Pass rate
79.0%
Around average — 5.7 pts ahead of the 73.3% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 1,282 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £65–£184
2001 Rover Mini MOT pass rate
- 2001
- typical 43,788 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
25.0% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2000 79.4% pass
- Avoid 2001 79.0% pass · this year
Across the 2 years on record, a spread of 0.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 75.2%
- Typical mileage
- 44k mi
The 2001 Rover Mini MOT pass rate is 79.0% of its MOT tests — 5.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.0% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Rover Mini does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.9× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 16.2% of everything recorded on the 2001 Rover Mini, against 5.5% nationally — 10.7 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 25.0%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
- 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 73.3% and this one manages 79.0% — 5.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 24% 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 Rover Mini? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2001 Rover Mini compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.3%, so this figure is 5.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 75.2%. The median 2001 Rover Mini in this dataset had covered 43,788 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 78.2% of the time, April–September 79.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt", noted on 4.99% of tests.
- 1,282 recorded tests behind this page.
- 79.0% overall pass rate, 75.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Rover Mini, the average is 79.3% — best year 2000 (79.4%), worst 2001 (79.0%).
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
- 1,282
- Typical mileage (median)
- 43,788 mi
- Make and model
- Rover Mini
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Steering Rack
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Mini MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 57% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Mini
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 360 | 77.8% |
| South West | 175 | 75.4% |
| North West | 148 | 78.4% |
| West Midlands | 141 | 83.7% |
| East of England | 126 | 80.2% |
| East Midlands | 90 | 78.9% |
| Yorkshire | 79 | 87.3% |
| Scotland | 54 | 88.9% |
| London | 40 | 80.0% |
| North East | 35 | 74.3% |
| Wales | 34 | 58.8% |
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 2001 Mini
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 2001 Mini
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 steering 5.0% of tests
“steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt”
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 exhaust and emissions 3.1% of tests
“catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits”
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.
-
Check the horn 1.4% of tests
“horn not working”
Press it. That is the whole check, and a surprising number of cars fail on it.
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 2001 Mini through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £65–£184 — and 24% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £65–£184
- Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp not working
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: steering rack gaiter missing or no longer…
- £120–£300
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 24%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 1,282 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 Mini, side by side
2 model years on record, from 2000 to 2001. Across them the pass rate runs from 79.0% to 79.4% — a spread of 0.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 79.4% steering rack gaiter missing or…
- 2001 79.0%steering rack gaiter missing or…
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 2001 Rover Mini 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 2001 cars with a similar record
- Mercedes-Benz Clk 79.0%
- Land Rover Range Rover 78.9%
- Jaguar Xkr 79.2%
- Subaru Impreza 79.3%
- BMW Z3 79.5%
- Mercedes-Benz Slk 80.3%
Closest pass rates among 2001 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 2001 Rover Mini 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 1,873 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 | 475 | 25.00% | 20.98% | +4.02 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 308 | 16.20% | 5.52% | +10.68 |
| Brakes | 278 | 14.60% | 20.89% | −6.29 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 207 | 10.90% | 12.21% | −1.31 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 177 | 9.30% | 5.57% | +3.73 |
| Tyres | 148 | 7.80% | 19.76% | −11.96 |
| Steering | 132 | 6.90% | 2.57% | +4.33 |
| Visibility | 73 | 3.80% | 4.97% | −1.17 |
| Non-component advisories | 40 | 2.10% | 4.18% | −2.08 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 35 | 1.80% | 0.82% | +0.98 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Steering | Major | 5.0% | £120–300 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.1% | £60–250 |
| Service brake imbalance across an axle Brakes | Major | 2.9% | £45–110 |
| Steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 2.8% | £120–300 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.6% | £60–250 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 1.6% | £45–110 |
| Horn not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.4% | £8–25 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.4% | £3–15 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.3% | £5–20 |
| Washers not working Visibility | Major | 1.3% | £5–15 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 12.8% | £200–700 |
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Advisory | 7.4% | £20–55 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 6.1% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 5.6% | £18–45 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 4.1% | £80–180 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 3.9% | £40–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 380 | 83.2% | 15,697 mi |
| 30-60k | 584 | 78.9% | 45,418 mi |
| 60-90k | 295 | 74.9% | 70,882 mi |
| 90-120k | 20 | 65.0% | 94,259 mi |
Source: 1,282 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.
2001 Mini MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2001 Rover Mini?
79.0% of the 1,282 2001 Rover Mini tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.3% for cars first used in 2001. First-attempt pass rate: 75.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2001 Rover Mini?
The three most recorded items are steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (4.99%), catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (3.12%), service brake imbalance across an axle (2.89%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2001 Rover Mini MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 83.2% of the time, falling to 65.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2001 Rover Mini in this dataset had covered 43,788 mi.
Does the season affect the 2001 Rover Mini MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 78.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 79.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.