Pass rate
69.3%
Below average — 4.7 pts behind the 74.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 322 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £40–£100
2009 Proton Savvy MOT pass rate
- 2009
- 2 trims combined
- typical 55,991 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
26.7% 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 →
Which year to buy
- Best 2010 71.1% pass
- Avoid 2006 63.6% pass
Across the 7 years on record, a spread of 7.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 61.0%
- Typical mileage
- 56k mi
The 2009 Proton Savvy MOT pass rate is 69.3% of its MOT tests — 4.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.7% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Proton Savvy does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.3× the national share
Brakes make up 26.7% of everything recorded on the 2009 Proton Savvy, against 20.9% nationally — 5.8 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 74.0%; this one manages 69.3% — 4.7 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 19% 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 Proton Savvy? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Proton Savvy first registered in 2009 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2009 Proton Savvy compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.0%, so this figure is 4.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 61.0%. The median 2009 Proton Savvy in this dataset had covered 55,991 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 70.7% of the time, April–September 67.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Service brake performance excessively binding", noted on 6.21% of tests.
- 322 recorded tests behind this page.
- 69.3% overall pass rate, 61.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Proton Savvy, the average is 68.0% — best year 2010 (71.1%), worst 2006 (63.6%).
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
- 322
- Typical mileage (median)
- 55,991 mi
- Make and model
- Proton Savvy
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Brake Servicing
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Savvy MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 53% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Savvy
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 82 | 65.9% |
| South East | 54 | 75.9% |
| North West | 45 | 66.7% |
| East of England | 33 | 63.6% |
| West Midlands | 28 | 67.9% |
| East Midlands | 28 | 71.4% |
| Yorkshire | 25 | 72.0% |
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.
What fails a 2009 Savvy
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 2009 Savvy
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 5.6% 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 lights 5.3% of tests
“headlamp aim too low”
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 wipers and washers 5.3% of tests
“wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the 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 2009 Savvy through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £40–£100 — and 19% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £40–£100
- Cheapest common item: anti-lock braking system warning lamp…
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 19%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 322 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 Savvy, side by side
7 model years on record, from 2006 to 2012. Across them the pass rate runs from 63.6% to 71.1% — a spread of 7.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2006 63.6% headlamp aim too low
- 2007 67.0% headlamp aim too low
- 2008 68.4% headlamp aim too low
- 2009 69.3%service brake performance…
- 2010 71.1% headlamp aim too low
- 2011 68.9% service brake performance…
- 2012 68.6% headlamp aim too low
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 2009 Proton Savvy 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 2009 cars with a similar record
- Vauxhall Antara 69.4%
- Peugeot 207 69.5%
- Nissan X-Trail 69.5%
- Vauxhall Combo 68.9%
- Hyundai Coupe 68.9%
- Renault Grand Scenic 69.7%
Closest pass rates among 2009 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 2009 Proton Savvy 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 978 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 | 268 | 26.70% | 20.89% | +5.81 |
| Suspension | 234 | 23.40% | 20.98% | +2.42 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 113 | 11.30% | 12.21% | −0.91 |
| Tyres | 98 | 9.80% | 19.76% | −9.96 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 82 | 8.20% | 5.57% | +2.63 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 53 | 5.30% | 5.52% | −0.22 |
| Visibility | 49 | 4.90% | 4.97% | −0.07 |
| Steering | 46 | 4.60% | 2.57% | +2.03 |
| Road Wheels | 18 | 1.80% | 0.75% | +1.05 |
| Non-component advisories | 17 | 1.70% | 4.18% | −2.48 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 6.2% | £60–150 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 5.6% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.3% | £30–80 |
| Service brake imbalance across an axle Brakes | Major | 5.3% | £45–110 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 5.3% | £8–22 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 4.0% | £80–180 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.7% | £45–110 |
| Anti-lock braking system warning lamp indicates an ABS fault Brakes | Major | 3.4% | £3–15 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.4% | £45–120 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.4% | £80–200 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 22.1% | £25–65 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 13.3% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 13.0% | £80–180 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Advisory | 12.4% | £60–150 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 11.2% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 9.6% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 46 | 73.9% | 21,220 mi |
| 30-60k | 153 | 73.2% | 47,095 mi |
| 60-90k | 110 | 61.8% | 69,750 mi |
| 90-120k | 12 | 66.7% | 98,255 mi |
Source: 322 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.
2009 Savvy MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2009 Proton Savvy?
69.3% of the 322 2009 Proton Savvy tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.0% for cars first used in 2009. First-attempt pass rate: 61.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2009 Proton Savvy?
The three most recorded items are service brake performance excessively binding (6.21%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (5.59%), headlamp aim too low (5.28%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2009 Proton Savvy MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 73.9% of the time, falling to 66.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2009 Proton Savvy in this dataset had covered 55,991 mi.
Does the season affect the 2009 Proton Savvy MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 70.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 67.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.