Pass rate
76.3%
Around average — 3.3 pts ahead of the 73.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 177 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £17–£47
2007 Saab 9-3 Linear MOT pass rate
- 2007
- 2 trims combined
- typical 115,703 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
19.4% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2010 78.8% pass
- Avoid 2009 70.8% pass
Across the 8 years on record, a spread of 8 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 70.7%
- Typical mileage
- 116k mi
The 2007 Saab 9-3 Linear MOT pass rate is 76.3% of its MOT tests — 3.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 19.4% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
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 73.0% and this one manages 76.3% — 3.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 55% of the repairs this model fails on cost under £30 in parts. The pass rate matters less than what a bad afternoon at the test centre actually costs you.
- Based on a small sample. 177 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 Saab 9-3 Linear? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Saab 9-3 Linear first registered in 2007 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2007 Saab 9-3 Linear compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.0%, so this figure is 3.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 70.7%. The median 2007 Saab 9-3 Linear in this dataset had covered 115,703 mi.
71% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 78.4% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 74.0% of the time, April–September 79.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 7.34% of tests.
- 177 recorded tests behind this page.
- 76.3% overall pass rate, 70.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Saab 9-3 Linear, the average is 76.2% — best year 2010 (78.8%), worst 2009 (70.8%).
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
- 177
- Typical mileage (median)
- 115,703 mi
- Make and model
- Saab 9-3 Linear
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the 9-3 Linear MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 60% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (71% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the 9-3 Linear
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 39 | 82.1% |
| East of England | 34 | 73.5% |
| South West | 20 | 55.0% |
| London | 16 | 81.3% |
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 2007 9-3 Linear
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 2007 9-3 Linear
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 7.3% 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 the brakes 3.4% of tests
“brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick”
Look through the spokes of each wheel at the pad — less than 3mm of friction material, or a lip on the disc edge, is the usual failure. Check the handbrake holds on a slope with a few clicks, not at the top of its travel.
-
Check the coil springs 2.8% 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.
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 2007 9-3 Linear through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £17–£47 — and 55% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £17–£47
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp with a multiple light source up to…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: parking brake performance inoperative on one…
- £60–£150
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 55%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 177 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 9-3 Linear, side by side
8 model years on record, from 2005 to 2012. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.8% to 78.8% — a spread of 8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2005 74.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 78.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 76.3%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 73.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2009 70.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 78.8% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2011 77.2% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2012 78.5% ball joint dust cover severely…
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 2007 Saab 9-3 Linear 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 2007 cars with a similar record
- Mitsubishi Lancer 76.3%
- Toyota Auris 76.4%
- Audi A4 76.1%
- BMW 520 76.5%
- Volkswagen Touareg 76.1%
- Land Rover Discovery 75.9%
Closest pass rates among 2007 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 2007 Saab 9-3 Linear 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 439 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 | 86 | 19.40% | 20.98% | −1.58 |
| Brakes | 80 | 18.00% | 20.89% | −2.89 |
| Tyres | 74 | 16.70% | 19.76% | −3.06 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 61 | 13.70% | 12.21% | +1.49 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 38 | 8.60% | 5.52% | +3.08 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 27 | 6.10% | 5.57% | +0.53 |
| Non-component advisories | 23 | 5.20% | 4.18% | +1.02 |
| Steering | 21 | 4.70% | 2.57% | +2.13 |
| Visibility | 19 | 4.30% | 4.97% | −0.67 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 10 | 2.30% | 1.76% | +0.54 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| 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 | 7.3% | £5–20 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 3.4% | £18–45 |
| Position lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.4% | £5–25 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.8% | £25–65 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.8% | £18–45 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.8% | £45–110 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.3% | £5–25 |
| Parking brake performance inoperative on one side Brakes | Major | 2.3% | £60–150 |
| Position lamp incorrect colour Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.3% | £5–25 |
| Stop lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.3% | £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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 22.0% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 15.8% | £200–700 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 11.3% | £45–95 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 9.6% | £180–450 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 8.5% | £18–45 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 7.9% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 6 | 100.0% | 20,065 mi |
| 30-60k | 11 | 81.8% | 56,743 mi |
| 60-90k | 30 | 83.3% | 72,348 mi |
| 90-120k | 57 | 78.9% | 107,329 mi |
| 120k+ | 73 | 68.5% | 147,258 mi |
Source: 177 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.
2007 9-3 Linear MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2007 Saab 9-3 Linear?
76.3% of the 177 2007 Saab 9-3 Linear tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.0% for cars first used in 2007. First-attempt pass rate: 70.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2007 Saab 9-3 Linear?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (7.34%), brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (3.39%), position lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning (3.39%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2007 Saab 9-3 Linear MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 68.5% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2007 Saab 9-3 Linear in this dataset had covered 115,703 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2007 Saab 9-3 Linear?
Petrol: 78.4% pass rate across 125 tests. Diesel: 71.2% pass rate across 52 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2007 Saab 9-3 Linear MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 74.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 79.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.