Pass rate
79.5%
Around average — 4.8 pts ahead of the 74.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 78 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £28–£76
2010 Saab 9-3 Vector MOT pass rate
- 2010
- typical 107,315 mi
Only 78 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
22.9% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2010 79.5% pass · this year
- Avoid 2004 74.0% pass
Across the 8 years on record, a spread of 5.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 74.6%
- Typical mileage
- 107k mi
The 2010 Saab 9-3 Vector MOT pass rate is 79.5% of its MOT tests — 4.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.9% 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 74.7% and this one manages 79.5% — 4.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 30% 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.
- Based on a small sample. 78 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 Vector? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2010 Saab 9-3 Vector compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.7%, so this figure is 4.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 74.6%. The median 2010 Saab 9-3 Vector in this dataset had covered 107,315 mi.
53% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 80.5% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 78.3% of the time, April–September 81.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 6.41% of tests.
- 78 recorded tests behind this page.
- 79.5% overall pass rate, 74.6% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Saab 9-3 Vector, the average is 76.6% — best year 2010 (79.5%), worst 2004 (74.0%).
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
- 78
- Typical mileage (median)
- 107,315 mi
- Make and model
- Saab 9-3 Vector
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Coil Spring
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the 9-3 Vector MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 68% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (53% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the 9-3 Vector
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 15 | 80.0% |
| South West | 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.
What fails a 2010 9-3 Vector
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 2010 9-3 Vector
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 coil springs 6.4% 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.
-
Check the suspension joints 5.1% 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 5.1% of tests
“headlamp lens slightly defective”
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.
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 2010 9-3 Vector through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £28–£76 — and 30% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £28–£76
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: inoperative
- £60–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 30%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 78 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 Vector, side by side
8 model years on record, from 2004 to 2011. Across them the pass rate runs from 74.0% to 79.5% — a spread of 5.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2004 74.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 75.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2006 75.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2007 75.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2008 78.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2009 78.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2010 79.5%coil spring fractured or broken
- 2011 78.9% coil spring fractured or broken
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 2010 Saab 9-3 Vector 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 2010 cars with a similar record
Closest pass rates among 2010 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 2010 Saab 9-3 Vector 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 177 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 | 41 | 22.90% | 20.89% | +2.01 |
| Suspension | 36 | 20.10% | 20.98% | −0.88 |
| Tyres | 31 | 17.30% | 19.76% | −2.46 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 18 | 10.10% | 12.21% | −2.11 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 15 | 8.40% | 5.52% | +2.88 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 13 | 7.30% | 5.57% | +1.73 |
| Visibility | 6 | 3.40% | 4.97% | −1.57 |
| Steering | 6 | 3.40% | 2.57% | +0.83 |
| Road Wheels | 6 | 3.40% | 0.75% | +2.65 |
| Non-component advisories | 5 | 2.80% | 4.18% | −1.38 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 6.4% | £25–65 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 5.1% | £18–45 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 5.1% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 5.1% | £5–25 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Rectified | 3.9% | £3–12 |
| Battery(ies) insecure and likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.6% | £60–140 |
| Flexible brake hoses ferrule excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 2.6% | £25–70 |
| Inoperative Steering | Major | 2.6% | £60–200 |
| Other components leaking Steering | Major | 2.6% | £60–200 |
| Position lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.6% | £5–25 |
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 | 24.4% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 15.4% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 12.8% | £18–45 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 12.8% | £45–120 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 11.5% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 9.0% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1 | 100.0% | 28,648 mi |
| 30-60k | 4 | 100.0% | 44,559 mi |
| 60-90k | 26 | 76.9% | 78,800 mi |
| 90-120k | 17 | 82.4% | 107,857 mi |
| 120k+ | 30 | 76.7% | 156,383 mi |
Source: 78 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.
2010 9-3 Vector MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2010 Saab 9-3 Vector?
79.5% of the 78 2010 Saab 9-3 Vector tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.7% for cars first used in 2010. First-attempt pass rate: 74.6%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2010 Saab 9-3 Vector?
The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (6.41%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (5.13%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (5.13%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2010 Saab 9-3 Vector MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 76.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2010 Saab 9-3 Vector in this dataset had covered 107,315 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2010 Saab 9-3 Vector?
Petrol: 80.5% pass rate across 41 tests. Diesel: 78.4% pass rate across 37 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2010 Saab 9-3 Vector MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 78.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 81.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.