Pass rate
93.4%
Above average — 16.2 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 1,026 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £36–£96
2012 Porsche Cayman MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 48,817 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
32.9% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£55 for Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded. What fitting it takes →
8.8 pts down across model years — 9.3% in 2006, 0.5% in 2017.
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 96.8% pass
- Avoid 2005 83.5% pass
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 13.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 93.1%
- Typical mileage
- 49k mi
The 2012 Porsche Cayman MOT pass rate is 93.4% of its MOT tests — 16.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 32.9% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.6× the national share
Brakes make up 32.9% of everything recorded on the 2012 Porsche Cayman, against 20.9% nationally — 12.0 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- 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 77.2% and this one manages 93.4% — 16.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
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 Porsche Cayman? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 Porsche Cayman compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 16.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 93.1%. The median 2012 Porsche Cayman in this dataset had covered 48,817 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 91.8% of the time, April–September 94.9%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 1.36% of tests.
- 1,026 recorded tests behind this page.
- 93.4% overall pass rate, 93.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Porsche Cayman, the average is 91.0% — best year 2021 (96.8%), worst 2005 (83.5%).
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
- 1,026
- Typical mileage (median)
- 48,817 mi
- Make and model
- Porsche Cayman
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Cayman MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 72% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Porsche Cayman is most common
Across all Cayman model years on record (2005–2022): 24,137 Porsche Cayman cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 45,332 tests. Guildford (GU) has the most, with 672 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guildford (GU) | 672 | 93.5% |
| 2 | Birmingham (B) | 629 | 93.8% |
| 3 | Reading (RG) | 570 | 92.8% |
| 4 | Crawley (RH) | 513 | 89.3% |
| 5 | Ashford (TN) | 508 | 91.3% |
| 6 | Northampton (NN) | 497 | 90.6% |
| 7 | Nottingham (NG) | 489 | 90.3% |
| 8 | Leicester (LE) | 474 | 92.1% |
| 9 | Derby (DE) | 456 | 93.9% |
| 10 | Sheffield (S) | 433 | 92.8% |
| 11 | Portsmouth (PO) | 429 | 91.6% |
| 12 | Gloucester (GL) | 411 | 89.3% |
| 13 | Coventry (CV) | 397 | 93.4% |
| 14 | High Wycombe (HP) | 385 | 93.8% |
| 15 | Kingston upon Thames (KT) | 384 | 92.1% |
| 16 | Leeds (LS) | 383 | 91.0% |
| 17 | Chelmsford (CM) | 364 | 91.2% |
| 18 | Swindon (SN) | 362 | 91.0% |
| 19 | Slough (SL) | 353 | 90.8% |
| 20 | Bristol (BS) | 348 | 87.7% |
The twenty areas with the most Porsche Cayman cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →
Regional pass rates for the Cayman
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 261 | 92.7% |
| South West | 130 | 94.6% |
| East of England | 119 | 95.8% |
| North West | 100 | 90.0% |
| West Midlands | 97 | 97.9% |
| Yorkshire | 85 | 94.1% |
| Scotland | 76 | 89.5% |
| East Midlands | 70 | 94.3% |
| London | 40 | 87.5% |
| Wales | 27 | 96.3% |
| North East | 21 | 90.5% |
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 2012 Cayman
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 2012 Cayman
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 windscreen 1.4% 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.
-
Check the lights 1.1% 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 brake pipes 0.9% of tests
“rigid brake pipes excessively corroded”
Brake pipes run under the car, usually in front of the rear wheels. Flaking or crusty metal is what fails; a light dusting of surface rust does not. Worth asking a garage to look while it is on a ramp.
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 2012 Cayman through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £36–£96 — and 49% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £36–£96
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 49%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 1,026 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 Cayman, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2005 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 83.5% to 96.8% — a spread of 13.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2005 83.5% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2006 83.8% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2007 85.3% position lamp not working
- 2008 84.8% position lamp not working
- 2009 90.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 89.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 91.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 93.4%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 92.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 93.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 94.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 94.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 94.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 94.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 95.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 96.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 96.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2022 96.1% tread depth below requirements of…
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 2012 Porsche Cayman 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 2012 cars with a similar record
- Bentley Continental 93.4%
- Audi A8 90.2%
- Honda Fit 89.3%
- Toyota Estima 88.3%
- Lexus Rx 88.3%
- Lexus RX450H 88.0%
Closest pass rates among 2012 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 2012 Porsche Cayman 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 684 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 | 226 | 32.90% | 20.89% | +12.01 |
| Tyres | 188 | 27.40% | 19.76% | +7.64 |
| Suspension | 84 | 12.20% | 20.98% | −8.78 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 45 | 6.60% | 12.21% | −5.61 |
| Visibility | 38 | 5.50% | 4.97% | +0.53 |
| Non-component advisories | 37 | 5.40% | 4.18% | +1.22 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 33 | 4.80% | 5.52% | −0.72 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 14 | 2.00% | 5.57% | −3.57 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 12 | 1.70% | 1.76% | −0.06 |
| Steering | 7 | 1.00% | 2.57% | −1.57 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.4% | £80–200 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.1% | £5–20 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 0.88% | £80–180 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.88% | £8–22 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 0.78% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 0.68% | £5–25 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 0.58% | £8–22 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.49% | £60–250 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Rectified | 0.49% | £8–22 |
| Brake performance not tested unable to be tested Brakes | Major | 0.39% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.9% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 8.1% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 7.1% | £80–180 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 6.4% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 3.2% | £18–45 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 1.7% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 200 | 93.5% | 20,564 mi |
| 30-60k | 497 | 95.0% | 45,318 mi |
| 60-90k | 262 | 91.6% | 72,156 mi |
| 90-120k | 57 | 89.5% | 101,104 mi |
| 120k+ | 10 | 80.0% | 137,717 mi |
Source: 1,026 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.
2012 Cayman MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Porsche Cayman?
93.4% of the 1,026 2012 Porsche Cayman tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 93.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Porsche Cayman?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (1.36%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (1.07%), rigid brake pipes excessively corroded (0.88%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Porsche Cayman MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 93.5% of the time, falling to 80.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Porsche Cayman in this dataset had covered 48,817 mi.
Does the season affect the 2012 Porsche Cayman MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 91.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 94.9%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.