Pass rate
75.2%
Around average — 2.1 pts ahead of the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 258 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £20–£65
2008 Subaru B9 Tribeca MOT pass rate
- 2008
- typical 95,701 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
28.7% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £35–£75 for Suspension pin or bush excessively worn. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2008 75.2% pass · this year
- Avoid 2006 73.4% pass
Across the 3 years on record, a spread of 1.8 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 70.6%
- Typical mileage
- 96k mi
The 2008 Subaru B9 Tribeca MOT pass rate is 75.2% of its MOT tests — 2.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 28.7% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.4× the national share
Suspension accounts for 28.7% of everything recorded on the 2008 Subaru B9 Tribeca, against 21.0% nationally — 7.7 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.
- Based on a small sample. 258 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 Subaru B9 Tribeca? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2008 Subaru B9 Tribeca compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 2.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 70.6%. The median 2008 Subaru B9 Tribeca in this dataset had covered 95,701 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 72.1% of the time, April–September 78.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 7.75% of tests.
- 258 recorded tests behind this page.
- 75.2% overall pass rate, 70.6% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Subaru B9 Tribeca, the average is 74.6% — best year 2008 (75.2%), worst 2006 (73.4%).
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
- 258
- Typical mileage (median)
- 95,701 mi
- Make and model
- Subaru B9 Tribeca
- 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 B9 Tribeca MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 63% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the B9 Tribeca
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 86 | 79.1% |
| London | 37 | 78.4% |
| East of England | 30 | 73.3% |
| Scotland | 29 | 62.1% |
| North West | 20 | 75.0% |
| West Midlands | 19 | 78.9% |
| South West | 17 | 64.7% |
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 2008 B9 Tribeca
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 2008 B9 Tribeca
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 7.8% 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 coil springs 6.6% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
-
Check the suspension joints 6.2% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
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.
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 2008 B9 Tribeca through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £20–£65 — and 51% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £20–£65
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 51%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 258 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 B9 Tribeca, side by side
3 model years on record, from 2006 to 2008. Across them the pass rate runs from 73.4% to 75.2% — a spread of 1.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2006 73.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 74.8% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2008 75.2%registration plate lamp(s)…
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 2008 Subaru B9 Tribeca 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 2008 cars with a similar record
- Volkswagen Tiguan 75.2%
- Volkswagen Eos 75.2%
- Toyota YARIS 75.3%
- Saab 9-3 75.3%
- Toyota Avensis 75.1%
- Ford Kuga 75.4%
Closest pass rates among 2008 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 2008 Subaru B9 Tribeca 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 602 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 | 173 | 28.70% | 20.98% | +7.72 |
| Brakes | 115 | 19.10% | 20.89% | −1.79 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 111 | 18.40% | 12.21% | +6.19 |
| Tyres | 67 | 11.10% | 19.76% | −8.66 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 45 | 7.50% | 5.52% | +1.98 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 38 | 6.30% | 5.57% | +0.73 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 21 | 3.50% | 1.76% | +1.74 |
| Visibility | 15 | 2.50% | 4.97% | −2.47 |
| Non-component advisories | 10 | 1.70% | 4.18% | −2.48 |
| Steering | 7 | 1.20% | 2.57% | −1.37 |
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 | 7.8% | £5–20 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 6.6% | £25–65 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 6.2% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 6.2% | £40–150 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.3% | £3–12 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.9% | £80–250 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.9% | £3–12 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.5% | £5–25 |
| Electronic stability control warning lamp indicates a fault Brakes | Major | 2.3% | £3–15 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 2.3% | £5–25 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 24.4% | £40–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 11.2% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 10.1% | £200–700 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 9.3% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 9.3% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.1% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 4 | 75.0% | 25,835 mi |
| 30-60k | 29 | 82.8% | 49,967 mi |
| 60-90k | 71 | 74.6% | 76,443 mi |
| 90-120k | 91 | 71.4% | 103,040 mi |
| 120k+ | 63 | 77.8% | 137,356 mi |
Source: 258 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.
2008 B9 Tribeca MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 Subaru B9 Tribeca?
75.2% of the 258 2008 Subaru B9 Tribeca tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 70.6%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 Subaru B9 Tribeca?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (7.75%), coil spring fractured or broken (6.59%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (6.20%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 Subaru B9 Tribeca MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 75.0% of the time, falling to 77.8% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Subaru B9 Tribeca in this dataset had covered 95,701 mi.
Does the season affect the 2008 Subaru B9 Tribeca MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 72.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 78.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.