Pass rate
83.3%
Around average — 9.3 pts ahead of the 74.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 60 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £63–£200
2009 Toyota Celica MOT pass rate
- 2009
- typical 135,070 mi
Only 60 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.
Most common fault
Suspension
23.5% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2009 83.3% pass · this year
- Avoid 2000 71.4% pass
Across the 10 years on record, a spread of 11.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 81.1%
- Typical mileage
- 135k mi
The 2009 Toyota Celica MOT pass rate is 83.3% of its MOT tests — 9.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 23.5% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Toyota Celica does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.9× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 16.0% of everything recorded on the 2009 Toyota Celica, against 5.6% nationally — 10.4 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 23.5%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
- 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 74.0% and this one manages 83.3% — 9.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 24% 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 Toyota Celica? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2009 Toyota Celica compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.0%, so this figure is 9.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 81.1%. The median 2009 Toyota Celica in this dataset had covered 135,070 mi.
The single most recorded failure item is "Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt", noted on 5.00% of tests.
- 60 recorded tests behind this page.
- 83.3% overall pass rate, 81.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Toyota Celica, the average is 73.3% — best year 2009 (83.3%), worst 2000 (71.4%).
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
- 60
- Typical mileage (median)
- 135,070 mi
- Make and model
- Toyota Celica
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Steering Rack
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Celica MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 70% so small gaps stay visible.
What fails a 2009 Celica
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 2009 Celica
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 steering 5.0% of tests
“steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt”
With the wheels straight, rock the steering wheel gently with the engine off — more than about an inch of free play before the wheels move is worth investigating. Split rack gaiters are cheap to replace and commonly recorded.
-
Check the exhaust and emissions 3.3% 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 3.3% of tests
“position lamp light intensity obviously reduced”
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 2009 Celica through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £63–£200 — and 24% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £63–£200
- Cheapest common item: wipers does not clear the windscreen…
- £8–£22
- Dearest common item: steering rack gaiter missing or no longer…
- £120–£300
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 20%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 24%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 60 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 Celica, side by side
10 model years on record, from 2000 to 2009. Across them the pass rate runs from 71.4% to 83.3% — a spread of 11.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 71.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2001 74.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 74.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 71.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 72.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 73.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 74.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 78.6% catalyst emissions carbon…
- 2008 79.9% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2009 83.3%steering rack gaiter missing or…
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 2009 Toyota Celica 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 2009 cars with a similar record
- Jaguar Xkr 83.2%
- Lexus RX450H 83.6%
- Lexus RX400H 82.9%
- Lexus IS250 83.7%
- Jaguar Xk 83.8%
- Audi Q7 82.6%
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.
The full DVSA record for the 2009 Toyota Celica 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 81 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 | 19 | 23.50% | 20.98% | +2.52 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 13 | 16.00% | 5.57% | +10.43 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 12 | 14.80% | 12.21% | +2.59 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 11 | 13.60% | 5.52% | +8.08 |
| Brakes | 9 | 11.10% | 20.89% | −9.79 |
| Tyres | 6 | 7.40% | 19.76% | −12.36 |
| Visibility | 5 | 6.20% | 4.97% | +1.23 |
| Steering | 4 | 4.90% | 2.57% | +2.33 |
| Non-component advisories | 1 | 1.20% | 4.18% | −2.98 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 1 | 1.20% | 0.82% | +0.38 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Steering | Major | 5.0% | £120–300 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.3% | £60–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.3% | £80–250 |
| Position lamp light intensity obviously reduced Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.3% | £5–25 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.3% | £80–200 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 3.3% | £8–22 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.7% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.7% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.7% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.7% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Advisory | 8.3% | £20–55 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 6.7% | £200–700 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 6.7% | £40–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 6.7% | £45–95 |
| Exhaust system noise is clearly in excess of that emitted by a similar vehicle fitted with a standard silencer in… Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 5.0% | £45–120 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 5.0% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 3 | 100.0% | 52,026 mi |
| 60-90k | 4 | 100.0% | 83,347 mi |
| 90-120k | 11 | 90.9% | 106,794 mi |
| 120k+ | 42 | 78.6% | 153,626 mi |
Source: 60 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.
2009 Celica MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2009 Toyota Celica?
83.3% of the 60 2009 Toyota Celica tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.0% for cars first used in 2009. First-attempt pass rate: 81.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2009 Toyota Celica?
The three most recorded items are steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (5.00%), catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (3.33%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (3.33%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2009 Toyota Celica MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 78.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2009 Toyota Celica in this dataset had covered 135,070 mi.