Nissan 370Z — MOT statistics 2024
The Nissan 370Z failed 14.62% of 1,840 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 43.1 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 57% less often than expected for its age. Small sample — treat with care.
Age-adjusted peer: Jaguar F-Type (index 43.0) — the two published results are 0.1 index points apart.
Nissan 370Z common problems: what actually fails the MOT
Suspension is well below the reference at 2.8 per 100 tests, against 17.0 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.
higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests
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.
| Group | This family | Cases behind it | UK, same ages | Family / national |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamps & electrical | 6.4 | 672 | 18.4 | 0.35×0.32–0.38 |
| Tyres | 5.9 | 622 | 9.6 | 0.62×0.57–0.67 |
| Visibility | 5.8 | 607 | 7.9 | 0.73×0.67–0.79 |
| Emissions & leaks | 4.4 | 465 | 3.7 | 1.19×1.09–1.32 |
| Suspension | 2.8 | 288 | 17.0 | 0.16×0.14–0.18 |
| Brakes | 2.5 | 265 | 11.9 | 0.21×0.19–0.24 |
| What failed | per 100 tests (this family) | per 100 tests (UK average) | ratio family / UK | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emissions levels exceed default limitsEmissions levels exceed default limits | 1.20 | 0.47 | 2.58× | Watch for smoke on a cold start — emissions failures are costly |
| Lambda coefficient outside the default limits or…Lambda coefficient outside the default limits or the range specified by the manufacturer | 1.10 | 0.53 | 2.08× | Ask the seller about: Lambda coefficient outside the default limits or the range s |
| Headlamp reflector or lens slightly defectiveHeadlamp reflector or lens slightly defective | 1.41 | 1.09 | 1.29× | Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure |
| Wiper blade defectiveWiper blade defective | 1.20 | 1.26 | 0.95× | Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view |
| Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the…Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements | 3.26 | 3.59 | 0.91× | Check tyre tread depth across the full width |
| Tyre cords visible or damagedA tyre cords visible or damaged | 1.19 | 1.63 | 0.73× | Check tyre tread depth across the full width |
| Windscreen washers not working or not providing…Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen | 1.11 | 1.62 | 0.68× | Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view |
| Windscreen or window damaged or seriously…Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view | 1.84 | 2.36 | 0.78× | Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view |
| Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the…Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen | 1.20 | 2.22 | 0.54× | Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view |
| Aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down…The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements | 1.11 | 2.57 | 0.43× | 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.
Nissan 370Z MOT advisories: what gets flagged
Tyres are highest at 36.6 per 100 tests; Lamps & electrical are lowest at 1.5 per 100 tests — the gap is 35.1 per 100 tests.
higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests
Advisory rates table
| Group | Advisories per 100 |
|---|---|
| Tyres | 36.6 |
| Brakes | 18.1 |
| Suspension | 14.6 |
| Body & structure | 3.9 |
| Non-component advisories | 2.7 |
| Lamps & electrical | 1.5 |
Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.
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 test | Fails next year | Vehicles followed |
|---|---|---|
| It failed | 17.3% | 352 |
| It passed | 12.7% | 6,671 |
A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 4.6 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is noise, emissions and leaks — 17.8% 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 10,438 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 for | Index | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Age only | 42.1 | fails less often than expected |
| Age and annual mileage | 48.4 | fails less often than vehicles driven as much |
| Share doing under 3,000 miles a year | 15.0% | a normal spread of use |
Mileage matters here: matching on how much these are driven moves the figure by 6.3 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 Nissan 370Z 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.
| Age | Nissan 370Z | Same class, same age | Difference | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 years | 4.71% | 10.78% | -6.07 pp | 340 |
| 4 years | 7.98% | 12.34% | -4.36 pp | 401 |
| 5 years | 7.51% | 14.17% | -6.65 pp | 426 |
| 6 years | 7.89% | 16.08% | -8.2 pp | 393 |
| 7 years | 11.16% | 18.25% | -7.09 pp | 448 |
| 8 years | 13.58% | 20.54% | -6.97 pp | 744 |
| 9 years | 10.92% | 23.11% | -12.18 pp | 1,373 |
| 10 years | 14.53% | 25.61% | -11.09 pp | 1,480 |
| 11 years | 14.78% | 28.25% | -13.47 pp | 1,333 |
| 12 years | 15.85% | 30.58% | -14.73 pp | 1,287 |
| 13 years | 16.29% | 32.65% | -16.36 pp | 1,148 |
| 14 years | 19.62% | 34.6% | -14.97 pp | 851 |
| 15 years | 21.13% | 36.04% | -14.91 pp | 213 |
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 Nissan 370Z perform as it gets older?
The 370Z at age 14 is well below the reference at 17.7%, against 40.4% for all vehicles of the same age.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–47%.
Takeaway: solid line: this family; dashed: all cars.
Data table
| Age | Nissan 370Z | All vehicles | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 13.3% | 35.7% | -22.4 pp |
| 13 | 15.7% | 38.2% | -22.5 pp |
| 14 | 17.7% | 40.4% | -22.7 pp |
| 15 | 20.9% | 41.6% | -20.6 pp |
Is a Nissan 370Z ULEZ compliant?
The share of classifiable 2024 Nissan 370Z MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 100.0%.
Based on 1,833 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
| Vehicle age at test | Likely ULEZ-compliant share | Tests |
|---|---|---|
| Under 3 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
| 3–5 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 153 |
| 6–7 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 158 |
| 8 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 80 |
| 9 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 75 |
| 10–14 years | 100.0% Check a registration with TfL | n = 1,154 |
| 15–17 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 213 |
| 18 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
| 19 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
| 20+ years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
How dangerous are Nissan 370Z MOT failures?
Major defects are well below the reference at 18.0 per 100 tests, against 52.8 per 100 tests nationally.
higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests
Severity table
| Severity | This family /100 | National /100 | Family / national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor | 6.85 | 14.22 | 0.48× |
| Major | 18.02 | 52.75 | 0.34× |
| Dangerous | 5.78 | 11.15 | 0.52× |
Chart values: Minor 6.8 · Major 18.0 · Dangerous 5.8.
Per 100 tests on this family. National average: Minor 14.2 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 11.2 per 100.
Does the month of a Nissan 370Z MOT matter?
Jan is highest at 15.8%; Jun is lowest at 10.5% — the gap is 5.3 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart scale: 9%–33%.
bars: Nissan 370Z · dashed: all class-4 cars
Month-by-month table
| Month | Nissan 370Z | All vehicles | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 15.82% | 31.12% | -15.3 pp |
| Feb | 12.11% | 29.99% | -17.9 pp |
| Mar | 13.12% | 28.26% | -15.1 pp |
| Apr | 14.8% | 29.78% | -15.0 pp |
| May | 14.75% | 28.79% | -14.0 pp |
| Jun | 10.54% | 28.15% | -17.6 pp |
| Jul | 14.55% | 29.33% | -14.8 pp |
| Aug | 13.55% | 29.2% | -15.6 pp |
| Sep | 13.91% | 28.19% | -14.3 pp |
| Oct | 12.96% | 30.34% | -17.4 pp |
| Nov | 14.52% | 30.58% | -16.1 pp |
| Dec | 14.33% | 29.33% | -15.0 pp |
Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 5.3 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.
Nissan 370Z average mileage by age
At age 8, the middle half of 370Z models runs from 29,732 miles to 46,464 miles, against 34,661 miles as the median.
further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75
Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–95k mi.
Does high mileage mean more Nissan 370Z MOT failures at the same age?
Within the same age group, split by odometer (2024 MOTs), so this separates wear from age: at ages 10–14, 9.9% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 17.4% of those with 100,000–140,000 miles.No clear mileage gap inside this age group, among cars still being tested.
| Age | Odometer | % failing | 95% interval | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6–9 | <40k miles | 7.4% | 4.6–11.6% | 217 (rough estimate) |
| 6–9 | 40-70k miles | 9.6% | 5–17.9% | 83 (rough estimate) |
| 10–14 | <40k miles | 9.9% | 6.6–14.7% | 212 (rough estimate) |
| 10–14 | 40-70k miles | 16.6% | 13.5–20.2% | 471 (rough estimate) |
| 10–14 | 70-100k miles | 19.3% | 15.5–23.7% | 348 (rough estimate) |
| 10–14 | 100-140k miles | 17.4% | 11.5–25.6% | 109 (rough estimate) |
| 15+ | 40-70k miles | 15.5% | 8.9–25.7% | 71 (rough estimate) |
| 15+ | 70-100k miles | 23.1% | 15.6–32.7% | 91 (rough estimate) |
line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)
Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
| Age | p25 | Median | p75 | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 15,234 | 22,550 | 33,220 | 84 |
| 8 | 29,732 | 34,661 | 46,464 | 80 |
| 12 | 43,974 | 59,534 | 76,184 | 105 |
| 13 | 47,148 | 63,512 | 80,160 | 293 |
| 14 | 50,979 | 69,704 | 88,163 | 622 |
| 15 | 62,043 | 74,868 | 90,862 | 210 |
A typical 8-year-old 370Z has ~34,661 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.
Where in Britain the Nissan 370Z fails its MOT most
Bristol area is highest at 20.4%; Medway area is lowest at 6.9% — the gap is 13.5 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Toughest areas | % failing | vs model overall |
|---|---|---|
| Bristol (BS) | 20.43% | +6.8 pp |
| Easiest areas | % failing | vs model overall |
|---|---|---|
| Medway (ME) | 6.93% | -6.7 pp |
| Birmingham (B) | 6.96% | -6.7 pp |
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: 7%–20% failing.
Nissan 370Z survival: which cars are still on the road
By age 15 is well below the reference at 52.4%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart axes: car age, years · survival vs ages 4–6 · scale 0–105%.
Survival vs fail rate by age
| Age | Tests | Survival vs ages 4–6 | Fail % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 340 | 83.6% | 4.71% |
| 4 | 401 | 98.6% | 7.98% |
| 5 | 426 | 100% | 7.51% |
| 6 | 393 | 96.6% | 7.89% |
| 7 | 448 | 100% | 11.16% |
| 8 | 744 | 100% | 13.58% |
| 9 | 1,373 | 100% | 10.92% |
| 10 | 1,480 | 100% | 14.53% |
| 11 | 1,333 | 100% | 14.78% |
| 12 | 1,287 | 100% | 15.85% |
| 13 | 1,148 | 100% | 16.29% |
| 14 | 851 | 100% | 19.62% |
| 15 | 213 | 52.4% | 21.13% |
By age 15, only about 52% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈407); survivors still fail at 21.1% vs 8.0% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.
How many miles does a Nissan 370Z last?
100,000+ miles stands out at 5.0%.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Odometer | Tests ≥ threshold | Share of sample |
|---|---|---|
| 100,000+ miles | 520 | 4.98% |
Of 10,446 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 5.0% had reached 100k miles. This is a cross-section of cars still presenting for MOT, not a full birth cohort.
How many years is a Nissan 370Z likely to last?
Bought at age 5 is highest at 10.0 years; Bought at age 15 is lowest at 0.5 years — the gap is 9.5 years.
bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve
| Age now | Typical mileage (p50) | Expected years left |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | — | at least 10 |
| 8 | — | at least 7 |
| 10 | — | at least 5 |
| 12 | — | at least 3 |
| 15 | — | at least 0.5 |
estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has at least 5.0 expected years of further MOT-present life. The curve is observed only until age 15, so the true figure is likely higher.
Nissan 370Z faults that come together
Body & structure + Emissions & leaks stand out at 13.38×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.
above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less
| Group A | Group B | Together | Lift |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body, chassis, structure | Noise, emissions and leaks | 47 | 13.38× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Suspension | 21 | 8.06× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Suspension | 25 | 7.31× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Noise, emissions and leaks | 74 | 5.92× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 41 | 5.88× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 31 | 5.83× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Tyres | 32 | 4.98× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Suspension | 45 | 4.85× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Suspension | 29 | 4.73× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Visibility | 25 | 4.09× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Visibility | 31 | 3.87× (rough estimate) |
| Suspension | Visibility | 41 | 3.85× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Visibility | 79 | 3.63× (rough estimate) |
| Suspension | Tyres | 28 | 3.28× (rough estimate) |
| Tyres | Visibility | 60 | 3× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Tyres | 49 | 2.81× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Tyres | 32 | 2.78× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Visibility | 35 | 2.44× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Noise, emissions and leaks | 18 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Tyres | 18 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Brakes | 17 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 10 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Noise, emissions and leaks | 9 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Steering | Tyres | 9 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Steering | Visibility | 8 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Steering | 6 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Visibility | 6 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Road Wheels | 5 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 5 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Steering | 5 | too few (rough estimate) |
Defects in «Body, chassis, structure» and «Noise, emissions and leaks» appear together 13.38× more often than chance (47 co-occurrences in the same test; 55 pairs compared).
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 Nissan 370Z?
Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 10.6%, against 17.8% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Band | Fail % | Tests |
|---|---|---|
| <5k miles/year | 10.63% | 4,388 |
| 8–12k miles/year | 17.81% | 1,061 |
| Gap (low − normal) | -7.18 pp | — |
By fuel and age
Petrol
| Age | Low-use fail % | n | Normal fail % | n | Gap pp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 6.95 | 259 | 2.56 | 39 | +4.39 pp |
| 6 | 3.62 | 221 | 18.75 | 32 | -15.13 pp |
| 7 | 10.09 | 228 | 8.16 | 49 | +1.92 pp |
| 8 | 9.47 | 338 | 17.53 | 97 | -8.06 pp |
| 9 | 8.97 | 580 | 17.14 | 210 | -8.18 pp |
| 10 | 11.48 | 610 | 19.25 | 213 | -7.77 pp |
| 11 | 10.53 | 589 | 22.56 | 164 | -12.03 pp |
| 12 | 13.51 | 592 | 17.6 | 125 | -4.09 pp |
| 13 | 12.07 | 555 | 17.07 | 82 | -5 pp |
| 14 | 14.9 | 416 | 22 | 50 | -7.1 pp |
At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 10.6% vs 17.8% for 8–12k miles/year — 7.2 pp lower (n_low=4,388, n_normal=1,061). 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.
Best year for a Nissan 370Z, and the years to avoid
Build year 2009 is highest at 127.7; Build year 2011 is lowest at 98.9 — the gap is 28.8 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
Every build year with its confidence interval
| Build year | vs own age norm | 95% CI | Raw fail % | Tests | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 115.4 | 87.8–143.1 | 15.37% | 436 | no different |
| 2011 | 98.9 | 85.6–112.2 | 13.53% | 1,582 | no different |
| 2010 | 100.4 | 92.1–108.7 | 14.47% | 3,883 | no different |
| 2009 | 127.7 | 111.1–144.4 | 19.84% | 1,144 | worse |
The best build year here is 2009 and the weakest is 2009. 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 — 1 of 4 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.
Nissan 370Z MOT repair costs
The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £31.86 to £60.53, against £54.85 for the test itself.
bigger number = costs morepounds per test, MOT-failing faults only
| Component | Fails per 100 tests | Typical repair | Its price | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 6.4 (nat. 18.09) | Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid) | £140 | £8.96 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 4.4 (nat. 3.67) | Exhaust rear silencer | £200 | £8.80 |
| Tyres | 5.9 (nat. 8.7) | Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted) | £90 | £5.31 |
| Suspension | 2.8 (nat. 15.36) | Suspension coil spring (single corner) | £180 | £5.04 |
| Brakes | 2.5 (nat. 11.25) | Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback) | £150 | £3.75 |
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 £32 to £61, 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.
Nissan 370Z running costs for a fleet
Vehicles failing at age 15 stand out at 21.0%, against 13.0% at age 12, tested in the same year.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
| Age | Fails | Median odometer | Tests | Gap vs age 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 13.33% | 59,534 | 105 | — |
| 13 | 15.7% | 63,512 | 293 | — |
| 14 | 17.68% | 69,704 | 622 | — |
| 15 | 20.95% | 74,868 | 210 | — |
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.
Nissan 370Z rust problems: where they corrode
Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility is well below the reference at 0.79×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.
above 1.0× = rusts more than averagebelow 1.0× = rusts less
This Nissan 370Z fails on corrosion at about the average rate once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are about typical 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 Nissan 370Z advisory become a failure?
Suspension is highest at 6.3%; Brakes are lowest at 4.6% — the gap is 1.7 percentage points.
higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability
chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now
| Component | Fails next time | Typical lead time | Miles of warning | Advisories tracked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 6.3% | 12.1 months | 4,543 | 734 |
| Tyres | 6.2% | 12 months | 3,968 | 1,593 |
| Brakes | 4.5% | 12 months | 3,096 | 814 |
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 6 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12.1 months and roughly 4,543 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 Nissan 370Z?
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a failure at age 12-14 are highest at 11.2%; Noise, emissions and leaks after a passed at age 3-5 are lowest at 1.0% — the gap is 10.2 percentage points.
higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability
| Age | Last test | Most likely next failures | Cars tracked |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-5 | passed | Visibility 3.0% · Tyres 2.7% · Noise, emissions and leaks 1.0% | 696 |
| 3-5 | advisory | Visibility 8.2% · Tyres 4.4% | 182 (rough estimate) |
| 6-8 | passed | Visibility 3.5% · Tyres 3.4% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 2.4% | 1,190 |
| 6-8 | advisory | Tyres 5.8% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 3.8% · Visibility 3.8% | 396 (rough estimate) |
| 6-8 | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 5.2% · Noise, emissions and leaks 4.3% · Visibility 3.8% | 211 (rough estimate) |
| 9-11 | passed | Visibility 4.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 3.9% · Noise, emissions and leaks 3.0% | 2,229 |
| 9-11 | advisory | Visibility 7.1% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 6.6% · Tyres 5.3% | 1,062 |
| 9-11 | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 7.2% · Visibility 6.7% · Noise, emissions and leaks 5.9% | 555 |
| 12-14 | passed | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 6.7% · Visibility 3.7% · Noise, emissions and leaks 3.5% | 820 |
| 12-14 | advisory | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 9.4% · Visibility 9.2% · Noise, emissions and leaks 5.6% | 448 (rough estimate) |
| 12-14 | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 11.2% · Visibility 8.9% · Tyres 7.3% | 313 (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.
Nissan 370Z ownership: what six years of MOTs show
The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 68.0%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 5.2% — the gap is 62.9 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 1,010 failures followed through to their re-test, 26.83% were repaired and passed the same day and 68.02% within ten days; the median gap is 2 days. 1,991 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 0.363 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 3,022 miles a year across 2,029 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. 56.7% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 16.96% 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: 0.788% of 2,030 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 13,735 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.
Nissan 370Z technical service bulletins: what dealers are told
US market, Nissan 370Z and its variants, model years 2015–2019 only. A count of bulletins, not a UK failure rate.
NHTSA manufacturer communications are 113.
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
| Communication year | Bulletins | Leading subjects across all years |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 4 |
|
| 2015 | 19 | |
| 2016 | 15 | |
| 2017 | 10 | |
| 2018 | 13 | |
| 2019 | 9 | |
| 2020 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 12 | |
| 2022 | 8 | |
| 2023 | 14 | |
| 2024 | 6 | |
| 2026 | 2 |
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.
Nissan 370Z owner complaints: what goes wrong
US market, Nissan 370Z and its variants, model years 2015–2019 only. A count of owner complaints, not a UK failure rate; NHTSA has no UK denominator.
Restraints are highest at 4; Body & structure are lowest at 1 — the gap is 3.
bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone
| Component | Complaints | Share | MOT fail items per 100 | MOT rank | Agreement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restraints | 4 | 28.6% | not in top 6 | — | complained about, rarely an MOT failure |
| Transmission (not MOT-tested) | 3 | 21.4% | not in top 6 | — | complained about, rarely an MOT failure |
| Lamps & electrical | 2 | 14.3% | 6.4 | #1 | complained about and fails often |
| Brakes | 2 | 14.3% | 2.5 | #6 | complained about, fails occasionally |
| Body & structure | 1 | 7.1% | not in top 6 | — | complained about, rarely an MOT failure |
| Tyres | 1 | 7.1% | 5.9 | #2 | complained about and fails often |
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
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2015 NISSAN 370Z. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE DRIVER SIDE HEADLIGHTS FAILED TO WORK. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO PREMIER NISSAN IN PARIS, TENNESSEE WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE ENTIRE HEADLIGHT ASSEMBLY NEEDED REPLACEMENT DUE TO WATER CONDENSATION BUILD-UP. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED AND OPENED CASE NUMBER: 30419417. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 65,000.
WHEN DRIVING ON HIGHWAYS OR BRIDGES FEB WARNING SIGN APPEARS WITH A MESSAGE (UNAVAILABLE :FRONT RADAR OBSTRUCTION) , NISSAN DEALERSHIP REPLACED THE SENSOR TWICE BUT IT KEEPS HAPPENING
US owners have filed 14 complaints about the equivalent Nissan 370Z 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.
Nissan 370Z MOT: quick answers
Nissan 370Z MOT Risk Index is well below the reference at 43.1, 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 Nissan 370Z first-time MOT pass rate?
- 85.38% of first attempts passed in 2024 (1,840 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 14.62% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 1,840 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 43.1 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.
Compare the Nissan 370Z with other cars
Honda S2000 is highest at 44.0; BMW M6 is lowest at 42.2 — the gap is 1.8 points.
below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age
Same brand
All Nissan MOT statisticsNissan Skyline MOT statsNissan 350Z MOT stats
Similar risk
Jaguar F-Type (index 43.0)BMW M6 (index 42.2)Honda S2000 (index 44.0)
Same size class
how Subaru WRX compareshow Abarth 124 compareshow Renault Arkana compares
By build year
Nissan 370Z 2009Nissan 370Z 2010Nissan 370Z 2011Nissan 370Z 2012
By area
Nissan 370Z MOT failure rate by postcode area
By failure group
Nissan 370Z body, chassis and structure failuresNissan 370Z brakes failuresNissan 370Z vehicle identification failuresNissan 370Z lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresNissan 370Z noise, emissions and leaks failuresNissan 370Z steering failuresNissan 370Z suspension failuresNissan 370Z tyres failuresNissan 370Z visibility failures
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:nissan-370z:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.
Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Nissan 370Z MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/nissan-370z/ · Published 2026-07-30.