MOT Risk Index.co.uk

Lexus IS — MOT statistics 2024

The Lexus IS failed 22.79% of 37,265 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 65.1 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 35% less often than expected for its age.

MOT risk index 65.1, 95% CI 63.9–66.4 (100 = national average) 100 65.1 0 200
Index
65.1
100 = age-normal
Raw fail rate
22.79%
n = 37,265
Dangerous /100
11
national ≈11
Diesel − petrol
+4.8 pp
fail-rate gap
Rank
163 of 761
lower index = better

Age-adjusted peer: BMW Z4 (index 64.7) — the two published results are 0.4 index points apart.

Lexus IS common problems: what actually fails the MOT

Suspension is well below the reference at 7.2 per 100 tests, against 21.4 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

Lexus IS common problems: what actually fails the MOT — 2024 UK MOT data

family vs national — matched to UK vehicles of the same ages — top component groups, per 100 tests. Legend: This family · National avg. Combined labels: family / national average. A gap here reflects how these vehicles are driven, used and maintained as well as how they were built — an MOT defect is a test outcome, not a breakdown.

Component-group comparison table

Each ratio carries a 95% interval. With 6 groups compared here, roughly one apparent difference in twenty is chance alone.

GroupThis familyCases behind itUK, same agesFamily / national
Lamps & electrical17.344,41525.00.69×0.68–0.70
Brakes10.126,00915.90.64×0.63–0.65
Tyres9.825,2209.61.02×1.01–1.04
Visibility7.719,8059.60.81×0.80–0.82
Suspension7.218,62521.40.34×0.33–0.34
Emissions & leaks3.07,6345.50.54×0.52–0.55
Named defects — items per 100 initial tests, this family vs UK national average; this model measured on 257,202 tests, 2019-2024, national column 2024
What failedper 100 tests (this family)per 100 tests (UK average)ratio family / UKWhat to check
Headlamp reflector or lens slightly defectiveHeadlamp reflector or lens slightly defective3.321.093.03×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down…The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements3.382.571.32×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Strength or continuity of the load bearing…The strength or continuity of the load bearing structure within 30cm of any sub-frame, spring or suspension component mounting (a 'prescribed area') is significantly reduced or inadequately repaired1.591.121.42×Look underneath for rust or cracks around subframe and suspension mountings
Tyre cords visible or damagedA tyre cords visible or damaged2.101.631.29×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Windscreen or window damaged or seriously…Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view2.752.361.17×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Tyre seriously damagedA tyre seriously damaged2.822.541.11×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a…A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning2.242.091.07×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the…Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements3.713.591.03×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mma brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm2.102.150.98×Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive
Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the…Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen2.002.220.90×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view

Named defects ranked by how much more often they appear than the national average — not by raw rate.

Lexus IS MOT advisories: what gets flagged

Tyres are highest at 41.4 per 100 tests; Lamps & electrical are lowest at 3.9 per 100 tests — the gap is 37.5 per 100 tests.

higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests

Lexus IS MOT advisories: what gets flagged — 2024 UK MOT data
Advisory rates table
GroupAdvisories per 100
Tyres41.4
Brakes31.6
Suspension19
Non-component advisories5.1
Body & structure4.8
Lamps & electrical3.9

Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.

Tyres, brakes and suspension: Lexus IS against cars of the same age

AgePartLexus ISSame age, petrol and dieselDifference
3 yearsTyres5.474.171.30
3 yearsBrakes0.361.77-1.41
3 yearsSuspension0.170.63-0.46
4 yearsTyres5.614.541.07
4 yearsBrakes0.632.43-1.80
4 yearsSuspension0.321.21-0.89
5 yearsTyres5.795.060.73
5 yearsBrakes0.933.09-2.16
5 yearsSuspension0.492.19-1.70
6 yearsTyres5.45.54-0.14
6 yearsBrakes1.233.81-2.58
6 yearsSuspension0.593.72-3.13
7 yearsTyres5.965.950.01
7 yearsBrakes1.54.55-3.05
7 yearsSuspension0.785.68-4.90
8 yearsTyres5.936.31-0.38
8 yearsBrakes2.215.38-3.17
8 yearsSuspension0.97.78-6.88

Failing items per 100 initial tests, 2019-2024. The comparison group is every petrol or diesel car tested at the same age, so weight and drivetrain show up rather than fleet age.

If a car like this fails, does it fail again?

A failure rate does not say whether a failure is a one-off or the start of something. This follows the same vehicles into their next ordinary MOT a year later — retests after a repair are excluded, because they follow a failure by definition. 2019-2024.

After this year's testFails next yearVehicles followed
It failed29.9%14,544
It passed19.6%146,248

A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 10.3 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is road wheels — 34.8% of those vehicles fail again next year. Some of this is the vehicle and some is the owner: a car that was let go once tends to be let go again. One caveat: a car that fails may be sold or scrapped rather than tested again, so these figures describe the vehicles that came back.

Adjusted for how much these are actually driven

The headline index adjusts for the fleet's age. Wear, though, follows mileage: a three-year-old taxi and a three-year-old garage queen sit in the same age band. These two rows compare every car with vehicles of the same age, and then with vehicles of the same age and the same annual mileage, 2019-2024, on 256,425 tests. Both stand on the six-year corpus so they are measured on identical data — compare them with each other, not with the headline index above, which is measured on 2024 alone.

Standardised forIndexReading
Age only67.7fails less often than expected
Age and annual mileage66.0fails less often than vehicles driven as much
Share doing under 3,000 miles a year4.2%a normal spread of use

Mileage changes little here (-1.7 points): this fleet is driven about as much as the vehicles it is compared with. One limit to keep in mind: mileage is partly a result of how often a car breaks down — one that spends weeks in the workshop covers fewer miles — so the mileage-matched figure can understate a real weakness. Tests with no usable odometer reading are left out of it.

How the Lexus IS compares with cars of its own age and size

Not against the whole fleet — against cars of the same size class tested at the same age, 2019-2024.

AgeLexus ISSame class, same ageDifferenceTests
3 years9.76%10.78%-1.02 pp7,600
4 years11.07%12.35%-1.28 pp10,006
5 years12.08%14.18%-2.1 pp12,532
6 years12.06%16.12%-4.06 pp12,897
7 years13.05%18.3%-5.25 pp12,360
8 years13.96%20.61%-6.65 pp12,284
9 years15.8%23.18%-7.38 pp12,782
10 years18.19%25.7%-7.51 pp12,818
11 years21.7%28.32%-6.63 pp13,601
12 years25.08%30.67%-5.59 pp17,600
13 years26.31%32.77%-6.46 pp20,847
14 years28.24%34.72%-6.48 pp20,085
15 years29.63%36.17%-6.54 pp19,056
16 years32.05%37.19%-5.14 pp17,442
17 years33.28%37.55%-4.27 pp15,269
18 years35.39%37.89%-2.5 pp12,299
19 years35.8%37.48%-1.68 pp9,394
20 years36.03%36.98%-0.96 pp7,356

Raw first-time failure rates within each age, so fleet age cannot flatter either side. A positive difference means this model fails more often than its own class at that age.

How does the Lexus IS perform as it gets older?

The IS at age 11 is well below the reference at 15.5%, against 33.2% for all vehicles of the same age.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

How does the Lexus IS perform as it gets older? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–47%.

Takeaway: a 10-year-old IS has roughly a 16% chance of failing its MOT.

Data table
AgeLexus ISAll vehiclesGap
48.9%13.1%-4.2 pp
510.0%15.1%-5.1 pp
69.0%17.5%-8.5 pp
711.1%20.2%-9.1 pp
813.5%23.3%-9.9 pp
913.6%26.5%-13.0 pp
1015.9%30.1%-14.2 pp
1115.5%33.2%-17.7 pp
1218.5%35.7%-17.2 pp
1322.6%38.2%-15.6 pp
1424.7%40.4%-15.7 pp
1525.9%41.6%-15.7 pp
1628.0%43.1%-15.1 pp
1730.5%43.1%-12.6 pp
1831.3%43.9%-12.6 pp
1931.1%43.5%-12.4 pp
2033.6%41.0%-7.5 pp

Is a Lexus IS ULEZ compliant?

The share of classifiable 2024 Lexus IS MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 67.6%.

Based on 36,970 classifiable initial MOT tests. This describes the tested fleet, not a specific car. MOT data do not record Euro class, so likely compliance is inferred from fuel and first-registration date. For the only authoritative answer, check the registration with TfL's official ULEZ checker.

higher = larger share likely compliantinferred from fuel and first-registration date; not a recorded Euro class

Age-band estimate from classifiable initial MOT tests
Vehicle age at testLikely ULEZ-compliant shareTests
Under 3 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 2
3–5 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 1,784
6–7 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 3,042
8 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 2,009
9 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 2,832
10–14 years85.3%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 9,432
15–17 years61.4%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 8,604
18 years71.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 2,795
19 years0.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 1,521
20+ years0.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 4,949

Lexus IS petrol vs diesel: which ages best

Diesel is highest at 32.3%; Hybrid is lowest at 13.0% — the gap is 19.2 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Lexus IS petrol vs diesel: which ages best — 2024 UK MOT data
Fuel split table
FuelTests% failingGap vs best
Petrol17,83527.4%+14.4 pp
Hybrid13,82213.0%+0.0 pp
Diesel5,55832.3%+19.2 pp

Chart sample sizes: n=18k · n=14k · n=5,558.

How dangerous are Lexus IS MOT failures?

Major defects are well below the reference at 36.1 per 100 tests, against 52.8 per 100 tests nationally.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

How dangerous are Lexus IS MOT failures? — 2024 UK MOT data
Severity table
SeverityThis family /100National /100Family / national
Minor13.4514.220.95×
Major36.1352.750.68×
Dangerous10.9811.150.98×

Chart values: Minor 13.4 · Major 36.1 · Dangerous 11.0.

Per 100 tests on this family. National average: Minor 14.2 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 11.2 per 100.

Does the month of a Lexus IS MOT matter?

Apr is highest at 25.7%; Jun is lowest at 22.4% — the gap is 3.3 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Does the month of a Lexus IS MOT matter? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart scale: 21%–33%.

bars: Lexus IS · dashed: all class-4 cars

Month-by-month table
MonthLexus ISAll vehiclesGap
Jan25.67%31.12%-5.4 pp
Feb24.67%29.99%-5.3 pp
Mar23.97%28.26%-4.3 pp
Apr25.72%29.78%-4.1 pp
May24.01%28.79%-4.8 pp
Jun22.41%28.15%-5.7 pp
Jul23.72%29.33%-5.6 pp
Aug22.54%29.2%-6.7 pp
Sep22.48%28.19%-5.7 pp
Oct24%30.34%-6.3 pp
Nov24.7%30.58%-5.9 pp
Dec24.26%29.33%-5.1 pp

Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 3.3 percentage points — noticeable seasonality. Seasonality partly reflects registration-date clustering, not weather.

Before reading the shape: most of it is not about cars. Britain changes its registration plates twice a year, and 18.9% of these cars were first registered in March with another17.1% in September — 36% in two months against the 17% an even spread would give. An MOT falls due three years after first registration, so the buying calendar becomes the testing calendar. That shapes how many cars are tested each month — not how often they fail: the busiest months here are not the worst ones, so read the failure line on its own and the volume behind it separately.

Lexus IS average mileage by age

At age 8, the middle half of IS models runs from 46,653 miles to 95,194 miles, against 65,600 miles as the median.

further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75

Bars: Lexus IS · dashed: all class-4 cars — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–152k mi.

Does high mileage mean more Lexus IS MOT failures at the same age?

Within the same age group, split by odometer (2024 MOTs), so this separates wear from age: at ages 15+, 14.7% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 36.8% of those with over 140,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.

Does high mileage mean more Lexus IS MOT failures at the same age? — 2024 UK MOT data
Lexus IS: first-time failure by mileage within each age group (2024)
AgeOdometer% failing95% intervalTests
3–5<40k miles7%5.5–8.8%914
3–540-70k miles13.4%10.9–16.5%573
3–570-100k miles10.2%6.8–15.1%206 (rough estimate)
3–5100-140k miles14.9%8.5–24.7%74 (rough estimate)
6–9<40k miles7.6%6.4–9%1,541
6–940-70k miles11.6%10.5–12.8%2,953
6–970-100k miles15.2%13.6–16.9%1,766
6–9100-140k miles15.5%13.2–18%867
6–9140k+ miles13.1%10.9–15.7%764
10–14<40k miles9.7%7.6–12.4%606
10–1440-70k miles14.6%13.3–16.1%2,415
10–1470-100k miles18.3%17–19.8%2,846
10–14100-140k miles24.9%23.2–26.7%2,262
10–14140k+ miles23.8%21.6–26.2%1,320
15+<40k miles14.7%11.4–18.8%353 (rough estimate)
15+40-70k miles19.8%18.2–21.6%2,022
15+70-100k miles27%25.7–28.3%4,368
15+100-140k miles32.8%31.7–34%6,715
15+140k+ miles36.8%35.4–38.2%4,414

line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)

Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
Agep25Medianp75Tests
420,25030,20447,171562
529,66943,35665,1571,159
635,83849,51071,1711,462
738,42555,18679,4111,580
846,65365,60095,1942,010
953,86375,490106,5912,840
1062,28385,929119,2973,146
1163,66687,526116,2771,682
1252,68974,83498,801893
1364,05287,810114,6691,512
1470,97595,187123,0172,218
1577,380103,891131,9812,412
1685,058110,346137,0032,746
1790,747116,396144,2923,449
1891,831118,297144,0552,796
1985,614111,354136,2101,523
20+85,230111,514140,2664,957

A typical 8-year-old IS has ~65,600 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.

Where in Britain the Lexus IS fails its MOT most

Ipswich area is highest at 41.8%; Bradford area is lowest at 14.8% — the gap is 27.0 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Where in Britain the Lexus IS fails its MOT most — 2024 UK MOT data
Toughest areas% failingvs model overall
Ipswich (IP)41.75%+17.8 pp
Kirkcaldy (KY)39.82%+15.9 pp
Perth (PH)37.77%+13.8 pp
Aberdeen (AB)37.54%+13.6 pp
Truro (TR)35.66%+11.7 pp
Easiest areas% failingvs model overall
Bradford (BD)14.8%-9.2 pp
Wakefield (WF)15.53%-8.4 pp
Leeds (LS)17.77%-6.2 pp
Dartford (DA)18.02%-5.9 pp
Croydon (CR)18.24%-5.7 pp

Why do areas differ?

For each external factor we correlate the area fail rate with the factor across postcode areas that have ≥800 tests of this family, then compare the bottom vs top fifth (quintile) of the factor. Correlation, not causation — factors travel together (the north is colder and often poorer; urban areas are denser and less salted). Road surface condition is joined now, for the 91 English areas the DfT publishes, and it explains nothing: the correlation with suspension failures is −0.01 and with body and structure failures 0.07. Potholes wreck wheels and tyres between tests, but by the time a car reaches the bay the road it drives on leaves no measurable trace.

In areas with the highest urban share this model fails 8.7 pp less often than in the lowest fifth (r=-0.62, n=89 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest mot centre density this model fails 6.8 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.46, n=89 areas with ≥800 tests).

In the most coastal fifth of areas this model fails 2.5 pp more often than in the most inland fifth (r=-0.29, n=89 areas with ≥800 tests).

Lexus IS Why do areas differ? — 2024 UK MOT data
Values shown in the quintile chart
FactorLow QHigh QGapCorrelation
Urban share29.7%21.0%-8.7 ppr=-0.62
MOT centre density21.3%28.1%+6.8 ppr=0.46
Distance to coast25.8%23.3%-2.5 ppr=-0.29

Factors that only mean something combined

Some conditions are useless on their own and informative multiplied together. Frost days alone say little — Britain barely freezes. Salt tonnage alone says little — it tracks frost. Distance to the sea alone says little. Multiply the first two and divide by the third and you get an index of how hard an area attacks a car's underside, and it lines up with the corrosion defects we actually record. We built five such combinations and tested each against our own data. Three survived; two did not, and the failures are listed here on purpose — a proxy that was never checked is decoration. One survivor only survived on the second attempt: built from a crude stand-in for street parking it failed outright, and rebuilt from the census — terraced streets carrying more cars than they have driveways — it works, and carries information the salt index does not.

Composite area indicators, each tested against a defect rate we measure
CompositeBuilt fromTested againstrVerdict
Underbody corrosionfrost days × salt load ÷ (distance to coast + 1)share of tests with a corrosion defect+0.42holds (116 areas)
Tyre wearrain days × annual miles ÷ age at first tyre advisoryshare of tests failing on tyres+0.45holds (116 areas)
Overnight corrosionterraced housing × cars per household × frost daysshare with a corrosion defect+0.41holds (102 areas) — and adds signal beyond the first index
Deferred maintenancedeprivation × advisory-to-failure conversion ÷ labour ratecars repeating the same advisory−0.26fails (118 areas)
Powertrain stressengine capacity ÷ kerb weightsuspension, brake and emissions failures−0.16fails (22 models)

The deprivation result is the one worth dwelling on. The intuition that poorer areas defer repairs is strong enough that most people treat it as established. We tested it twice — once on raw failure rates (r = 0.04) and again, more fairly, on whether an advisory turns into a failure — and it did not hold any of the three times we tried it — on raw failure rates, on advisory-to-failure conversion, and again with deprivation measured properly inside each nation rather than England alone. We are closing it. What does predict local failure rates is the density of test centres, which is a statement about testing, not about cars.

All external-factor correlations (machine-readable)
Factorrn areasLow-Q fail %High-Q fail %Gap ppLow-Q factorHigh-Q factor
Urban share (0–1)-0.6188929.721.0-8.70.51
MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles)0.4588921.328.1+6.84.98.1
Distance to coast (km)-0.2928925.823.3-2.57.882.7
Income deprivation (score)-0.2418226.022.3-3.70.10.2
Frost days (days/year)0.1428924.324.4+0.111.131.3
Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr)0.1338923.125.1+2.1217.1548.6
Terrain gradient (% grade)0.0795026.527.8+1.30.53.5

Deprivation uses England IMD 2019 income score only (Scotland SIMD is a different scale). Salt proxy is a simplified NWSRG-style dry-salt sum from air Tmin; coastalness is distance from the area centroid to the nearest coastline.

Every dot is a postcode area — size = how many were tested there, colour = share failing. These figures are not age-adjusted: coastal and rural areas often run older fleets and salted roads, so higher raw fail rates do not automatically mean a worse local stock of this model.

Map labels: Scotland · N. England · Wales · London · S. West. Colour scale: 18%–35% failing.

Lexus IS survival: which cars are still on the road

By age 19 is well below the reference at 79.5%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Lexus IS survival: which cars are still on the road — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · survival vs ages 4–6 · scale 0–105%.

Survival vs fail rate by age
AgeTestsSurvival vs ages 4–6Fail %
37,60064.3%9.76%
410,00684.7%11.07%
512,532100%12.08%
612,897100%12.06%
712,360100%13.05%
812,284100%13.96%
912,782100%15.8%
1012,818100%18.19%
1113,601100%21.7%
1217,600100%25.08%
1320,847100%26.31%
1420,085100%28.24%
1519,056100%29.63%
1617,442100%32.05%
1715,269100%33.28%
1812,299100%35.39%
199,39479.5%35.8%

By age 19, only about 80% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈11,811); survivors still fail at 35.8% vs 11.1% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.

How many miles does a Lexus IS last?

100,000+ miles is highest at 40.6%; 200,000+ miles is lowest at 1.3% — the gap is 39.3 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

OdometerTests ≥ thresholdShare of sample
100,000+ miles104,31340.64%
150,000+ miles25,95410.11%
200,000+ miles3,3721.31%

Of 256,694 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 40.6% had reached 100k miles, 10.1% had reached 150k miles, 1.3% had reached 200k miles. This is a cross-section of cars still presenting for MOT, not a full birth cohort.

How many years is a Lexus IS likely to last?

Bought at age 5 is highest at 14.3 years; Bought at age 15 is lowest at 4.3 years — the gap is 10.0 years.

bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve

Age nowTypical mileage (p50)Expected years left
5—at least 14.3
8—at least 11.3
10—at least 9.3
12—at least 7.3
15—at least 4.3

estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has at least 9.3 expected years of further MOT-present life. The curve is observed only until age 19, so the true figure is likely higher.

Lexus IS faults that come together

Body & structure + Emissions & leaks stand out at 13.37×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.

above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less

Group AGroup BTogetherLift
Body, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaks1,33013.37×
Identification of the vehicleRoad Wheels348.19× (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSuspension5727.34×
BrakesNoise, emissions and leaks2,4397.18×
Noise, emissions and leaksSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems2397.04× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksRoad Wheels1526.66× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems1956.65× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleNoise, emissions and leaks1255.97× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSuspension1,2645.53×
Body, chassis, structureRoad Wheels1095.52× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems345.51× (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSteering905.47× (rough estimate)
BrakesRoad Wheels3665.43× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSuspension1,3635.15×
Body, chassis, structureIdentification of the vehicle925.09× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureBrakes1,4815.04×
SteeringSuspension6425.01×
BrakesSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems4854.84× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentNoise, emissions and leaks2,7154.82×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentRoad Wheels5334.78×
Road WheelsSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems324.76× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems7874.74×
Identification of the vehicleLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment4814.7× (rough estimate)
BrakesIdentification of the vehicle2804.53× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSteering2514.5× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsTyres3264.43× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSuspension2324.42× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment2,1244.37×
Body, chassis, structureSteering2014.17× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSuspension2004.16× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleVisibility2584.04× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleTyres2724.03× (rough estimate)
BrakesSuspension3,0903.96×
BrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment6,4953.91×
Road WheelsSteering423.8× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSteering383.75× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSuspension4,7913.71×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsVisibility3753.62× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsVisibility2353.37× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksTyres1,2323.32×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSteering9023.31×
Noise, emissions and leaksVisibility1,1233.19×
BrakesTyres3,4663.16×
BrakesSteering5203.16×
Body, chassis, structureVisibility9523.13×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsTyres3293× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentVisibility5,1132.97×
Body, chassis, structureTyres9412.93×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentTyres5,2122.87×
SuspensionVisibility2,2872.83×
BrakesVisibility2,8652.76×
SuspensionTyres2,3532.76×
SteeringVisibility4532.66× (rough estimate)
TyresVisibility2,8272.49×
SteeringTyres3992.22× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSpeedometer and speed limiter11too few (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterSuspension7too few (rough estimate)

Defects in «Body, chassis, structure» and «Noise, emissions and leaks» appear together 13.37× more often than chance (1,330 co-occurrences in the same test; lift≥1.3, n≥500).

Lift = how many times more often both groups appear on the same test than if independent. A pair is listed from 5 tests with both faults; the lift is shown from 20, and called above chance only when its 95% interval excludes 1 (see rough estimates).

Is low mileage better for a Lexus IS?

Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 12.1%, against 23.6% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BandFail %Tests
<5k miles/year12.05%23,800
8–12k miles/year23.55%48,702
Gap (low − normal)-11.5 pp—
By fuel and age

Diesel

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
89.34320.23257-10.93 pp
912.1510723.54684-11.39 pp
1010.8521226.71,397-15.85 pp
1112.1528827.872,415-15.71 pp
1214.3541832.164,098-17.81 pp
1317.2452231.94,987-14.66 pp
1419.6246934.854,037-15.24 pp

Petrol

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
59.4512717.0294-7.57 pp
68.2920512.4129-4.11 pp
78.5843118.26334-9.68 pp
810.0968418.73582-8.64 pp
910.871,11320.49947-9.61 pp
1012.111,48620.861,285-8.74 pp
1112.241,89524.731,791-12.49 pp
1213.782,40226.562,395-12.78 pp
1315.392,70329.362,970-13.97 pp
1416.312,91233.863,142-17.55 pp

At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 12.1% vs 23.6% for 8–12k miles/year — 11.5 pp lower (n_low=23,800, n_normal=48,702). In this family low annual use is associated with fewer MOT fails, not more — the ‘garage queen’ penalty is not visible in overall fail rates. Diesel alone: 17.2% low-use vs 31.9% normal (-14.7 pp).

Which Lexus IS engine is best?

diesel 1.8–2.0 is highest at 114.3; petrol over 2.0 is lowest at 86.6 — the gap is 27.7 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Engine bands against this model's own failure rate at the same ages
FuelCapacityvs own age normRaw fail %Tests
petrolover 2.0 litre86.623.25%81,095
petrol1.8–2.0 litre107.236.38%50,048
dieselover 2.0 litre112.629.9%50,130
diesel1.8–2.0 litre114.329.62%368 (rough estimate)

Splitting this model by fuel alone hides the thing that actually differs. Within the same badge, the diesel over 2.0 runs at 112.6 against this model's own age norm while the petrol over 2.0 runs at 86.6 — a spread of 26 points between two cars that share a name.

Read this one with more care than the rest of the page. Age is held constant, but who buys which engine is not: the largest capacity in a range is often a performance or executive variant that is garaged, cherished and lightly driven, while the smallest is frequently a fleet or entry car worked hard from new. The gap below is real in the test records; how much of it is the engine and how much is the owner, this data cannot separate. Bands under 100 tests are not shown; bands under 5,000 tests are rough estimates.

Best year for a Lexus IS, and the years to avoid

Build year 2000 is highest at 111.2; Build year 2018 is lowest at 85.8 — the gap is 25.4 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected

Lexus IS build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected — 2024 UK MOT data
Lexus IS by build year, tests 2019–2024. Below 100 is better than the model's own age norm.
Every build year with its confidence interval
Build yearvs own age norm95% CIRaw fail %TestsVerdict
2020101.383–119.610.2%1,157no different
2019103.693.4–113.810.98%3,635no different
201885.878.7–939.4%5,903better
201791.885.6–97.910.38%8,277better
201699.594.4–104.511.86%12,391no different
201596.192–100.112.43%17,439no different
201498.394.6–10213.87%19,406no different
201391.386.6–9614.29%10,281better
201293.987.7–10016.72%5,394no different
2011101.697–106.220.29%9,224no different
201098.194.6–101.521.81%14,447no different
200997.494.4–100.423.84%16,669no different
200899.897.1–102.426.66%20,660no different
200798.596.4–100.728.24%28,132no different
200698.896.5–101.129.95%23,659no different
200599.396.2–102.531.83%11,833no different
2004106.2103–109.435.45%12,066worse
2003103.9100.7–107.135.98%11,302worse
2002103.3100–106.736.7%9,860no different
2001102.498.4–106.337.32%6,950no different
2000111.2105.6–116.941.08%3,615worse
1999100.793.1–108.337.72%1,800no different

The best build year here is 2018 and the weakest is 2004. Comparing build years sounds simple and is not: within a single year of testing, a car's build year and its age are the same number, so a naive comparison of years is a comparison of ages wearing a disguise. Each year below is measured against the same model at the same age in other cohorts, across six years of testing — 5 of 22 years come out distinguishable from their own model's age norm.

Two limits worth knowing before you act on this. Age, test year and build year are locked together by arithmetic, so the test-year effect is taken from the observed national failure level of each year rather than estimated — it is an adjustment, not a solution.

Lexus IS MOT repair costs

The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £67.15 to £127.58, against £54.85 for the test itself.

bigger number = costs morepounds per test, MOT-failing faults only

MOT repairs, budget
£67–128
per test, repairs only
The test itself
£54.85
statutory cap, unchanged since 2010
How the figure is built: chance of failing × typical price of that repair
ComponentFails per 100 testsTypical repairIts priceContribution
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment17.3 (nat. 18.09)Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid)£140£24.22
Brakes10.1 (nat. 11.25)Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback)£150£15.15
Suspension7.2 (nat. 15.36)Suspension coil spring (single corner)£180£12.96
Tyres9.8 (nat. 8.7)Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted)£90£8.82
Noise, emissions and leaks3.0 (nat. 3.67)Exhaust rear silencer£200£6.00

Multiply how often each component fails on this model by what that repair usually costs, and you get the amount an owner should expect to budget per test for MOT-failing faults only — roughly £67 to £128, on top of the test fee itself. It is a budgeting figure, not a quote: the spread between a set of pads and a set of discs is most of the range.

Prices are modal quotes from a hand-kept catalogue of published UK garage guides — we do not scrape the booking sites, their terms forbid it, so this list is short and updated by hand with a source and date against each line. Each line prices one typical repair in that group, not a full remedy, and only groups our catalogue actually covers are counted. The contrast worth noticing is the second card: the legal maximum for the test has been £54.85 since 2010, while the repairs it uncovers have followed inflation the whole time.

For scale from a different direction: Warrantywise, which sees used-car warranty claims rather than test failures, puts the average claim at £2,052 across the ten highest-claim models it ranks and £539 for Honda, the lowest-claim make in its index (Warrantywise index 2026, 1.6 million claims, cars aged 3–15). Those sit an order of magnitude above the figures in this table, and the gap is the point: a warranty claim is a gearbox or an engine, which almost never fails an MOT, while the faults that do fail one are corrosion, lamps and tyres, which no warranty pays for. The two numbers answer different questions and neither replaces the other.

Lexus IS running costs for a fleet

Vehicles failing at age 10 stand out at 16.0%, against 10.0% at age 5, tested in the same year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fails per 100 at age 5
10
vehicles needing work (rough estimate: 1,159 tests)
At age 10
16
other cars of this model tested at age 10 in 2024
Repairs per 100
£6,715
plus £5,485 in test fees
Off the road
1d
median; 39.83% cleared same day
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
AgeFailsMedian odometerTestsGap vs age 5
48.9%30,204562-1.1 pp
510.01%43,3561,159+0.0 pp
69.03%49,5101,462-1.0 pp
711.08%55,1861,580+1.1 pp
813.48%65,6002,010+3.5 pp
913.56%75,4902,840+3.6 pp
1015.86%85,9293,146+5.8 pp
1115.46%87,5261,682+5.5 pp
1218.48%74,834893+8.5 pp
1322.55%87,8101,512+12.5 pp
1424.71%95,1872,218+14.7 pp
1525.87%103,8912,412+15.9 pp
1628.04%110,3462,746+18.0 pp
1730.53%116,3963,449+20.5 pp
1831.29%118,2972,796+21.3 pp
1931.06%111,3541,523+21.0 pp

No single year stands out as the point where this model starts costing more: the year-to-year steps in its failure rate are too small or rest on too few tests to name one (D1 rule: a step is named only with at least 2,000 tests on both sides and a jump above 3 percentage points).

Repair spend uses the same modal prices as the section above, so it inherits the same limits: one typical repair per component group, not a full remedy. Downtime is the gap between the failed test and the passed re-test, which is the window a vehicle is legally off the road.

Lexus IS rust problems: where they corrode

Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility is well below the reference at 0.77×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.

above 1.0× = rusts more than averagebelow 1.0× = rusts less

How it rusts
0.77×
0.59% of tests record a corrosion defect vs 0.77% typical — age-standardised
Salt Belt exposure
13th
percentile among the models published here, from its tests across 89 postcode areas

This Lexus IS fails on corrosion at about the average rate once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are gentler than most for the models we publish.

Corrosion is the one failure mode that is as much about geography as about the car. We keep the two apart on purpose: a model can look rusty simply because it is popular in Scotland, and a model can look clean simply because it is bought in Surrey. Blending them into a single score would hide which of the two is doing the work.

Exposure is this model's tests weighted by an area corrosion index built from frost days, salt load and distance to the coast — the composite validated at r = 0.42 against corrosion defects we actually record. It is published as a rank, not a raw score, because every mainstream model skews towards low-corrosion areas for the simple reason that most of Britain's cars are in the south. Susceptibility is standardised to the national age profile, so an old fleet does not get labelled a rusty model.

Does a Lexus IS advisory become a failure?

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment are highest at 25.6%; Road wheels are lowest at 1.0% — the gap is 24.5 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now

Lexus IS chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now — 2024 UK MOT data
Lexus IS, advisory → failure conversion by component group, chained tests 2019–2024. Chart labels and rates: Lamps & electrical 25.6% · Suspension 14.7% · Brakes 11.9% · Tyres 10% · Body & chassis 8.5% · Seat belts & restraints 6.6% · Steering 6.2% · Noise, emissions, leaks 5.9%.
Advisory today → failure at the next test, with how long you have
ComponentFails next timeTypical lead timeMiles of warningAdvisories tracked
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment25.6%12.1 months5,2034,887
Suspension14.7%12.1 months4,33319,165
Brakes11.8%12.1 months5,09136,083
Tyres10.0%12 months5,73447,548
Body, chassis, structure8.5%12.1 months4,0926,686
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems6.6%12 months5,925754
Steering6.2%12.1 months5,2881,003
Noise, emissions and leaks5.9%12.1 months4,6714,316
Identification of the vehicle3.0%12.1 months5,9115,871
Road wheels1.0%12.1 months5,319863

This is the question an advisory note actually raises, and it needs six years of test history to answer. We followed the same vehicles from one MOT to the next across 2019–2024 and measured how often a component that was merely advised came back as a genuine failure at the next test.

Read it as a budgeting horizon, not a prophecy: the most likely component above turns into a failure for about 26 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12.1 months and roughly 5,203 miles. The rest were repaired, sold, scrapped, or simply held. Rows with fewer than 500 tracked advisories are not shown.

What will fail next on a Lexus IS?

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a failure at age 20+ are highest at 25.9%; Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a advisory at age <3 are lowest at 1.0% — the gap is 24.9 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

Probability of each component failing at the next test, by age and last result
AgeLast testMost likely next failuresCars tracked
<3passedTyres 5.5% · Visibility 3.2% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 1.3%3,973
<3advisoryTyres 5.0% · Visibility 4.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 1.0%1,103
<3failureTyres 6.9% · Visibility 5.0% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 2.4%537
3-5passedTyres 4.6% · Visibility 3.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 1.3%20,090
3-5advisoryTyres 6.7% · Visibility 5.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 1.9%5,960
3-5failureTyres 6.7% · Visibility 5.1% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 2.6%3,446
6-8passedTyres 4.7% · Visibility 3.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 2.5%19,478
6-8advisoryTyres 7.8% · Visibility 5.4% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 3.7%7,645
6-8failureTyres 8.9% · Visibility 6.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 5.9%4,325
9-11passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 5.9% · Tyres 5.0% · Visibility 4.7%16,361
9-11advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 8.8% · Tyres 7.7% · Brakes 7.4%9,997
9-11failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 13.9% · Brakes 9.7% · Tyres 8.8%7,064
12-14passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 9.9% · Brakes 5.9% · Visibility 5.2%19,643
12-14advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15.7% · Brakes 9.4% · Visibility 8.3%16,244
12-14failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 20.2% · Brakes 12.6% · Visibility 9.2%13,099
15-19passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 11.4% · Suspension 7.1% · Brakes 5.8%15,815
15-19advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 18.7% · Suspension 11.3% · Visibility 9.4%15,675
15-19failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 24.1% · Suspension 14.9% · Brakes 12.0%15,614
20+passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 11.6% · Suspension 9.9% · Visibility 6.6%2,252
20+advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 19.2% · Suspension 15.7% · Visibility 9.5%2,629
20+failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 25.9% · Suspension 19.9% · Visibility 12.1%2,804

The same chains, cut differently: given a car's age and how its last test went, which component most often causes trouble at the following one.

The pattern that repeats across every family: a failure at one test roughly doubles the chance of a failure on the same component at the next one, and an advisory sits about half-way between a clean pass and a failure. Age bands in years; probabilities are per car, not per defect item.

Lexus IS ownership: what six years of MOTs show

The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 56.2%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 4.0% — the gap is 52.1 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fixed same day
39.83%
of failures re-tested
Fails /10k miles
0.373
miles actually driven
Clean streaks
41.64%
3+ tests, nothing noted
Odometer anomaly
1.037%
reading went backwards

Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 40,942 failures followed through to their re-test, 39.83% were repaired and passed the same day and 56.16% within ten days; the median gap is 1 day. 98,835 defect items were cleared in the process.

Per mile driven, not per year. Dividing failures by the miles that actually went onto the odometers between consecutive tests gives 0.373 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 4,955 miles a year across 49,148 chains. This is the number to compare between models — an annual rate quietly rewards cars that barely leave the drive.

Two populations hide inside one model. 41.64% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 29% carried the same advisory three times or more — the same fault, noted, ignored, noted again. When you buy used you are buying one of those two histories, and the MOT record shows which.

Odometer anomalies: 1.037% of 49,203 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 18,246 miles. We call this an anomaly and not fraud on purpose — instrument swaps, imports, unit mix-ups and keying errors all land in the same bucket. Obvious typos (drops under 100 miles or over 90% of the reading) are already excluded.

Lexus IS safety recalls and how to check yours

DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 3.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

recall campaigns launched per year

Lexus IS recall campaigns launched per year — 2024 UK MOT data
Campaigns launched per year for the Lexus IS. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls. Chart values: 2014: 1 · 2015: 0 · 2016: 1 · 2017: 0 · 2018: 0 · 2019: 0 · 2020: 1.
Most recent safety recall campaigns for the Lexus IS
ReferenceLaunchedVehiclesConcern
R/2020/06005/10/20206,787FUEL PUMP IMPELLER CAN CRACK AND CAUSE FUEL PUMP TO BECOME INOPRATIVE
R/2016/08026/05/201610,958RISK OF FIRE
R/2014/13524/11/20149,712RISK OF FIRE

DVSA lists 3 safety recall campaigns for the Lexus IS, covering roughly 27,457 vehicles in total. A recall is the manufacturer fixing a fault for free, so an open recall on your car costs nothing to clear.

Counter-intuitive, and measured on our own data: across the 25 families published here, more recalls go with a lower MOT Risk Index (r = −0.52). Heavily recalled models are not worse cars in the test bay — an active manufacturer removes the fault before it becomes an MOT failure.

Check whether a specific car has an outstanding recall — free, by registration — at DVSA's recall service. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls (check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk), OGL.

Lexus IS technical service bulletins: what dealers are told

US market, Lexus IS and its variants, model years 2015–2022 only. A count of bulletins, not a UK failure rate.

NHTSA manufacturer communications are 254.

bigger number = more recorded dealer communicationsnot affected vehicles or confirmed faults

These are the issues the manufacturer fixes quietly: service communications sent to dealers without a public recall campaign. They show what the service network has been told even when the issue never became news.

United States · NHTSA manufacturer communications

US technical service bulletins by communication year; leading subjects cover the full file
Communication yearBulletinsLeading subjects across all years
20151
  • Equipment (109)
  • Electrical system (64)
  • Structure (49)
  • Engine (13)
  • Adaptive and mobility equipment (13)
  • Other / uncategorised (12)
  • Engine and cooling (10)
  • Wheels (10)
20165
201714
201817
201935
202051
202125
202255
202311
202428
202510
20262

Caveat worth stating plainly: this is NHTSA data about US-specification cars. British cars sold under the same name often use different gearboxes, engines and equipment, so a bulletin may describe a component that was never fitted here. The file counts dealer communications, not affected vehicles or confirmed failures, and it cannot tell you whether an individual UK car has the issue. A communication can carry more than one subject tag, so topic counts do not have to add up to the total. Source: NHTSA Manufacturer Communications API (US-market vehicles; queried model years 2015-2022). Licence: U.S. Government work / public domain · retrieved 2026-09-25.

Lexus IS owner complaints: what goes wrong

US market, Lexus IS and its variants, model years 2015–2022 only. A count of owner complaints, not a UK failure rate; NHTSA has no UK denominator.

Engine (not MOT-tested) is highest at 9; Tyres are lowest at 4 — the gap is 5.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

Owner complaints (US) against actual MOT failures (UK) for the same component groups
ComponentComplaintsShareMOT fail items per 100MOT rankAgreement
Engine (not MOT-tested)919.6%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Lamps & electrical613.0%17.3#1complained about and fails often
Steering510.9%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Body & structure510.9%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Tyres48.7%9.8#3complained about and fails often
Restraints48.7%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure

Two different populations answering two different questions: the MOT records what an inspector can measure once a year, the complaint file records what annoyed or frightened an owner on the road. A component high in one column and absent from the other is the interesting case — driver-assistance and electronics dominate complaints while almost never appearing as an MOT failure item.

What the reports actually say
Driver side headlights and high beam have gone dim, reduced to a yellow haze. This creates a hazard by reducing visibility when driving. This increases risk of accidents due to dimly let roadway. I have had the lens professional cleaned and there is no oxidation which may reduce light output. I have checked the headlight alignment and it is good.
NHTSA complaint, filed 11/10/2025 · ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The paint is cracking and peeling off. Car is in great shape otherwise and has been kept clean and well maintained. Unsure why the paint is coming off.
NHTSA complaint, filed 09/05/2023 · STRUCTURE

US owners have filed 46 complaints about the equivalent Lexus IS to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including 3 that mention a crash, 0 a fire and 4 an injury. These are owner reports, not verified findings — but they are the only large public record of what drivers themselves notice, and they cover the years between MOT tests.

Caveat worth stating plainly: US-specification cars, self-selected reporters, no denominator — complaint counts scale with how many cars were sold there and how motivated owners are to file. The mechanical gap matters as much as the statistical one: American cars of the same name often carry different gearboxes, engines and equipment — automatics where Britain buys manuals — so a drivetrain complaint filed in Ohio may describe a part that was never fitted here. Read the ranking inside a model, not between models, and treat drivetrain entries with particular caution. Source: NHTSA ODI consumer complaints (US market, public domain) — US-spec vehicles, indicative only.

Lexus IS inspection results in other countries

Finland Katsastus is well below the reference at 20.7%, against 26.3% nationally.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Same model, different national inspection regimes
CountryTestThis model failsNational averagePositionSample
United KingdomMOT (class 4)22.79%26.01%-3.2 pp37,265
FinlandKatsastus20.7%26.3%-5.6 pp1,918

The verdict is consistent across every regime where the difference is clear, which is the strongest form this comparison takes: independent inspectorates, different rulebooks, same direction of travel.

Britain is not the only country that inspects every car every year, and the Lexus IS is on the road in all of them. Each national regime writes its own rules, so the pass rates below are not comparable to each other — what does travel across a border is whether a model sits above or below its own country's average.

Rows with fewer than 500 inspections are not published. Sources: Traficom — Periodic inspections of cars by model / by model and fault object 2024, CC BY 4.0. Adapted; licences and full notice.

Lexus IS MOT: quick answers

Lexus IS MOT Risk Index is well below the reference at 65.1, against 100 for a car with the same age profile.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

What is the Lexus IS first-time MOT pass rate?
77.21% of first attempts passed in 2024 (37,265 tests). This is the first-time figure: retests after repair are excluded. Basis: first-time, excluding retests.
Why does this number differ from other sites?
Other sites often report a pass rate that includes retests or counts all attempts. Our 22.79% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 37,265 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 65.1 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.

Compare the Lexus IS with other cars

Ford Puma is highest at 67.3; Honda HR-V is lowest at 64.4 — the gap is 2.9 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Same brand

All Lexus MOT statisticsLexus RX MOT stats

Similar risk

BMW Z4 (index 64.7)Honda HR-V (index 64.4)Ford Puma (index 67.3)

Same size class

how Skoda Kodiaq compareshow Volkswagen Sharan compareshow Volkswagen Touareg compares

By build year

Lexus IS 1999Lexus IS 2000Lexus IS 2001Lexus IS 2002Lexus IS 2003Lexus IS 2004Lexus IS 2005Lexus IS 2006Lexus IS 2007Lexus IS 2008Lexus IS 2009Lexus IS 2010Lexus IS 2011Lexus IS 2012Lexus IS 2013Lexus IS 2014Lexus IS 2015Lexus IS 2016Lexus IS 2017Lexus IS 2018Lexus IS 2019Lexus IS 2020

By area

Lexus IS MOT failure rate by postcode area

By failure group

Lexus IS body, chassis and structure failuresLexus IS brakes failuresLexus IS vehicle identification failuresLexus IS lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresLexus IS noise, emissions and leaks failuresLexus IS road wheels failuresLexus IS seat belts and airbags failuresLexus IS steering failuresLexus IS suspension failuresLexus IS tyres failuresLexus IS visibility failures

Inspections abroad

Lexus IS in Finland


Data details & how to cite

Scope: class-4 vehicles (cars), initial tests only, outcomes pass / fail / fixed-on-the-spot at the station (PRS counts towards the failure rate — the defect was present at arrival). Index = observed initial failures ÷ failures expected for this fleet's exact age profile, ×100; margin of error is a 95% confidence interval. Covers ALL generations together — a 3-year-old and a 15-year-old are very different cars; a generation split is on the roadmap. Dataset release dataset_release_id=dvsa-2024-v2, frozen baseline; headline claim_id=family-stats:lexus-is:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.

Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Lexus IS MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/lexus-is/ · Published 2026-07-30.