Pass rate
93.8%
Above average — 20.9 pts ahead of the 72.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 406 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £52–£176
2002 TVR Tuscan MOT pass rate
- 2002
- typical 45,051 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
18.3% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2005 94.9% pass
- Avoid 2000 92.2% pass
Across the 7 years on record, a spread of 2.7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 93.5%
- Typical mileage
- 45k mi
The 2002 TVR Tuscan MOT pass rate is 93.8% of its MOT tests — 20.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 18.3% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 3.2× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 17.6% of everything recorded on the 2002 TVR Tuscan, against 5.5% nationally — 12.1 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 18.3%, 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.
- 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 72.9% and this one manages 93.8% — 20.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 7% 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 Tuscan? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2002 TVR Tuscan compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.9%, so this figure is 20.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 93.5%. The median 2002 TVR Tuscan in this dataset had covered 45,051 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 93.4% of the time, April–September 94.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits", noted on 1.23% of tests.
- 406 recorded tests behind this page.
- 93.8% overall pass rate, 93.5% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the TVR Tuscan, the average is 93.2% — best year 2005 (94.9%), worst 2000 (92.2%).
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
- 406
- Typical mileage (median)
- 45,051 mi
- Make and model
- TVR Tuscan
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
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 Tuscan MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 75% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the TVR Tuscan is most common
Across all Tuscan model years on record (2000–2006): 1,230 TVR Tuscan cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 2,424 tests. High Wycombe (HP) has the most, with 142 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | High Wycombe (HP) | 142 | 99.7% |
| 2 | Guildford (GU) | 67 | 95.6% |
| 3 | Coventry (CV) | 63 | 96.5% |
| 4 | Peterborough (PE) | 40 | 79.3% |
| 5 | Leeds (LS) | 39 | 91.5% |
| 6 | Gloucester (GL) | 36 | 93.4% |
| 7 | Maidstone (ME) | 33 | 97.1% |
| 8 | Chelmsford (CM) | 33 | 98.3% |
| 9 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 32 | 94.7% |
| 10 | Stoke On Trent (ST) | 31 | 94.1% |
| 11 | Preston (PR) | 29 | 89.1% |
| 12 | Leicester (LE) | 27 | 95.9% |
| 13 | Blackburn (BB) | 25 | 97.7% |
| 14 | Taunton (TA) | 24 | 93.9% |
| 15 | Crawley (RH) | 24 | 78.6% |
| 16 | Sheffield (S) | 23 | 88.7% |
| 17 | Ashford (TN) | 22 | 91.5% |
| 18 | Colchester (CO) | 21 | 95.0% |
| 19 | Stourbridge (DY) | 21 | 94.6% |
| 20 | Birmingham (B) | 20 | 100.0% |
The twenty areas with the most TVR Tuscan cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →
Regional pass rates for the Tuscan
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| East of England | 73 | 91.8% |
| South East | 67 | 92.5% |
| West Midlands | 63 | 93.7% |
| South West | 42 | 95.2% |
| North West | 39 | 97.4% |
| East Midlands | 37 | 97.3% |
| Yorkshire | 32 | 93.8% |
| Scotland | 25 | 92.0% |
| North East | 20 | 95.0% |
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 2002 Tuscan
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 2002 Tuscan
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 1.2% 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 0.5% of tests
“headlamp aim too high”
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 0.5% 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.
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 2002 Tuscan through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £52–£176 — and 7% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £52–£176
- Cheapest common item: washers not working
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: steering rack gaiter missing or no longer…
- £120–£300
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 30%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 7%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 406 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 Tuscan, side by side
7 model years on record, from 2000 to 2006. Across them the pass rate runs from 92.2% to 94.9% — a spread of 2.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 92.2% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2001 92.9% catalyst emissions carbon…
- 2002 93.8%catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2003 93.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2004 93.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 94.9% catalyst emissions carbon…
- 2006 92.2% rear fog lamp not working
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 2002 TVR Tuscan 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 2002 cars with a similar record
- BMW M3 86.7%
- Porsche 911 85.5%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 85.2%
- Honda S2000 84.6%
- Mercedes-Benz Slk 81.2%
- BMW Z3 80.7%
Closest pass rates among 2002 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 2002 TVR Tuscan 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 140 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 | 26 | 18.30% | 20.98% | −2.68 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 25 | 17.60% | 5.52% | +12.08 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 23 | 16.20% | 12.21% | +3.99 |
| Brakes | 21 | 14.80% | 20.89% | −6.09 |
| Tyres | 14 | 9.90% | 19.76% | −9.86 |
| Steering | 12 | 8.50% | 2.57% | +5.93 |
| Visibility | 9 | 6.30% | 4.97% | +1.33 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 4 | 2.80% | 5.57% | −2.77 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3 | 2.10% | 1.76% | +0.34 |
| Road Wheels | 3 | 2.10% | 0.75% | +1.35 |
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 | 1.2% | £60–250 |
| Emissions not tested unable to be completed Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.2% | £60–250 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 1.2% | £45–110 |
| Catalyst emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.49% | £60–250 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.49% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.49% | £30–80 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 0.49% | £80–250 |
| Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Steering | Major | 0.49% | £120–300 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 0.49% | £18–45 |
| Washers not working Visibility | Major | 0.49% | £5–15 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 2.5% | £25–65 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 2.0% | £45–110 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 1.7% | £200–700 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 1.7% | £45–95 |
| Individual direction indicators incorrect colour Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Advisory | 1.5% | £3–12 |
| Other components leaking Steering | Advisory | 1.2% | £60–200 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 100 | 97.0% | 20,007 mi |
| 30-60k | 222 | 94.1% | 44,946 mi |
| 60-90k | 65 | 90.8% | 69,725 mi |
| 90-120k | 4 | 100.0% | 108,267 mi |
| 120k+ | 6 | 83.3% | 126,041 mi |
Source: 406 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.
2002 Tuscan MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2002 TVR Tuscan?
93.8% of the 406 2002 TVR Tuscan tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.9% for cars first used in 2002. First-attempt pass rate: 93.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2002 TVR Tuscan?
The three most recorded items are catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (1.23%), emissions not tested unable to be completed (1.23%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (1.23%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2002 TVR Tuscan MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 97.0% of the time, falling to 83.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2002 TVR Tuscan in this dataset had covered 45,051 mi.
Does the season affect the 2002 TVR Tuscan MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 93.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 94.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.