Pass rate
95.9%
Above average — 23.5 pts ahead of the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 268 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £59–£218
2005 TVR Sagaris MOT pass rate
- 2005
- typical 30,870 mi
Most common fault
Emissions & leaks
28.3% of faults · 5.5% nationally
Which year to buy
- Best 2005 95.9% pass · this year
- Avoid 2006 93.5% pass
Across the 2 years on record, a spread of 2.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 95.8%
- Typical mileage
- 31k mi
The 2005 TVR Sagaris MOT pass rate is 95.9% of its MOT tests — 23.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Emissions & leaks is the biggest single reason it fails, at 28.3% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how TVR Sagaris does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 5.1× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 28.3% of everything recorded on the 2005 TVR Sagaris, against 5.5% nationally — 22.8 points above. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
- 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 72.4% and this one manages 95.9% — 23.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 10% 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 TVR Sagaris? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2005 TVR Sagaris compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.4%, so this figure is 23.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 95.8%. The median 2005 TVR Sagaris in this dataset had covered 30,870 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 96.6% of the time, April–September 95.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits", noted on 1.49% of tests.
- 268 recorded tests behind this page.
- 95.9% overall pass rate, 95.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the TVR Sagaris, the average is 95.4% — best year 2005 (95.9%), worst 2006 (93.5%).
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
- 268
- Typical mileage (median)
- 30,870 mi
- Make and model
- TVR Sagaris
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Emissions Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Sagaris MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 86% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Sagaris
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| East of England | 65 | 95.4% |
| South East | 49 | 91.8% |
| West Midlands | 46 | 97.8% |
| South West | 23 | 95.7% |
| North West | 23 | 95.7% |
| Yorkshire | 19 | 100.0% |
| North East | 18 | 100.0% |
| East Midlands | 15 | 100.0% |
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 2005 Sagaris
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 2005 Sagaris
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 1.5% 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 0.8% of tests
“position lamp not working”
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 steering 0.8% of tests
“steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated,”
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.
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 2005 Sagaris through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £59–£218 — and 10% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £59–£218
- Cheapest common item: position lamp not working
- £5–£25
- Dearest common item: steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated,
- £120–£300
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 10%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 10%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 268 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 Sagaris, side by side
2 model years on record, from 2005 to 2006. Across them the pass rate runs from 93.5% to 95.9% — a spread of 2.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2005 95.9%catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2006 93.5% catalyst emissions carbon…
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 2005 TVR Sagaris 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 2005 cars with a similar record
- Aston Martin DB9 91.3%
- Bentley Continental 90.2%
- Porsche 911 88.6%
- BMW M3 88.1%
- Honda S2000 87.1%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 86.1%
Closest pass rates among 2005 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 2005 TVR Sagaris 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 9 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 53 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 | 15 | 28.30% | 5.52% | +22.78 |
| Tyres | 10 | 18.90% | 19.76% | −0.86 |
| Suspension | 9 | 17.00% | 20.98% | −3.98 |
| Steering | 6 | 11.30% | 2.57% | +8.73 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 4 | 7.50% | 12.21% | −4.71 |
| Visibility | 3 | 5.70% | 4.97% | +0.73 |
| Brakes | 2 | 3.80% | 20.89% | −17.09 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2 | 3.80% | 5.57% | −1.77 |
| Non-component advisories | 2 | 3.80% | 4.18% | −0.38 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.1% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.1% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.75% | £60–250 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.75% | £5–25 |
| Steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 0.75% | £120–300 |
| Attachment bracket and mounting attachment bracket/mounting likely to become detached Suspension | Major | 0.37% | £40–150 |
| Attachment bracket and mounting attachment bracket/mounting missing Suspension | Major | 0.37% | £40–150 |
| Brake performance not tested unable to be tested Brakes | Major | 0.37% | £60–150 |
| Catalyst emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.37% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 3.0% | £45–95 |
| Other components leaking Steering | Advisory | 1.5% | £60–200 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 1.1% | £30–75 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 0.75% | £45–95 |
| Anti-roll bar corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 0.37% | £12–30 |
| Chassis condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 0.37% | £180–450 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 123 | 96.7% | 20,816 mi |
| 30-60k | 117 | 94.9% | 42,086 mi |
| 60-90k | 23 | 95.7% | 67,366 mi |
| 90-120k | 2 | 100.0% | 92,605 mi |
| 120k+ | 3 | 100.0% | 239,187 mi |
Source: 268 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.
2005 Sagaris MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2005 TVR Sagaris?
95.9% of the 268 2005 TVR Sagaris tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.4% for cars first used in 2005. First-attempt pass rate: 95.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2005 TVR Sagaris?
The three most recorded items are catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (1.49%), catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits (1.12%), catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits (1.12%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2005 TVR Sagaris MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 96.7% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2005 TVR Sagaris in this dataset had covered 30,870 mi.
Does the season affect the 2005 TVR Sagaris MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 96.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 95.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.