Pass rate
74.8%
Below average — 2.6 pts ahead of the 72.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 329 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £21–£73
2004 Smart Mcc Cabriolet MOT pass rate
- 2004
- typical 71,778 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Lamps & electrics
20.4% of faults · 12.2% nationally
Part only £6–£18 for Registration plate lamp inoperative (multiple lamps). What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2011 83.3% pass
- Avoid 2002 71.7% pass
Across the 11 years on record, a spread of 11.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 68.1%
- Typical mileage
- 72k mi
The 2004 Smart Mcc Cabriolet MOT pass rate is 74.8% of its MOT tests — 2.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Lamps & electrics is the biggest single reason it fails, at 20.4% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 1.7× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 20.4% of everything recorded on the 2004 Smart Mcc Cabriolet, against 12.2% nationally — 8.2 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.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 66% of the repairs this model fails on cost under £30 in parts. The pass rate matters less than what a bad afternoon at the test centre actually costs you.
- Based on a small sample. 329 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 Mcc Cabriolet? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2004 Smart Mcc Cabriolet compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.2%, so this figure is 2.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 68.1%. The median 2004 Smart Mcc Cabriolet in this dataset had covered 71,778 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 72.4% of the time, April–September 77.8%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits", noted on 4.26% of tests.
- 329 recorded tests behind this page.
- 74.8% overall pass rate, 68.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Smart Mcc Cabriolet, the average is 76.6% — best year 2011 (83.3%), worst 2002 (71.7%).
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
- 329
- Typical mileage (median)
- 71,778 mi
- Make and model
- Smart Mcc Cabriolet
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Emissions Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Cabriolet MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 63% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Smart Mcc Cabriolet is most common
Across all Cabriolet model years on record (2002–2012): 1,214 Smart Mcc Cabriolet cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 2,789 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 45 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham (B) | 45 | 87.4% |
| 2 | Portsmouth (PO) | 28 | 74.7% |
| 3 | Bristol (BS) | 26 | 75.4% |
| 4 | Nottingham (NG) | 25 | 73.6% |
| 5 | Poole (BH) | 24 | 76.5% |
| 6 | London (SE) | 24 | 87.1% |
| 7 | Dartford (DA) | 23 | 81.0% |
| 8 | Enfield (EN) | 23 | 87.8% |
| 9 | Kingston upon Thames (KT) | 22 | 74.5% |
| 10 | London (N) | 21 | 94.6% |
| 11 | London (E) | 21 | 88.9% |
| 12 | Exeter (EX) | 20 | 71.4% |
| 13 | Yeovil (BA) | 20 | 67.3% |
| 14 | Southampton (SO) | 19 | 72.5% |
| 15 | Croydon (CR) | 19 | 78.9% |
| 16 | Gloucester (GL) | 18 | 71.2% |
| 17 | Preston (PR) | 18 | 62.2% |
| 18 | Swindon (SN) | 17 | 72.1% |
| 19 | Maidstone (ME) | 17 | 70.7% |
| 20 | Leicester (LE) | 17 | 80.6% |
The twenty areas with the most Smart Mcc Cabriolet cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →
Regional pass rates for the Cabriolet
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 103 | 71.8% |
| North West | 44 | 63.6% |
| London | 31 | 67.7% |
| East of England | 29 | 96.6% |
| South West | 27 | 66.7% |
| East Midlands | 24 | 87.5% |
| West Midlands | 24 | 70.8% |
| Yorkshire | 21 | 85.7% |
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 Cabriolet
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 Cabriolet
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 exhaust and emissions 4.3% 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 lights 3.6% 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 3.0% 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 Cabriolet through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £21–£73 — and 66% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £21–£73
- 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
- 66%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 329 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 Cabriolet, side by side
11 model years on record, from 2002 to 2012. Across them the pass rate runs from 71.7% to 83.3% — a spread of 11.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2002 71.7% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2003 76.8% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2004 74.8%catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2005 75.0% headlamp aim projected beam image…
- 2006 75.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2007 75.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 74.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2009 79.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2010 82.0% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2011 83.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 78.0% service brake performance…
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 Mcc Cabriolet 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 Land Cruiser 74.8%
- Vauxhall Agila 74.9%
- Saab 9-5 74.6%
- Rover 25 75.0%
- BMW X5 74.5%
- MG Zr 75.1%
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 Mcc Cabriolet 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 795 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 | 165 | 20.40% | 12.21% | +8.19 |
| Brakes | 162 | 20.00% | 20.89% | −0.89 |
| Suspension | 149 | 18.40% | 20.98% | −2.58 |
| Tyres | 100 | 12.40% | 19.76% | −7.36 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 78 | 9.60% | 5.52% | +4.08 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 51 | 6.30% | 5.57% | +0.73 |
| Visibility | 41 | 5.10% | 4.97% | +0.13 |
| Steering | 23 | 2.80% | 2.57% | +0.23 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 13 | 1.60% | 0.82% | +0.78 |
| Road Wheels | 13 | 1.60% | 0.75% | +0.85 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 4.3% | £60–250 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.6% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.6% | £5–25 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.3% | £3–12 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 3.0% | £5–15 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.4% | £5–25 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.4% | £5–25 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.4% | £5–20 |
| Stop lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.1% | £3–12 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.1% | £80–200 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 14.6% | £80–180 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 12.2% | £200–700 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 12.2% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 11.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.9% | £45–110 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.2% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 22 | 77.3% | 24,212 mi |
| 30-60k | 80 | 83.8% | 47,242 mi |
| 60-90k | 152 | 71.1% | 73,879 mi |
| 90-120k | 59 | 71.2% | 103,182 mi |
| 120k+ | 12 | 75.0% | 143,550 mi |
Source: 329 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 Cabriolet MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2004 Smart Mcc Cabriolet?
74.8% of the 329 2004 Smart Mcc Cabriolet tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.2% for cars first used in 2004. First-attempt pass rate: 68.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2004 Smart Mcc Cabriolet?
The three most recorded items are catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (4.26%), headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (3.65%), headlamp lens slightly defective (3.65%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2004 Smart Mcc Cabriolet MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 77.3% of the time, falling to 75.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2004 Smart Mcc Cabriolet in this dataset had covered 71,778 mi.
Does the season affect the 2004 Smart Mcc Cabriolet MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 72.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 77.8%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.