Pass rate
Around average — 4.2 pts ahead of the 74.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 3,020 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £64–£162
Pass rate
Around average — 4.2 pts ahead of the 74.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 3,020 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £64–£162
Most common fault
Brakes
27.7% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£55 for Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded. What fitting it takes →
13.8 pts down across model years — 14.5% in 2000, 0.7% in 2019.
Which year to buy
Across the 22 years on record, a spread of 28.2 points. See every year →
The 2009 Suzuki Jimny MOT pass rate is 78.2% of its MOT tests — 4.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.7% of what testers record.
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Suzuki Jimny does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis accounts for 12.6% of everything recorded on the 2009 Suzuki Jimny, against 5.6% nationally — 7.0 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 27.7%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
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 Suzuki Jimny? Get an email when these numbers change .
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.0%, so this figure is 4.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 73.7%. The median 2009 Suzuki Jimny in this dataset had covered 69,700 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 77.3% of the time, April–September 79.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp lens slightly defective", noted on 4.60% of tests.
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Headlight Bulb
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 61% so small gaps stay visible.
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 609 | 77.5% |
| South East | 543 | 81.8% |
| Yorkshire | 312 | 76.3% |
| North West | 302 | 76.5% |
| East of England | 285 | 80.0% |
| West Midlands | 245 | 84.9% |
| Scotland | 240 | 70.4% |
| Wales | 192 | 74.0% |
| East Midlands | 138 | 80.4% |
| North East | 109 | 73.4% |
| London | 45 | 84.4% |
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.
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
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 4.6% of tests
“headlamp lens slightly defective”
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 windscreen 2.9% 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 corrosion 2.8% of tests
“chassis condition or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of a body mounting”
Look under the sills, around the jacking points and where the suspension mounts meet the body. Flaking, holed or crumbly metal fails; a brown stain on sound metal does not.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £64–£162 — and 30% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 3,020 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 →
22 model years on record, from 2000 to 2024. Across them the pass rate runs from 71.8% to 100.0% — a spread of 28.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
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.
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Closest pass rates among 2009 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.
Shares of the 6,074 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 | 1,700 | 27.70% | 20.89% | +6.81 |
| Suspension | 1,194 | 19.50% | 20.98% | −1.48 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 775 | 12.60% | 5.57% | +7.03 |
| Tyres | 562 | 9.20% | 19.76% | −10.56 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 562 | 9.20% | 12.21% | −3.01 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 503 | 8.20% | 5.52% | +2.68 |
| Non-component advisories | 313 | 5.10% | 4.18% | +0.92 |
| Visibility | 260 | 4.20% | 4.97% | −0.77 |
| Steering | 126 | 2.10% | 2.57% | −0.47 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 79 | 1.30% | 0.82% | +0.48 |
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.6% | £5–25 |
| Service brake imbalance across an axle Brakes | Major | 4.5% | £45–110 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.9% | £80–200 |
| Chassis condition or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of a body mounting Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.8% | £180–450 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.5% | £25–65 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 2.5% | £80–180 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 2.3% | £180–450 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.0% | £5–25 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 1.7% | £60–150 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.6% | £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.
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 | 18.7% | £80–180 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 10.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.6% | £45–110 |
| Transmission oil leaks leaking excessively from transmission Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 7.8% | £200–700 |
| Non-component advisories Fuel Pipe/s corroded Non-component advisories | Advisory | 6.2% | £180–450 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 5.3% | £45–95 |
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 180 | 88.3% | 22,520 mi |
| 30-60k | 970 | 81.6% | 46,923 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,090 | 77.9% | 74,694 mi |
| 90-120k | 607 | 72.7% | 103,091 mi |
| 120k+ | 172 | 69.8% | 138,914 mi |
Source: 3,020 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.
78.2% of the 3,020 2009 Suzuki Jimny tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.0% for cars first used in 2009. First-attempt pass rate: 73.7%.
The three most recorded items are headlamp lens slightly defective (4.60%), service brake imbalance across an axle (4.47%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.88%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 88.3% of the time, falling to 69.8% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2009 Suzuki Jimny in this dataset had covered 69,700 mi.
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 77.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 79.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.