Pass rate
85.9%
Above average — 7.3 pts ahead of the 78.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 248 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £50–£139
2013 Smart Fortwo Brabus MOT pass rate
- 2013
- 2 trims combined
- typical 48,657 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
23.6% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
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
- 85.1%
- Typical mileage
- 49k mi
The 2013 Smart Fortwo Brabus MOT pass rate is 85.9% of its MOT tests — 7.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 23.6% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Smart Fortwo Brabus does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Road wheels: 9.5× the national share
Road wheels make up 7.1% of everything recorded on the 2013 Smart Fortwo Brabus, against 0.8% nationally — 6.3 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 23.6%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Check for buckled rims and missing wheel bolts; kerbing is the usual cause and it is visible.
- 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 78.6% and this one manages 85.9% — 7.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 10% 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 .
Every Smart Fortwo Brabus first registered in 2013 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2013 Smart Fortwo Brabus compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 78.6%, so this figure is 7.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 85.1%. The median 2013 Smart Fortwo Brabus in this dataset had covered 48,657 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 89.8% of the time, April–September 83.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 4.03% of tests.
- 248 recorded tests behind this page.
- 85.9% overall pass rate, 85.1% 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
- 248
- Typical mileage (median)
- 48,657 mi
- Make and model
- Smart Fortwo Brabus
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Fortwo Brabus MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 65% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Fortwo Brabus
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 83 | 90.4% |
| South West | 47 | 78.7% |
| West Midlands | 23 | 82.6% |
| London | 21 | 95.2% |
| East of England | 19 | 89.5% |
| East Midlands | 18 | 83.3% |
| North West | 17 | 82.4% |
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 2013 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 2013 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 windscreen 4.0% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
-
Check the exhaust and emissions 2.8% of tests
“exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases”
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 lights 2.0% of tests
“mirrors slightly damaged”
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 2013 Fortwo Brabus through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £50–£139 — and 10% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £50–£139
- Cheapest common item: mirrors slightly damaged
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 10%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 248 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 2013 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 2013 cars with a similar record
- Toyota Auris 85.9%
- MINI Paceman 86.0%
- MINI Countryman 85.8%
- Audi A7 85.8%
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class 85.7%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 86.2%
Closest pass rates among 2013 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 2013 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 326 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 | 77 | 23.60% | 20.89% | +2.71 |
| Tyres | 75 | 23.00% | 19.76% | +3.24 |
| Suspension | 38 | 11.70% | 20.98% | −9.28 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 32 | 9.80% | 5.52% | +4.28 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 31 | 9.50% | 5.57% | +3.93 |
| Visibility | 25 | 7.70% | 4.97% | +2.73 |
| Road Wheels | 23 | 7.10% | 0.75% | +6.35 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 15 | 4.60% | 12.21% | −7.61 |
| Non-component advisories | 9 | 2.80% | 4.18% | −1.38 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 1 | 0.30% | 1.76% | −1.46 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.0% | £80–200 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 3.6% | £60–150 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.8% | £45–120 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 2.0% | £45–95 |
| Mirrors slightly damaged Visibility | Minor | 2.0% | £3–15 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.2% | £60–250 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.2% | £25–65 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 1.2% | £18–45 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.81% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.81% | £60–250 |
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 | 12.5% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 10.1% | £45–95 |
| Badly distorted Road Wheels | Advisory | 8.9% | £20–55 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 8.5% | £25–65 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 8.1% | £80–180 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Advisory | 6.8% | £60–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 57 | 93.0% | 21,983 mi |
| 30-60k | 115 | 86.1% | 45,434 mi |
| 60-90k | 61 | 82.0% | 71,624 mi |
| 90-120k | 15 | 73.3% | 100,120 mi |
Source: 248 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.
2013 Fortwo Brabus MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2013 Smart Fortwo Brabus?
85.9% of the 248 2013 Smart Fortwo Brabus tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 78.6% for cars first used in 2013. First-attempt pass rate: 85.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2013 Smart Fortwo Brabus?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (4.03%), service brake performance excessively binding (3.63%), exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases (2.82%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2013 Smart Fortwo Brabus MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 93.0% of the time, falling to 73.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2013 Smart Fortwo Brabus in this dataset had covered 48,657 mi.
Does the season affect the 2013 Smart Fortwo Brabus MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 89.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 83.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.