Pass rate
94.4%
Above average — 3.7 pts ahead of the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 71 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £25–£61
2020 Subaru Brz MOT pass rate
- 2020
- typical 16,464 mi
Only 71 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
Brakes
47.8% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£40 for Brake pads under 1.5 mm. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2020 94.4% pass · this year
- Avoid 2015 87.1% pass
Across the 9 years on record, a spread of 7.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 94.0%
- Typical mileage
- 16k mi
The 2020 Subaru Brz MOT pass rate is 94.4% of its MOT tests — 3.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 47.8% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 2.3× the national share
Brakes make up 47.8% of everything recorded on the 2020 Subaru Brz, against 20.9% nationally — 26.9 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- 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 90.7% and this one manages 94.4% — 3.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 33% 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 Subaru Brz? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2020 Subaru Brz compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 3.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 94.0%. The median 2020 Subaru Brz in this dataset had covered 16,464 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 93.5% of the time, April–September 95.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Brake discs significantly and obviously worn", noted on 1.41% of tests.
- 71 recorded tests behind this page.
- 94.4% overall pass rate, 94.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Subaru Brz, the average is 89.8% — best year 2020 (94.4%), worst 2015 (87.1%).
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
- 71
- Typical mileage (median)
- 16,464 mi
- Make and model
- Subaru Brz
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Brake Discs and Pads Set
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Brz MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 85% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Subaru Brz is most common
Across all Brz model years on record (2012–2020): 1,383 Subaru Brz cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 2,747 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 40 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) | 40 | 91.3% |
| 2 | Coventry (CV) | 36 | 89.3% |
| 3 | Leeds (LS) | 35 | 85.7% |
| 4 | Northampton (NN) | 34 | 89.2% |
| 5 | Reading (RG) | 33 | 96.8% |
| 6 | Oxford (OX) | 31 | 95.0% |
| 7 | Guildford (GU) | 30 | 87.9% |
| 8 | High Wycombe (HP) | 30 | 92.7% |
| 9 | Derby (DE) | 26 | 83.6% |
| 10 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 26 | 94.0% |
| 11 | Newport (NP) | 24 | 88.7% |
| 12 | Southampton (SO) | 24 | 88.6% |
| 13 | Nottingham (NG) | 23 | 87.5% |
| 14 | Bristol (BS) | 23 | 89.2% |
| 15 | Chelmsford (CM) | 22 | 89.6% |
| 16 | Swindon (SN) | 22 | 87.5% |
| 17 | Gloucester (GL) | 21 | 80.7% |
| 18 | Peterborough (PE) | 21 | 89.2% |
| 19 | Sheffield (S) | 21 | 97.1% |
| 20 | Crawley (RH) | 20 | 97.5% |
The twenty areas with the most Subaru Brz 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 →
What fails a 2020 Brz
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 2020 Brz
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 brakes 1.4% of tests
“brake discs significantly and obviously worn”
Look through the spokes of each wheel at the pad — less than 3mm of friction material, or a lip on the disc edge, is the usual failure. Check the handbrake holds on a slope with a few clicks, not at the top of its travel.
-
Check the lights 1.4% of tests
“headlamp aim too low”
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 1.4% 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 2020 Brz through its MOT
Across the 6 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £25–£61 — and 33% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 6 common items
- £25–£61
- Cheapest common item: washers provides insufficient washer liquid
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: brake discs significantly
- £45–£110
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 83%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 33%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 71 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 Brz, side by side
9 model years on record, from 2012 to 2020. Across them the pass rate runs from 87.1% to 94.4% — a spread of 7.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2012 90.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 87.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 89.3% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2015 87.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 89.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 91.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 92.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 92.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 94.4%brake discs significantly and…
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 2020 Subaru Brz 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 2020 cars with a similar record
- SEAT Ateca Xperience 94.4%
- Mazda Cx-30 94.3%
- Volvo XC40 R-Design B4 94.3%
- Volvo XC40 Inscription B4 94.6%
- Toyota YARIS 94.1%
- Jaguar I-Pace 94.1%
Closest pass rates among 2020 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 2020 Subaru Brz 6 failure items · 6 advisories · 6 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 23 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 | 11 | 47.80% | 20.89% | +26.91 |
| Tyres | 5 | 21.70% | 19.76% | +1.94 |
| Suspension | 2 | 8.70% | 20.98% | −12.28 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2 | 8.70% | 5.52% | +3.18 |
| Visibility | 2 | 8.70% | 4.97% | +3.73 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1 | 4.30% | 12.21% | −7.91 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Major | 1.4% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.4% | £18–45 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.4% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.4% | £30–80 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 1.4% | £5–15 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.4% | £8–22 |
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 | 7.0% | £45–110 |
| Service brake performance excessively fluctuating Brakes | Advisory | 4.2% | £60–150 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 2.8% | £40–150 |
| Transmission oil leaks leaking excessively from transmission Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 2.8% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 2.8% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 1.4% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 61 | 93.4% | 14,784 mi |
| 30-60k | 9 | 100.0% | 43,757 mi |
| 60-90k | 1 | 100.0% | 68,517 mi |
Source: 71 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.
2020 Brz MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 Subaru Brz?
94.4% of the 71 2020 Subaru Brz tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 94.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 Subaru Brz?
The three most recorded items are brake discs significantly and obviously worn (1.41%), brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (1.41%), has ply or cords exposed (1.41%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2020 Subaru Brz MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 93.4% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 Subaru Brz in this dataset had covered 16,464 mi.
Does the season affect the 2020 Subaru Brz MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 93.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 95.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.