Pass rate
Above average — 12.0 pts ahead of the 73.8% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 134 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £53–£207
Pass rate
Above average — 12.0 pts ahead of the 73.8% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 134 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £53–£207
Most common fault
Emissions & leaks
26.9% of faults · 5.5% nationally
Which year to buy
Across the 4 years on record, a spread of 10.2 points. See every year →
The 2000 TVR Cerbera MOT pass rate is 85.8% of its MOT tests — 12.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Emissions & leaks is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.9% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks make up 26.9% of everything recorded on the 2000 TVR Cerbera, against 5.5% nationally — 21.4 points above. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
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 TVR Cerbera? Get an email when these numbers change .
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.8%, so this figure is 12.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 84.6%. The median 2000 TVR Cerbera in this dataset had covered 49,683 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 85.9% of the time, April–September 85.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits", noted on 3.73% 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.
Emissions Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 75% so small gaps stay visible.
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 29 | 93.1% |
| East of England | 26 | 84.6% |
| West Midlands | 19 | 94.7% |
| North West | 18 | 100.0% |
| South West | 17 | 76.5% |
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 exhaust and emissions 3.7% of tests
“catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's 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 number plates 2.2% of tests
“registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements”
Check both plates are present, legible and correctly spaced, with the postcode of the supplier and the BS AU 145e mark. A private plate in the wrong style is a fail before the car is even looked at.
Check the wipers and washers 2.2% of tests
“washers not working”
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.
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £53–£207 — and 10% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 134 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 →
4 model years on record, from 2000 to 2003. Across them the pass rate runs from 85.8% to 96.0% — a spread of 10.2 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 2000 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 107 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 29 | 26.90% | 5.52% | +21.38 |
| Suspension | 23 | 21.30% | 20.98% | +0.32 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 14 | 13.00% | 5.57% | +7.43 |
| Brakes | 11 | 10.20% | 20.89% | −10.69 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 7 | 6.50% | 12.21% | −5.71 |
| Visibility | 6 | 5.60% | 4.97% | +0.63 |
| Steering | 6 | 5.60% | 2.57% | +3.03 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 6 | 5.60% | 1.76% | +3.84 |
| Tyres | 3 | 2.80% | 19.76% | −16.96 |
| Road Wheels | 2 | 1.90% | 0.75% | +1.15 |
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.7% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.7% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.0% | £60–250 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.2% | £45–110 |
| Registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements Identification of the vehicle | Major | 2.2% | £20–80 |
| Washers not working Visibility | Major | 2.2% | £5–15 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £60–250 |
| Catalytic converter missing where one was fitted as standard Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £120–400 |
| Emissions not tested unable to be completed Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 4.5% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 3.7% | £25–65 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 3.0% | £45–120 |
| Other components leaking Steering | Advisory | 3.0% | £60–200 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 2.2% | £40–150 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 2.2% | £20–80 |
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 18 | 88.9% | 23,063 mi |
| 30-60k | 88 | 83.0% | 46,152 mi |
| 60-90k | 22 | 90.9% | 71,134 mi |
| 90-120k | 6 | 100.0% | 99,300 mi |
Source: 134 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.
85.8% of the 134 2000 TVR Cerbera tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.8% for cars first used in 2000. First-attempt pass rate: 84.6%.
The three most recorded items are catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits (3.73%), catalyst emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits (3.73%), catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits (2.99%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 88.9% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2000 TVR Cerbera in this dataset had covered 49,683 mi.
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 85.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 85.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.