MOT Risk Index.co.uk

Mazda MX-5 — MOT statistics 2024

The Mazda MX-5 failed 25.73% of 92,610 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 74.0 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 26% less often than expected for its age.

MOT risk index 74.0, 95% CI 73.2–74.9 (100 = national average) 100 74.0 0 200
Index
74.0
100 = age-normal
Raw fail rate
25.73%
n = 92,610
Dangerous /100
8
national ≈11
Rank
208 of 761
lower index = better

Age-adjusted peer: BMW X5 (index 73.5) — the two published results are 0.5 index points apart.

Mazda MX-5 common problems: what actually fails the MOT

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment are well below the reference at 13.5 per 100 tests, against 26.6 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

Mazda MX-5 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
Suspension21.6107,65522.10.98×0.97–0.98
Brakes14.069,93417.10.82×0.81–0.82
Lamps & electrical13.567,64426.60.51×0.51–0.51
Visibility7.135,26310.10.70×0.69–0.71
Emissions & leaks6.532,5296.31.04×1.03–1.05
Body & structure5.225,90810.10.52×0.51–0.52
Named defects — items per 100 initial tests, this family vs UK national average; this model measured on 499,285 tests, 2019-2024, national column 2024
What failedper 100 tests (this family)per 100 tests (UK average)ratio family / UKWhat to check
Suspension joint dust cover severely deterioratedA suspension joint dust cover severely deteriorated5.711.903.00×Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test
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 repaired4.751.124.25×Look underneath for rust or cracks around subframe and suspension mountings
Strength or continuity of the load bearing…The strength or continuity of the load bearing structure within 30cm of any seat belt anchorage (a 'prescribed area') is significantly reduced or inadequately repaired3.180.388.41×Look underneath for rust or cracks around subframe and suspension mountings
Significant brake effort recorded with no brake…Significant brake effort recorded with no brake applied indicating a binding brake3.071.032.98×Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive
Spring or spring component fractured or seriously…A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened3.952.861.38×Ask the seller about: A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened
Suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer…A suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc2.191.781.23×Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test
Windscreen or window damaged or seriously…Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view2.102.360.89×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Tyre seriously damagedA tyre seriously damaged2.152.540.85×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down…The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements2.102.570.82×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Rear registration plate lamp or light source…A rear registration plate lamp or light source missing or inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources2.162.830.76×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure

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

Mazda MX-5 MOT advisories: what gets flagged

Brakes are highest at 39.6 per 100 tests; Non-component advisories are lowest at 2.1 per 100 tests — the gap is 37.5 per 100 tests.

higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests

Mazda MX-5 MOT advisories: what gets flagged — 2024 UK MOT data
Advisory rates table
GroupAdvisories per 100
Brakes39.6
Suspension37.4
Tyres28.8
Body & structure8.9
Emissions & leaks4.7
Non-component advisories2.1

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

Tyres, brakes and suspension: Mazda MX-5 against cars of the same age

AgePartMazda MX-5Same age, petrol and dieselDifference
3 yearsTyres1.374.17-2.80
3 yearsBrakes1.011.77-0.76
3 yearsSuspension0.240.63-0.39
4 yearsTyres1.624.54-2.92
4 yearsBrakes1.622.43-0.81
4 yearsSuspension0.31.21-0.91
5 yearsTyres2.045.06-3.02
5 yearsBrakes2.23.09-0.89
5 yearsSuspension0.62.19-1.59
6 yearsTyres2.595.54-2.95
6 yearsBrakes2.943.81-0.87
6 yearsSuspension1.033.72-2.69
7 yearsTyres2.685.95-3.27
7 yearsBrakes3.64.55-0.95
7 yearsSuspension2.015.68-3.67
8 yearsTyres2.76.31-3.61
8 yearsBrakes4.25.38-1.18
8 yearsSuspension3.877.78-3.91

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 failed30.2%29,914
It passed21.2%268,862

A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 9.0 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is identification of the vehicle — 34.0% 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 488,880 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 only74.6fails less often than expected
Age and annual mileage83.2fails less often than vehicles driven as much
Share doing under 3,000 miles a year24.6%a normal spread of use

Mileage matters here: matching on how much these are driven moves the figure by 8.6 points — this fleet is driven less than the vehicles it is measured against, so the age-only view flatters it — but it does not change which side of normal the car sits on. 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 Mazda MX-5 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.

AgeMazda MX-5Same class, same ageDifferenceTests
3 years6.23%11.72%-5.5 pp20,839
4 years7.43%13.33%-5.89 pp21,004
5 years9.16%15.1%-5.94 pp21,735
6 years10.44%17.37%-6.93 pp18,748
7 years12.04%20.19%-8.15 pp17,819
8 years14.56%23.26%-8.7 pp16,399
9 years17%26.79%-9.79 pp15,662
10 years19.43%30.1%-10.67 pp17,337
11 years21.92%33.54%-11.62 pp18,769
12 years25.27%36.57%-11.3 pp21,222
13 years26.71%39.03%-12.32 pp25,883
14 years29.5%41.01%-11.51 pp30,253
15 years31.68%42.49%-10.81 pp30,095
16 years34.16%43.32%-9.16 pp30,951
17 years35.66%43.72%-8.06 pp30,428
18 years38.02%43.79%-5.77 pp24,389
19 years37.7%43.37%-5.67 pp19,443
20 years37.14%42.65%-5.52 pp18,235

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 Mazda MX-5 perform as it gets older?

The MX-5 at age 14 is well below the reference at 26.2%, against 40.4% for all vehicles of the same age.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

How does the Mazda MX-5 perform as it gets older? — 2024 UK MOT data

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

Takeaway: a 10-year-old MX-5 has roughly a 18% chance of failing its MOT.

Data table
AgeMazda MX-5All vehiclesGap
35.7%12.4%-6.7 pp
45.6%13.1%-7.5 pp
59.0%15.1%-6.2 pp
69.9%17.5%-7.6 pp
710.3%20.2%-9.8 pp
813.4%23.3%-9.9 pp
914.7%26.5%-11.8 pp
1017.7%30.1%-12.4 pp
1119.8%33.2%-13.3 pp
1221.6%35.7%-14.1 pp
1325.4%38.2%-12.7 pp
1426.2%40.4%-14.2 pp
1528.3%41.6%-13.3 pp
1630.0%43.1%-13.1 pp
1730.1%43.1%-13.1 pp
1834.6%43.9%-9.2 pp
1936.8%43.5%-6.7 pp
2035.3%41.0%-5.8 pp

Is a Mazda MX-5 ULEZ compliant?

The share of classifiable 2024 Mazda MX-5 MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 75.1%.

Based on 83,847 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 = 42
3–5 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 6,613
6–7 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 8,822
8 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 4,091
9 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 2,970
10–14 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 17,074
15–17 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 17,108
18 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 6,242
19 years0.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 3,241
20+ years0.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 17,644

How dangerous are Mazda MX-5 MOT failures?

Dangerous defects are well below the reference at 7.9 per 100 tests, against 11.2 per 100 tests nationally.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

How dangerous are Mazda MX-5 MOT failures? — 2024 UK MOT data
Severity table
SeverityThis family /100National /100Family / national
Minor15.2814.221.07×
Major55.7052.751.06×
Dangerous7.8811.150.71×

Chart values: Minor 15.3 · Major 55.7 · Dangerous 7.9.

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

Does the month of a Mazda MX-5 MOT matter?

Jan is highest at 28.8%; Mar is lowest at 24.4% — the gap is 4.4 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Does the month of a Mazda MX-5 MOT matter? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart scale: 23%–33%.

bars: Mazda MX-5 · dashed: all class-4 cars

Month-by-month table
MonthMazda MX-5All vehiclesGap
Jan28.8%31.12%-2.3 pp
Feb26.78%29.99%-3.2 pp
Mar24.41%28.26%-3.9 pp
Apr28.22%29.78%-1.6 pp
May26.9%28.79%-1.9 pp
Jun26.56%28.15%-1.6 pp
Jul26.66%29.33%-2.7 pp
Aug25.12%29.2%-4.1 pp
Sep24.45%28.19%-3.7 pp
Oct27.06%30.34%-3.3 pp
Nov28.51%30.58%-2.1 pp
Dec28.37%29.33%-1.0 pp

Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 4.4 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.

Mazda MX-5 average mileage by age

At age 8, the middle half of MX-5s runs from 22,752 miles to 47,329 miles, against 33,472 miles as the median.

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

Bars: Mazda MX-5 · dashed: all class-4 cars — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–115k mi.

Does high mileage mean more Mazda MX-5 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+, 18.6% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 41% of those with over 140,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.

Does high mileage mean more Mazda MX-5 MOT failures at the same age? — 2024 UK MOT data
Mazda MX-5: first-time failure by mileage within each age group (2024)
AgeOdometer% failing95% intervalTests
3–5<40k miles7.3%6.7–8%6,226
3–540-70k miles13.7%10.5–17.6%358 (rough estimate)
6–9<40k miles9.4%8.9–10%11,279
6–940-70k miles16.7%15.5–17.9%3,927
6–970-100k miles24%20.7–27.7%570
6–9100-140k miles20.7%13.5–30.4%87 (rough estimate)
10–14<40k miles14.6%13.8–15.5%6,034
10–1440-70k miles23.9%22.9–24.9%7,293
10–1470-100k miles32.3%30.6–34%2,945
10–14100-140k miles37.1%33.6–40.7%717
10–14140k+ miles32.9%23.7–43.7%82 (rough estimate)
15+<40k miles18.6%17.5–19.7%4,657
15+40-70k miles27.7%27–28.5%13,910
15+70-100k miles37%36.2–37.7%14,997
15+100-140k miles41%39.9–42%8,316
15+140k+ miles41%39–43.1%2,289

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

Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
Agep25Medianp75Tests
37,73512,22618,6871,478
410,10014,83921,8141,095
512,29518,98828,0424,040
615,76523,92734,2984,279
718,51427,68839,3494,543
822,75233,47247,3294,091
924,86636,81951,3302,970
1025,10638,06153,1692,846
1131,40144,56560,3763,098
1233,08647,59464,7883,091
1336,18152,02570,1613,373
1440,84857,68276,6494,666
1545,57662,75683,0224,179
1649,47967,53787,6505,330
1753,42372,68293,3437,599
1857,17676,12896,2076,242
1954,07673,75494,7113,241
20+63,30285,349109,54417,645

A typical 8-year-old MX-5 has ~33,472 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.

Where in Britain the Mazda MX-5 fails its MOT most

Llandrindod Wells area is highest at 37.7%; Bromley area is lowest at 17.1% — the gap is 20.7 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Where in Britain the Mazda MX-5 fails its MOT most — 2024 UK MOT data
Toughest areas% failingvs model overall
Llandrindod Wells (LD)37.72%+11.2 pp
Plymouth (PL)33.78%+7.2 pp
Bath (BA)33.21%+6.7 pp
Brighton (BN)33.14%+6.6 pp
Perth (PH)32.86%+6.3 pp
Easiest areas% failingvs model overall
Bromley (BR)17.06%-9.5 pp
Romford (RM)18.46%-8.1 pp
Ilford (IG)18.72%-7.8 pp
Watford (WD)18.89%-7.7 pp
Slough (SL)20.45%-6.1 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 mot centre density this model fails 4.9 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.49, n=112 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest urban share this model fails 4.0 pp less often than in the lowest fifth (r=-0.38, n=112 areas with ≥800 tests).

In the most coastal fifth of areas this model fails 4.0 pp more often than in the most inland fifth (r=-0.35, n=112 areas with ≥800 tests).

Mazda MX-5 Why do areas differ? — 2024 UK MOT data
Values shown in the quintile chart
FactorLow QHigh QGapCorrelation
MOT centre density23.5%28.4%+4.9 ppr=0.49
Urban share27.9%24.0%-3.9 ppr=-0.38
Distance to coast29.1%25.1%-4.0 ppr=-0.35

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
MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles)0.49411223.528.4+4.958.5
Urban share (0–1)-0.37811227.924.0-4.00.41
Distance to coast (km)-0.35011229.125.1-4.06.279.5
Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr)0.25311226.327.9+1.5222.5670.1
Frost days (days/year)0.25211227.628.0+0.411.738
Terrain gradient (% grade)0.2226726.528.5+2.00.53.7
Income deprivation (score)-0.0099625.025.6+0.50.10.2

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: 21%–33% failing.

Mazda MX-5 survival: which cars are still on the road

By age 19 is well below the reference at 94.9%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Mazda MX-5 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 %
320,839100%6.23%
421,004100%7.43%
521,735100%9.16%
618,74891.5%10.44%
717,81986.9%12.04%
816,39980%14.56%
915,66276.4%17%
1017,33784.6%19.43%
1118,76991.6%21.92%
1221,222100%25.27%
1325,883100%26.71%
1430,253100%29.5%
1530,095100%31.68%
1630,951100%34.16%
1730,428100%35.66%
1824,389100%38.02%
1919,44394.9%37.7%

By age 19, only about 95% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈20,495); survivors still fail at 37.7% vs 7.4% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.

How many miles does a Mazda MX-5 last?

100,000+ miles is highest at 17.0%; 200,000+ miles is lowest at 0.6% — the gap is 16.3 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

OdometerTests ≥ thresholdShare of sample
100,000+ miles84,34316.95%
150,000+ miles15,4503.1%
200,000+ miles3,0940.62%

Of 497,623 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 16.9% had reached 100k miles, 3.1% had reached 150k miles, 0.6% 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 Mazda MX-5 likely to last?

Bought at age 8 is highest at 13.6 years; Bought at age 15 is lowest at 4.4 years — the gap is 9.2 years.

bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve

Age nowTypical mileage (p50)Expected years left
5—at least 13.6
8—at least 13.6
10—at least 11
12—at least 7.4
15—at least 4.4

estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has at least 11.0 expected years of further MOT-present life. The curve is observed only until age 19, so the true figure is likely higher.

Mazda MX-5 faults that come together

Identification + Road Wheels stand out at 10.74×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.

above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less

Group AGroup BTogetherLift
Identification of the vehicleRoad Wheels2710.74× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSpeedometer and speed limiter368.79× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaks5,8578.49×
Body, chassis, structureRoad Wheels1266.16× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems2676.04× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSteering1656.01× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureIdentification of the vehicle3515.93× (rough estimate)
BrakesSpeedometer and speed limiter245.84× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleNoise, emissions and leaks4895.77× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsTyres1195.63× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment8915.6×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSteering9055.43×
Noise, emissions and leaksRoad Wheels1565.32× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSteering485.06× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems2,5514.95×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentRoad Wheels2704.9× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems1,7334.82×
Body, chassis, structureSteering1,0544.72×
Road WheelsSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems724.71× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems4,4614.61×
Noise, emissions and leaksSteering1,4674.59×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSteering2,7054.5×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentNoise, emissions and leaks8,3184.48×
Identification of the vehicleVisibility4874.42× (rough estimate)
BrakesIdentification of the vehicle7034.4×
Identification of the vehicleTyres2664.36× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment5,6344.35×
SteeringSuspension3,6634.28×
Body, chassis, structureBrakes5,5344.25×
BrakesSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems4,1164.24×
BrakesRoad Wheels2203.98× (rough estimate)
BrakesNoise, emissions and leaks7,2773.9×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSuspension5,2113.78×
Road WheelsVisibility1443.78× (rough estimate)
BrakesSteering2,2013.65×
BrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment12,3703.53×
Body, chassis, structureTyres1,6753.37×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentVisibility7,8383.25×
BrakesTyres4,3083.21×
Identification of the vehicleSuspension7213.18×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsTyres1,1753.17×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsVisibility2,0813.11×
Body, chassis, structureSuspension5,7073.09×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentTyres4,1163.08×
Road WheelsSuspension2423.08× (rough estimate)
TyresVisibility2,7652.99×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSuspension14,6972.96×
Body, chassis, structureVisibility2,6392.94×
SteeringVisibility1,2102.91×
BrakesSuspension14,0332.81×
Noise, emissions and leaksSuspension7,4262.81×
Noise, emissions and leaksVisibility3,6092.81×
Noise, emissions and leaksTyres1,9882.79×
BrakesVisibility6,5782.71×
SteeringTyres6182.68×
SuspensionVisibility8,2932.41×
SuspensionTyres4,5992.41×
Speedometer and speed limiterSuspension19too few (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSpeedometer and speed limiter16too few (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterVisibility15too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkSuspension12too few (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSpeedometer and speed limiter11too few (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belt installation check10too few (rough estimate)
BrakesSeat belt installation check10too few (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterSteering9too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkVisibility9too few (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSeat belt installation check8too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSeat belt installation check7too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkTyres5too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSpeedometer and speed limiter5too few (rough estimate)

Defects in «Body, chassis, structure» and «Noise, emissions and leaks» appear together 8.49× more often than chance (5,857 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 Mazda MX-5?

Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 15.2%, against 28.8% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BandFail %Tests
<5k miles/year15.16%125,346
8–12k miles/year28.77%15,029
Gap (low − normal)-13.61 pp—
By fuel and age

Petrol

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
56.9213,57014.381,940-7.46 pp
67.9711,73616.841,580-8.87 pp
79.6811,05519.271,484-9.59 pp
811.5910,20023.961,323-12.37 pp
913.729,92728.521,171-14.8 pp
1015.4610,88031.951,255-16.49 pp
1117.8611,66534.041,278-16.18 pp
1221.0713,03937.521,378-16.45 pp
1322.3215,40539.341,721-17.02 pp
1424.4617,86342.761,899-18.3 pp

At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 15.2% vs 28.8% for 8–12k miles/year — 13.6 pp lower (n_low=125,346, n_normal=15,029). 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.

Which Mazda MX-5 engine is best?

petrol 1.5–1.8 is highest at 104.1; petrol 1.2–1.5 is lowest at 92.0 — the gap is 12.1 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
petrol1.2–1.5 litre928.59%38,314
petrol1.8–2.0 litre97.926.23%294,662
petrol1.5–1.8 litre104.131.17%157,336

Splitting this model by fuel alone hides the thing that actually differs. Within the same badge, the petrol 1.5–1.8 runs at 104.1 against this model's own age norm while the petrol 1.2–1.5 runs at 92 — a spread of 12.1 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 Mazda MX-5, and the years to avoid

Build year 2004 is highest at 107.4; Build year 2020 is lowest at 83.2 — the gap is 24.2 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

Mazda MX-5 build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected — 2024 UK MOT data
Mazda MX-5 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
202083.268.2–98.15.51%2,160better
201996.790.3–103.27.12%12,210no different
2018102.597.2–107.88.3%17,141no different
201791.287.1–95.37.97%23,909better
2016100.696.6–104.69.91%24,625no different
201599.795.4–10411.62%17,761no different
2014103.198.9–107.314.3%16,133no different
2013102.898.9–106.717.08%15,496no different
201297.493.9–10118.72%15,506no different
201110399.7–106.322.26%17,036no different
201099.196.5–101.723.83%23,531no different
20099895.4–100.625.93%21,221no different
200899.997.7–102.128.84%27,306no different
200795.994.2–97.729.65%39,398better
2006102.8101–104.734.04%33,940worse
2005105.7103.3–108.236.58%19,536worse
2004107.4105.1–109.838.42%20,585worse
2003106.9104.9–10939.01%27,060worse
2002100.197.9–102.336.88%21,480no different
20019894.9–101.136.23%10,613no different
2000107.2103.9–110.439.23%10,673worse
1999101.297.4–10537.43%7,358no different
199894.689.3–99.835.42%3,549better

The best build year here is 2017 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 — 7 of 23 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.

Mazda MX-5 MOT repair costs

The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £91.78 to £174.38, against £54.85 for the test itself.

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

MOT repairs, budget
£92–174
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
Suspension21.6 (nat. 15.36)Suspension coil spring (single corner)£180£38.88
Brakes14.0 (nat. 11.25)Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback)£150£21.00
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment13.5 (nat. 18.09)Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid)£140£18.90
Noise, emissions and leaks6.5 (nat. 3.67)Exhaust rear silencer£200£13.00

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 £92 to £174, 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.

Mazda MX-5 running costs for a fleet

Vehicles failing at age 10 stand out at 18.0%, against 9.0% at age 5, tested in the same year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fails per 100 at age 5
9
vehicles needing work
At age 10
18
other cars of this model tested at age 10 in 2024
Repairs per 100
£9,178
plus £5,485 in test fees
Off the road
1d
median; 30.71% cleared same day
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
AgeFailsMedian odometerTestsGap vs age 5
35.68%12,2261,478-3.3 pp
45.57%14,8391,095-3.4 pp
58.96%18,9884,040+0.0 pp
69.89%23,9274,279+0.9 pp
710.35%27,6884,543+1.4 pp
813.42%33,4724,091+4.5 pp
914.71%36,8192,970+5.8 pp
1017.74%38,0612,846+8.8 pp
1119.82%44,5653,098+10.9 pp
1221.64%47,5943,091+12.7 pp
1325.44%52,0253,373+16.5 pp
1426.21%57,6824,666+17.3 pp
1528.26%62,7564,179+19.3 pp
1630%67,5375,330+21.0 pp
1730.06%72,6827,599+21.1 pp
1834.62%76,1286,242+25.7 pp
1936.81%73,7543,241+27.9 pp

The number a fleet manager needs is not the failure rate, it is the year the car starts costing more. Between cars aged 17 and cars aged 18, both tested in 2024, the failure rate of this model is 4.56 percentage points higher — the steepest one-year step in this cross-section of different cars, and a natural planning point for replacement.

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.

Mazda MX-5 rust problems: where they corrode

Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility stands out at 1.32×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.

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

How it rusts
1.32×
1.01% of tests record a corrosion defect vs 0.77% typical — age-standardised
Salt Belt exposure
44th
percentile among the models published here, from its tests across 112 postcode areas

This Mazda MX-5 fails on corrosion more often than average once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are about typical for the models we publish. Those two point in opposite directions, which is the informative case: it rusts more than average despite living in gentler places, so the cause is the car, not the postcode.

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 Mazda MX-5 advisory become a failure?

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment are highest at 23.5%; Road wheels are lowest at 0.8% — the gap is 22.7 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

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

Mazda MX-5 chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now — 2024 UK MOT data
Mazda MX-5, advisory → failure conversion by component group, chained tests 2019–2024. Chart labels and rates: Lamps & electrical 23.5% · Suspension 21.6% · Brakes 13.6% · Seat belts & restraints 12% · Noise, emissions, leaks 11.2% · Body & chassis 10.8% · Steering 9.7% · Tyres 6.8%.
Advisory today → failure at the next test, with how long you have
ComponentFails next timeTypical lead timeMiles of warningAdvisories tracked
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment23.4%12 months2,4264,239
Suspension21.6%12 months2,11458,395
Brakes13.6%12.1 months2,16082,008
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems12.0%12.1 months1,8785,564
Noise, emissions and leaks11.2%12.1 months2,02815,496
Body, chassis, structure10.8%12.1 months1,94021,118
Steering9.7%12.1 months2,2622,619
Tyres6.8%12.1 months2,67058,859
Identification of the vehicle2.4%12.1 months2,2506,446
Road wheels0.8%11.9 months1,9643,175

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 23 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12 months and roughly 2,426 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 Mazda MX-5?

Suspension after a failure at age 15-19 is highest at 21.6%; Tyres after a passed at age <3 are lowest at 1.0% — the gap is 20.6 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
<3passedVisibility 2.4% · Brakes 1.2% · Tyres 1.0%12,278
<3advisoryVisibility 4.8% · Brakes 3.3% · Tyres 2.6%1,930
<3failureVisibility 3.2% · Tyres 2.5% · Brakes 2.4%901
3-5passedVisibility 3.2% · Brakes 1.8% · Tyres 1.7%35,388
3-5advisoryVisibility 5.8% · Brakes 4.5% · Tyres 3.5%11,516
3-5failureVisibility 5.6% · Brakes 3.9% · Tyres 3.7%4,371
6-8passedSuspension 3.8% · Visibility 3.7% · Brakes 3.0%22,529
6-8advisorySuspension 6.3% · Visibility 6.0% · Brakes 5.9%10,385
6-8failureSuspension 7.6% · Brakes 6.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 6.1%5,357
9-11passedSuspension 9.7% · Visibility 3.9% · Brakes 3.9%23,391
9-11advisorySuspension 14.1% · Brakes 6.8% · Visibility 6.7%11,775
9-11failureSuspension 16.5% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 8.8% · Brakes 7.9%9,768
12-14passedSuspension 13.2% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 5.1% · Brakes 4.8%30,552
12-14advisorySuspension 19.5% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 9.1% · Brakes 8.9%18,116
12-14failureSuspension 21.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 12.0% · Brakes 9.8%19,420
15-19passedSuspension 11.7% · Brakes 7.6% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 7.4%34,699
15-19advisorySuspension 19.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 12.9% · Brakes 12.5%26,215
15-19failureSuspension 21.6% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 16.4% · Brakes 14.9%33,624
20+passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 8.7% · Suspension 8.3% · Brakes 7.9%26,802
20+advisorySuspension 14.9% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 14.6% · Brakes 12.5%20,879
20+failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 19.6% · Suspension 18.1% · Brakes 16.1%26,401
unknownpassedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15.8% · Suspension 15.8% · Noise, emissions and leaks 13.9%101 (rough estimate)
unknownfailureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15.2% · Brakes 10.5% · Suspension 9.7%475 (rough estimate)

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.

Mazda MX-5 ownership: what six years of MOTs show

The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 62.4%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 6.9% — the gap is 55.5 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fixed same day
30.71%
of failures re-tested
Fails /10k miles
0.859
miles actually driven
Clean streaks
41.01%
3+ tests, nothing noted
Odometer anomaly
4.78%
reading went backwards

Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 90,342 failures followed through to their re-test, 30.71% were repaired and passed the same day and 62.38% within ten days; the median gap is 1 day. 224,109 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 0.859 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 1,991 miles a year across 106,258 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. 41.01% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 25.16% 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: 4.78% of 106,739 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 53,434 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.

Mazda MX-5 technical service bulletins: what dealers are told

US market, Mazda MX-5, model years 2015–2022 only. A count of bulletins, not a UK failure rate.

NHTSA manufacturer communications are 659.

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
201410
  • Equipment (228)
  • Electrical system (203)
  • Structure (66)
  • Other / uncategorised (46)
  • Adaptive and mobility equipment (43)
  • Engine and cooling (40)
  • Engine (39)
  • Powertrain (39)
201527
2016104
201760
2018108
201971
202040
202156
202248
202338
202443
202538
202616

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.

Mazda MX-5 owner complaints: what goes wrong

US market, Mazda MX-5, model years 2015–2022 only. A count of owner complaints, not a UK failure rate; NHTSA has no UK denominator.

Transmission (not MOT-tested) is highest at 19; Visibility is lowest at 5 — the gap is 14.

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
Transmission (not MOT-tested)1927.5%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Lamps & electrical1217.4%13.5#3complained about and fails often
Restraints1014.5%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Body & structure710.1%5.2#6complained about, fails occasionally
Steering68.7%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Visibility57.2%7.1#4complained about, fails occasionally

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
Contacted Rohrich Mazda 2690 W Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh Pa 412.344.3600 regarding the airbag recall today. They have no knowledge of this recall and therefore I am unable to have it corrected. Is my car safe to drive? When will I be able to get it fixed? Thanks, Bill
NHTSA complaint, filed 11/12/2024 · AIR BAGS
6 speed manual transmission failure at 59,000 miles Started not shifting into 3rd, then shortly after, the transmission locked up in a intersection. Which stalled the vehicle out. Was able to move the vehicle by hand, out of heavy traffic. Since this effects all ND1, ND2 and ND3 manual transmissions. I dropped and changed it for a used one. While I rebuild the original. As I am also outside of warranty.
NHTSA complaint, filed 06/19/2024 · POWER TRAIN

US owners have filed 69 complaints about the equivalent Mazda MX-5 to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including 6 that mention a crash, 0 a fire and 5 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.

Mazda MX-5 inspection results in other countries

Netherlands APK is well below the reference at 43.6%, against 50.8% nationally.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Same model, different national inspection regimes
CountryTestThis model failsNational averagePositionSample
United KingdomMOT (class 4)25.73%26.01%-0.3 pp92,610
NetherlandsAPK43.6%50.8%-7.2 pp9,498
NorwayPKK29.4%33.7%-4.3 pp809

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.

The exact faults Netherlands records — APK defect codes, 2024
CodeFaultRecordedType
210Tyre pressure not at the correct value1,625failure
RA2Excessive leak of other fluids726advisory
516Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed616failure
497Number-plate light not working or missing454failure
289Schijf-, trommelrem loopt niet vrij435failure
AC1Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread409advisory
391Wipers leave insufficient visibility385failure
584Sidelight not working properly380failure

Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 1.063 defects per inspection against a much higher national failure rate than Britain's, and the reason is not that Dutch cars are worse — it is that the two regimes draw the line between "note it" and "fail it" in different places. Codes are the RDW's own; the English wording here is our translation of the Dutch original.

Britain is not the only country that inspects every car every year, and the Mazda MX-5 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: RDW open data — Meldingen Keuringsinstantie + Geconstateerde Gebreken + Gekentekende voertuigen (2024), CC0. Not an RDW endorsement.; Statens vegvesen — Periodisk kjøretøykontroll (PKK) 2024, CC BY 4.0. Adapted; licences and full notice.

Mazda MX-5 MOT: quick answers

Mazda MX-5 MOT Risk Index is well below the reference at 74.0, 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 Mazda MX-5 first-time MOT pass rate?
74.27% of first attempts passed in 2024 (92,610 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 25.73% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 92,610 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 74.0 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.

Compare the Mazda MX-5 with other cars

Audi Q3 is highest at 75.0; Audi TT is lowest at 73.4 — the gap is 1.6 points.

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

Same brand

All Mazda MOT statisticsMazda 2 MOT statsMazda 3 MOT stats

Similar risk

BMW X5 (index 73.5)Audi TT (index 73.4)Audi Q3 (index 75.0)

Same size class

how Nissan X-Trail compareshow BMW X5 compareshow Land Rover Range Rover compares

By build year

Mazda MX-5 1998Mazda MX-5 1999Mazda MX-5 2000Mazda MX-5 2001Mazda MX-5 2002Mazda MX-5 2003Mazda MX-5 2004Mazda MX-5 2005Mazda MX-5 2006Mazda MX-5 2007Mazda MX-5 2008Mazda MX-5 2009Mazda MX-5 2010Mazda MX-5 2011Mazda MX-5 2012Mazda MX-5 2013Mazda MX-5 2014Mazda MX-5 2015Mazda MX-5 2016Mazda MX-5 2017Mazda MX-5 2018Mazda MX-5 2019Mazda MX-5 2020

By area

Mazda MX-5 MOT failure rate by postcode area

By failure group

Mazda MX-5 body, chassis and structure failuresMazda MX-5 brakes failuresMazda MX-5 vehicle identification failuresMazda MX-5 lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresMazda MX-5 noise, emissions and leaks failuresMazda MX-5 road wheels failuresMazda MX-5 seat belts and airbags failuresMazda MX-5 steering failuresMazda MX-5 suspension failuresMazda MX-5 tyres failuresMazda MX-5 visibility failures

Inspections abroad

Mazda MX-5 in NorwayMazda MX-5 in the Netherlands


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:mazda-mx-5:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.

Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Mazda MX-5 MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/mazda-mx-5/ · Published 2026-07-30.