Pass rate
74.9%
Below average — 2.5 pts ahead of the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 179 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £37–£124
2005 Smart Forfour Brabus MOT pass rate
- 2005
- typical 98,622 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
21.8% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2006 77.4% pass
- Avoid 2005 74.9% pass · this year
Across the 2 years on record, a spread of 2.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 69.6%
- Typical mileage
- 99k mi
The 2005 Smart Forfour Brabus MOT pass rate is 74.9% of its MOT tests — 2.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 21.8% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.0× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 11.2% of everything recorded on the 2005 Smart Forfour Brabus, against 5.6% nationally — 5.6 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 21.8%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 35% 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. 179 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 Smart Forfour Brabus? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2005 Smart Forfour Brabus compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.4%, so this figure is 2.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 69.6%. The median 2005 Smart Forfour Brabus in this dataset had covered 98,622 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 78.3% of the time, April–September 72.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 5.59% of tests.
- 179 recorded tests behind this page.
- 74.9% overall pass rate, 69.6% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Smart Forfour Brabus, the average is 76.4% — best year 2006 (77.4%), worst 2005 (74.9%).
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
- 179
- Typical mileage (median)
- 98,622 mi
- Make and model
- Smart Forfour Brabus
- 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 Forfour Brabus MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 59% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Forfour Brabus
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 42 | 76.2% |
| South West | 29 | 62.1% |
| London | 26 | 92.3% |
| East of England | 21 | 71.4% |
| West Midlands | 19 | 84.2% |
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 2005 Forfour Brabus
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 2005 Forfour Brabus
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 5.6% 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 3.9% 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 3.9% 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 2005 Forfour Brabus through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £37–£124 — and 35% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £37–£124
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 35%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 179 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 Forfour Brabus, side by side
2 model years on record, from 2005 to 2006. Across them the pass rate runs from 74.9% to 77.4% — a spread of 2.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2005 74.9%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 77.4% headlamp lens slightly defective
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 2005 Smart Forfour Brabus 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 2005 cars with a similar record
Closest pass rates among 2005 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 2005 Smart Forfour Brabus 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 408 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 | 91 | 21.80% | 20.98% | +0.82 |
| Brakes | 66 | 15.80% | 20.89% | −5.09 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 61 | 14.60% | 12.21% | +2.39 |
| Tyres | 52 | 12.40% | 19.76% | −7.36 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 47 | 11.20% | 5.57% | +5.63 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 33 | 7.90% | 5.52% | +2.38 |
| Visibility | 19 | 4.50% | 4.97% | −0.47 |
| Road Wheels | 17 | 4.10% | 0.75% | +3.35 |
| Non-component advisories | 12 | 2.90% | 4.18% | −1.28 |
| Steering | 10 | 2.40% | 2.57% | −0.17 |
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 | 5.6% | £5–20 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.9% | £60–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.9% | £80–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.9% | £80–250 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 3.9% | £8–22 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.4% | £18–45 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.8% | £60–250 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.8% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.8% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.2% | £18–45 |
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 | 12.3% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 12.3% | £45–95 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 10.1% | £25–65 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 9.5% | £45–95 |
| Badly distorted Road Wheels | Advisory | 8.4% | £20–55 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 6.7% | £45–120 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 2 | 100.0% | 16,503 mi |
| 30-60k | 11 | 90.9% | 56,199 mi |
| 60-90k | 43 | 74.4% | 72,486 mi |
| 90-120k | 89 | 75.3% | 102,927 mi |
| 120k+ | 34 | 67.6% | 134,039 mi |
Source: 179 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.
2005 Forfour Brabus MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2005 Smart Forfour Brabus?
74.9% of the 179 2005 Smart Forfour Brabus tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.4% for cars first used in 2005. First-attempt pass rate: 69.6%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2005 Smart Forfour Brabus?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (5.59%), catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (3.91%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (3.91%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2005 Smart Forfour Brabus MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 67.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2005 Smart Forfour Brabus in this dataset had covered 98,622 mi.
Does the season affect the 2005 Smart Forfour Brabus MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 78.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 72.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.