Pass rate
76.2%
Around average — 3.2 pts ahead of the 73.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 63 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £28–£77
2007 Smart Fortwo Brabus MOT pass rate
- 2007
- typical 91,143 mi
Only 63 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
Lamps & electrics
20.0% of faults · 12.2% nationally
Which year to buy
- Best 2012 88.7% pass
- Avoid 2010 76.1% pass
Across the 5 years on record, a spread of 12.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 71.2%
- Typical mileage
- 91k mi
The 2007 Smart Fortwo Brabus MOT pass rate is 76.2% of its MOT tests — 3.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Lamps & electrics is the biggest single reason it fails, at 20.0% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 1.6× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 20.0% of everything recorded on the 2007 Smart Fortwo Brabus, against 12.2% nationally — 7.8 points above. 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 73.0% and this one manages 76.2% — 3.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 32% 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 Smart Fortwo Brabus? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2007 Smart Fortwo Brabus compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.0%, so this figure is 3.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 71.2%. The median 2007 Smart Fortwo Brabus in this dataset had covered 91,143 mi.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint excessively worn", noted on 4.76% of tests.
- 63 recorded tests behind this page.
- 76.2% overall pass rate, 71.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Smart Fortwo Brabus, the average is 83.8% — best year 2012 (88.7%), worst 2010 (76.1%).
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
- 63
- Typical mileage (median)
- 91,143 mi
- Make and model
- Smart Fortwo Brabus
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Fortwo Brabus MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 54% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Fortwo Brabus
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 15 | 60.0% |
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 2007 Fortwo 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 2007 Fortwo 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 suspension joints 4.8% of tests
“ball joint excessively worn”
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 4.8% of tests
“headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect”
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 wipers and washers 4.8% 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 2007 Fortwo Brabus through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £28–£77 — and 32% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £28–£77
- Cheapest common item: individual direction indicators not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 32%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 63 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 Fortwo Brabus, side by side
5 model years on record, from 2007 to 2013. Across them the pass rate runs from 76.1% to 88.7% — a spread of 12.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2007 76.2%ball joint excessively worn
- 2010 76.1% ball joint excessively worn
- 2011 83.8% position lamp not working
- 2012 88.7% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2013 85.9% windscreen damaged but not…
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 Smart Fortwo 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 2007 cars with a similar record
- Saab 9-5 76.2%
- Mitsubishi Lancer 76.3%
- Audi A4 76.1%
- Volkswagen Touareg 76.1%
- Toyota Auris 76.4%
- 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 Smart Fortwo 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 129 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 26 | 20.00% | 12.21% | +7.79 |
| Brakes | 25 | 19.20% | 20.89% | −1.69 |
| Suspension | 23 | 17.70% | 20.98% | −3.28 |
| Tyres | 15 | 11.50% | 19.76% | −8.26 |
| Visibility | 11 | 8.50% | 4.97% | +3.53 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 10 | 7.70% | 5.52% | +2.18 |
| Steering | 7 | 5.40% | 2.57% | +2.83 |
| Non-component advisories | 5 | 3.80% | 4.18% | −0.38 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 4 | 3.10% | 5.57% | −2.47 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 3 | 2.30% | 0.82% | +1.48 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.8% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.8% | £30–80 |
| Individual direction indicators not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.8% | £3–12 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 4.8% | £5–15 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.8% | £80–200 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.2% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.2% | £25–65 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.2% | £5–25 |
| Parking brake performance inoperative on one side Brakes | Major | 3.2% | £60–150 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.2% | £40–150 |
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 | 11.1% | £45–110 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 11.1% | £200–700 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 9.5% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 7.9% | £40–150 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 7.9% | £80–180 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 6.3% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 9 | 77.8% | 20,296 mi |
| 30-60k | 12 | 91.7% | 45,335 mi |
| 60-90k | 8 | 62.5% | 87,599 mi |
| 90-120k | 32 | 71.9% | 99,580 mi |
Source: 63 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 Fortwo Brabus MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2007 Smart Fortwo Brabus?
76.2% of the 63 2007 Smart Fortwo Brabus tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.0% for cars first used in 2007. First-attempt pass rate: 71.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2007 Smart Fortwo Brabus?
The three most recorded items are ball joint excessively worn (4.76%), headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.76%), individual direction indicators not working (4.76%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2007 Smart Fortwo Brabus MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 77.8% of the time, falling to 71.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2007 Smart Fortwo Brabus in this dataset had covered 91,143 mi.