opel Astra in this dataset had covered 105,843 mi.
82% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 70.2% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 72.2% of the time, April–September 70.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect", noted on 6.96% of tests.
- 115 recorded tests behind this page.
- 71.3% overall pass rate, 62.5% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Opel Astra, the average is 72.3% — best year 2003 (81.0%), worst 2007 (69.1%).
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
- 115
- Typical mileage (median)
- 105,843 mi
- Make and model
- Opel Astra
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Headlight Alignment
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Astra MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 58% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (82% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Astra
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 30 | 73.3% |
| East of England | 22 | 72.7% |
| North West | 18 | 77.8% |
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 2002 Astra
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 2002 Astra
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 lights 7.0% of tests
“headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect”
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 coil springs 5.2% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
-
Check the windscreen 5.2% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
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 2002 Astra through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £50–£139 — and 15% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £50–£139
- Cheapest common item: wipers does not clear the windscreen…
- £8–£22
- Dearest common item: engine oil leaks leaking excessively from…
- £200–£700
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 15%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 115 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 Astra, side by side
6 model years on record, from 2000 to 2008. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.1% to 81.0% — a spread of 11.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 71.0% headlamp aim projected beam image…
- 2001 69.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2002 71.3%headlamp aim projected beam image…
- 2003 81.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2007 69.1% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2008 73.2% 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 2002 Opel Astra 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 2002 cars with a similar record
- Vauxhall Zafira 71.3%
- Toyota Hilux 71.3%
- Volvo V70 71.4%
- Rover 75 71.4%
- Suzuki Grand Vitara 71.4%
- Nissan Micra 71.1%
Closest pass rates among 2002 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 2002 Opel Astra 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 378 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 | 109 | 28.20% | 20.98% | +7.22 |
| Brakes | 92 | 23.80% | 20.89% | +2.91 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 45 | 11.60% | 5.52% | +6.08 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 37 | 9.60% | 12.21% | −2.61 |
| Tyres | 32 | 8.30% | 19.76% | −11.46 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 19 | 4.90% | 5.57% | −0.67 |
| Visibility | 17 | 4.40% | 4.97% | −0.57 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 16 | 4.10% | 1.76% | +2.34 |
| Non-component advisories | 6 | 1.60% | 4.18% | −2.58 |
| Steering | 5 | 1.30% | 2.57% | −1.27 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 7.0% | £30–80 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 5.2% | £25–65 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 5.2% | £80–200 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 4.3% | £80–180 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.5% | £18–45 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 3.5% | £60–150 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 3.5% | £8–22 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.6% | £200–700 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 2.6% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp has a product on the lens so that the light output is severely reduced Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.6% | £5–25 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 35.6% | £80–180 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 28.7% | £200–700 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 19.1% | £25–65 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 13.9% | £45–95 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 13.0% | £20–80 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.4% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 2 | 100.0% | 29,346 mi |
| 30-60k | 6 | 83.3% | 35,409 mi |
| 60-90k | 35 | 74.3% | 74,471 mi |
| 90-120k | 21 | 76.2% | 104,400 mi |
| 120k+ | 47 | 66.0% | 155,164 mi |
Source: 115 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.
2002 Astra MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2002 Opel Astra?
71.3% of the 115 2002 Opel Astra tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.9% for cars first used in 2002. First-attempt pass rate: 62.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2002 Opel Astra?
The three most recorded items are headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (6.96%), coil spring fractured or broken (5.22%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (5.22%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2002 Opel Astra MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 66.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2002 Opel Astra in this dataset had covered 105,843 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2002 Opel Astra?
Petrol: 70.2% pass rate across 94 tests. Diesel: 76.2% pass rate across 21 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2002 Opel Astra MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 72.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 70.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.