Pass rate
Above average — 24.6 pts ahead of the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 133 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £56–£184
Pass rate
Above average — 24.6 pts ahead of the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 133 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £56–£184
Most common fault
Suspension
21.2% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
Across the 3 years on record, a spread of 5.2 points. See every year →
The 2005 TVR T350 MOT pass rate is 97.0% of its MOT tests — 24.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 21.2% of what testers record.
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how TVR T350 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks make up 21.2% of everything recorded on the 2005 TVR T350, against 5.5% nationally — 15.7 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 21.2%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. 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 T350? Get an email when these numbers change .
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.4%, so this figure is 24.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 97.0%. The median 2005 TVR T350 in this dataset had covered 33,232 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 98.4% of the time, April–September 95.8%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 3.01% 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.
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| East of England | 45 | 97.8% |
| South West | 19 | 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.
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 windscreen 3.0% 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 the exhaust and emissions 1.5% of tests
“catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default 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 suspension joints 0.8% of tests
“ball joint excessively worn”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
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 £56–£184 — and 0% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 133 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 →
3 model years on record, from 2003 to 2005. Across them the pass rate runs from 91.8% to 97.0% — a spread of 5.2 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 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.
Shares of the 33 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 | 7 | 21.20% | 20.98% | +0.22 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 7 | 21.20% | 12.21% | +8.99 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 7 | 21.20% | 5.52% | +15.68 |
| Brakes | 4 | 12.10% | 20.89% | −8.79 |
| Visibility | 4 | 12.10% | 4.97% | +7.13 |
| Tyres | 3 | 9.10% | 19.76% | −10.66 |
| Road Wheels | 1 | 3.00% | 0.75% | +2.25 |
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.0% | £80–200 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £60–250 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 0.75% | £18–45 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.75% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.75% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.75% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.75% | £60–250 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 0.75% | £25–65 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.75% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.75% | £30–80 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 2.3% | £45–110 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 1.5% | £18–45 |
| Badly distorted Road Wheels | Advisory | 0.75% | £20–55 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 0.75% | £200–700 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 0.75% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 0.75% | £45–95 |
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 55 | 98.2% | 20,008 mi |
| 30-60k | 72 | 97.2% | 42,501 mi |
| 60-90k | 4 | 75.0% | 60,646 mi |
| 120k+ | 2 | 100.0% | 126,182 mi |
Source: 133 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.
97.0% of the 133 2005 TVR T350 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.4% for cars first used in 2005. First-attempt pass rate: 97.0%.
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.01%), catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits (1.50%), ball joint excessively worn (0.75%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 98.2% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2005 TVR T350 in this dataset had covered 33,232 mi.
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 98.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 95.8%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.