Pass rate
76.3%
Around average — 4.1 pts ahead of the 72.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 507 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £24–£77
2004 Smart City Passion MOT pass rate
- 2004
- 2 trims combined
- typical 70,886 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
20.1% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2005 76.7% pass
- Avoid 2006 73.5% pass
Across the 5 years on record, a spread of 3.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 70.7%
- Typical mileage
- 71k mi
The 2004 Smart City Passion MOT pass rate is 76.3% of its MOT tests — 4.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 20.1% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Smart City Passion does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 1.5× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 18.8% of everything recorded on the 2004 Smart City Passion, against 12.2% nationally — 6.6 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 20.1%, 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.
- 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 72.2% and this one manages 76.3% — 4.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
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 Smart City Passion? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Smart City Passion first registered in 2004 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2004 Smart City Passion compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.2%, so this figure is 4.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 70.7%. The median 2004 Smart City Passion in this dataset had covered 70,886 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 78.1% of the time, April–September 74.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 4.93% of tests.
- 507 recorded tests behind this page.
- 76.3% overall pass rate, 70.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Smart City Passion, the average is 75.1% — best year 2005 (76.7%), worst 2006 (73.5%).
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
- 507
- Typical mileage (median)
- 70,886 mi
- Make and model
- Smart City Passion
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
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 City Passion MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 56% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the City Passion
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 122 | 75.4% |
| South West | 112 | 73.2% |
| East of England | 75 | 76.0% |
| London | 45 | 84.4% |
| Yorkshire | 36 | 69.4% |
| West Midlands | 34 | 82.4% |
| North West | 30 | 80.0% |
| East Midlands | 18 | 61.1% |
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 2004 City Passion
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 2004 City Passion
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 4.9% 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 exhaust and emissions 4.5% 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 wipers and washers 4.3% of tests
“washers provides insufficient washer liquid”
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 2004 City Passion through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £24–£77 — and 54% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £24–£77
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 54%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 507 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 City Passion, side by side
5 model years on record, from 2003 to 2007. Across them the pass rate runs from 73.5% to 76.7% — a spread of 3.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 75.3% headlamp aim projected beam image…
- 2004 76.3%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 76.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 73.5% headlamp aim projected beam image…
- 2007 73.8% 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 2004 Smart City Passion 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 2004 cars with a similar record
- Toyota Avensis 76.3%
- Land Rover Defender 76.2%
- Toyota MR2 76.4%
- Volkswagen Touareg 76.4%
- BMW 3 Series 76.5%
- Toyota RAV4 76.5%
Closest pass rates among 2004 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 2004 Smart City Passion 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 1,351 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 | 275 | 20.10% | 20.89% | −0.79 |
| Suspension | 274 | 20.00% | 20.98% | −0.98 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 258 | 18.80% | 12.21% | +6.59 |
| Tyres | 183 | 13.30% | 19.76% | −6.46 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 128 | 9.30% | 5.52% | +3.78 |
| Visibility | 78 | 5.70% | 4.97% | +0.73 |
| Steering | 51 | 3.70% | 2.57% | +1.13 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 50 | 3.60% | 5.57% | −1.97 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 32 | 2.30% | 1.76% | +0.54 |
| Non-component advisories | 22 | 1.60% | 4.18% | −2.58 |
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 | 4.9% | £5–20 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 4.5% | £60–250 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.3% | £5–25 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 4.3% | £5–15 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.9% | £30–80 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.2% | £80–200 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.0% | £3–12 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.6% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.4% | £5–25 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.2% | £25–65 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 15.4% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 15.0% | £80–180 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 14.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 13.2% | £45–110 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 11.8% | £200–700 |
| Flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated Brakes | Advisory | 9.1% | £25–70 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 24 | 95.8% | 23,890 mi |
| 30-60k | 146 | 77.4% | 47,826 mi |
| 60-90k | 213 | 75.6% | 74,562 mi |
| 90-120k | 76 | 77.6% | 102,895 mi |
| 120k+ | 28 | 64.3% | 170,494 mi |
Source: 507 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.
2004 City Passion MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2004 Smart City Passion?
76.3% of the 507 2004 Smart City Passion tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.2% for cars first used in 2004. First-attempt pass rate: 70.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2004 Smart City Passion?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (4.93%), catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (4.54%), headlamp lens slightly defective (4.34%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2004 Smart City Passion MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 95.8% of the time, falling to 64.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2004 Smart City Passion in this dataset had covered 70,886 mi.
Does the season affect the 2004 Smart City Passion MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 78.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 74.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.