Pass rate
Below average — 4.6 pts behind the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 143 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £38–£100
Pass rate
Below average — 4.6 pts behind the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 143 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £38–£100
Most common fault
Brakes
23.1% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
Across the 8 years on record, a spread of 5.9 points. See every year →
The 2005 Proton Gen-2 MOT pass rate is 67.8% of its MOT tests — 4.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 23.1% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics make up 18.4% of everything recorded on the 2005 Proton Gen-2, against 12.2% nationally — 6.2 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 23.1%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Walk round the car with the lights on before the test: bulbs, indicators and number-plate lamps are the cheapest failures to prevent and among the most common.
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 Proton Gen-2? Get an email when these numbers change .
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.4%, so this figure is 4.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 57.0%. The median 2005 Proton Gen-2 in this dataset had covered 67,959 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 68.2% of the time, April–September 67.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 6.29% 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.
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 56% so small gaps stay visible.
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 35 | 68.6% |
| East of England | 31 | 71.0% |
| Yorkshire | 20 | 75.0% |
| South East | 15 | 80.0% |
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 lights 6.3% 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 corrosion 4.2% of tests
“component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength”
Look under the sills, around the jacking points and where the suspension mounts meet the body. Flaking, holed or crumbly metal fails; a brown stain on sound metal does not.
Check the exhaust and emissions 4.2% of tests
“exhaust system system insecure”
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.
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 £38–£100 — 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 143 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 2005 to 2012. Across them the pass rate runs from 66.0% to 71.9% — a spread of 5.9 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 2005 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 394 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 | 93 | 23.10% | 20.89% | +2.21 |
| Suspension | 87 | 21.60% | 20.98% | +0.62 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 74 | 18.40% | 12.21% | +6.19 |
| Tyres | 44 | 10.90% | 19.76% | −8.86 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 43 | 10.70% | 5.57% | +5.13 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 27 | 6.70% | 5.52% | +1.18 |
| Steering | 10 | 2.50% | 2.57% | −0.07 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 6 | 1.50% | 0.82% | +0.68 |
| Visibility | 5 | 1.20% | 4.97% | −3.77 |
| Non-component advisories | 5 | 1.20% | 4.18% | −2.98 |
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.3% | £5–20 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 5.6% | £45–110 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 4.2% | £180–450 |
| Exhaust system system insecure Body, chassis, structure | Major | 4.2% | £45–120 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.5% | £18–45 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.5% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.8% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.8% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.8% | £5–25 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.8% | £3–12 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 16.8% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 14.7% | £45–110 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 11.9% | £200–700 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 10.5% | £30–75 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 9.8% | £18–45 |
| Exhaust system system insecure Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 5.6% | £45–120 |
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 15 | 66.7% | 22,895 mi |
| 30-60k | 42 | 69.0% | 41,984 mi |
| 60-90k | 65 | 66.2% | 76,715 mi |
| 90-120k | 17 | 64.7% | 103,314 mi |
| 120k+ | 4 | 100.0% | 137,727 mi |
Source: 143 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.
67.8% of the 143 2005 Proton Gen-2 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.4% for cars first used in 2005. First-attempt pass rate: 57.0%.
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (6.29%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (5.59%), component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (4.20%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 66.7% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2005 Proton Gen-2 in this dataset had covered 67,959 mi.
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 68.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 67.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.