Mazda 121 MOT reliability

Mazda 121s passed their MOT first time 43% of the time across 58 tests in 2025. 33 are still licensed in Great Britain.

These figures come from 58 MOT tests. That's a fairly small number of cars, so they may not be typical of these cars as a whole.

First-time pass rate

43%

MOTs analysed

58

Still licensed (GB)

33

Body type

Hatchback

Pass rate by year of first registration

Older cars fail more often, so compare a car with others of the same age. Years with very few MOTs can show extreme pass rates, even 0% or 100%, so give more weight to years with more tests.

In detail:

First registered

1999 petrol

11 MOTs

These figures come from only 11 MOT tests. With so few cars, a single pass or fail changes the percentages a lot, so treat them as a rough guide rather than a true average.

Passed first time 46%. Typical mileage 53,206 (most between 37,567 and 70,572).

2005: 68% → 2006: 61% → 2007: 60% → 2008: 52% → 2009: 44% → 2010: 42% → 2011: 45% → 2012: 47% → 2013: 43% → 2014: 40% → 2015: 49% → 2016: 48% → 2017: 43% → 2018: 53% → 2019: 44% → 2020: 42% → 2021: 62% → 2022: 65% → 2023: 58% → 2024: 18% → 2025: 46%

Most common failures

Emissions not tested: unable to be completed (18.2%)
Exhaust system: has a major leak of exhaust gases (18.2%)
Service brake performance: efficiency below requirements (9.1%)
Service brake imbalance: across an axle (9.1%)
Position lamp: not working (9.1%)

Where 1999 121s fail

Body, structure & corrosion

36.4%

Lights & electrics

36.4%

Brakes

18.2%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

18.2%

Suspension & axles

18.2%

Wheels & tyres

9.1%

Looking at a particular car?

See its own MOT history, mileage and red flags, compared with these figures. Free.

Based on 2025 initial MOT tests in DVSA's anonymised MOT dataset (cars and light vans). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Model details: Vehicle data by VehiclesDB.