Pass rate
71.8%
Below average — 0.4 pts behind the 72.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 255 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £63–£175
2004 Vauxhall Frontera MOT pass rate
- 2004
- typical 93,167 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
27.2% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2000 77.0% pass
- Avoid 2001 70.0% pass
Across the 5 years on record, a spread of 7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 64.9%
- Typical mileage
- 93k mi
The 2004 Vauxhall Frontera MOT pass rate is 71.8% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.2% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Vauxhall Frontera does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.8× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 15.4% of everything recorded on the 2004 Vauxhall Frontera, against 5.6% nationally — 9.8 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 27.2%, 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 9% 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.
- Based on a small sample. 255 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
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 Vauxhall Frontera? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2004 Vauxhall Frontera compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.2%, so this figure is 0.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 64.9%. The median 2004 Vauxhall Frontera in this dataset had covered 93,167 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 63% of tests, with a 73.1% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 70.9% of the time, April–September 72.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 7.06% of tests.
- 255 recorded tests behind this page.
- 71.8% overall pass rate, 64.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Vauxhall Frontera, the average is 73.2% — best year 2000 (77.0%), worst 2001 (70.0%).
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
- 255
- Typical mileage (median)
- 93,167 mi
- Make and model
- Vauxhall Frontera
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Body Panel Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Frontera MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 42% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (63% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Frontera
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| East of England | 52 | 69.2% |
| South East | 39 | 79.5% |
| South West | 36 | 66.7% |
| West Midlands | 33 | 75.8% |
| Yorkshire | 27 | 74.1% |
| East Midlands | 25 | 60.0% |
| North West | 17 | 82.4% |
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 2004 Frontera
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 2004 Frontera
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 4.3% of tests
“exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases”
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 3.9% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
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.
-
Check corrosion 3.5% of tests
“component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength”
Look under the sills, around the jacking points and where the suspension mounts meet the body. Flaking, holed or crumbly metal fails; a brown stain on sound metal does not.
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 2004 Frontera through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £63–£175 — and 9% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £63–£175
- Cheapest common item: position lamp not working
- £5–£25
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 30%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 9%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 255 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 Frontera, side by side
5 model years on record, from 2000 to 2004. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.0% to 77.0% — a spread of 7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 77.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2001 70.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2002 73.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 73.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 71.8%joints constant velocity boot…
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 2004 Vauxhall Frontera 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 2004 cars with a similar record
- Volvo V70 71.7%
- Ford Fiesta 71.9%
- Suzuki Grand Vitara 71.6%
- Audi A2 72.0%
- Volvo XC70 71.5%
- Nissan Micra 72.2%
Closest pass rates among 2004 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 2004 Vauxhall Frontera 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 759 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 | 210 | 27.20% | 20.98% | +6.22 |
| Brakes | 163 | 21.10% | 20.89% | +0.21 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 119 | 15.40% | 5.57% | +9.83 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 66 | 8.50% | 12.21% | −3.71 |
| Tyres | 59 | 7.60% | 19.76% | −12.16 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 46 | 6.00% | 5.52% | +0.48 |
| Steering | 32 | 4.10% | 2.57% | +1.53 |
| Non-component advisories | 25 | 3.20% | 4.18% | −0.98 |
| Visibility | 23 | 3.00% | 4.97% | −1.97 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 16 | 2.10% | 0.82% | +1.28 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 7.1% | £80–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 5.9% | £80–250 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 4.3% | £45–120 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.9% | £18–45 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 3.5% | £180–450 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.5% | £5–25 |
| Service brake performance efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.5% | £60–150 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.1% | £18–45 |
| Prescribed areas prescribed area strength or continuity significantly reduced Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 3.1% | £40–120 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 2.8% | £80–180 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 23.5% | £80–180 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 11.4% | £45–95 |
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Advisory | 11.4% | £20–55 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 11.0% | £25–65 |
| Chassis condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 10.2% | £180–450 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 10.2% | £40–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 2 | 50.0% | 26,968 mi |
| 30-60k | 41 | 73.2% | 47,157 mi |
| 60-90k | 75 | 69.3% | 73,697 mi |
| 90-120k | 81 | 71.6% | 106,393 mi |
| 120k+ | 51 | 74.5% | 144,833 mi |
Source: 255 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.
2004 Frontera MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2004 Vauxhall Frontera?
71.8% of the 255 2004 Vauxhall Frontera tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.2% for cars first used in 2004. First-attempt pass rate: 64.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2004 Vauxhall Frontera?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (7.06%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (5.88%), exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases (4.31%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2004 Vauxhall Frontera MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 50.0% of the time, falling to 74.5% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2004 Vauxhall Frontera in this dataset had covered 93,167 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2004 Vauxhall Frontera?
Diesel: 73.1% pass rate across 160 tests. Petrol: 68.5% pass rate across 92 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2004 Vauxhall Frontera MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 70.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 72.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.