MG Metro MOT reliability

MG Metros passed their MOT first time 81% of the time across 105 tests in 2025. 151 are still licensed in Great Britain.

Example photo of a MG Metro — Photo: DeFacto · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

First-time pass rate

81%

MOTs analysed

105

Still licensed (GB)

151

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

1988 petrol

21 MOTs

These figures come from 21 MOT tests. That's a fairly small number of cars, so they may not be typical of these cars as a whole.

Passed first time 81%. Typical mileage 52,500 (most between 38,250 and 66,750).

2005: 46% → 2006: 54% → 2007: 42% → 2008: 56% → 2009: 60% → 2010: 62% → 2011: 51% → 2012: 55% → 2013: 69% → 2014: 60% → 2015: 60% → 2016: 47% → 2017: 76% → 2018: 60% → 2019: 90% → 2020: 54% → 2021: 69% → 2022: 85% → 2023: 74% → 2024: 91% → 2025: 81%

Combined model spellings: METRO, MG METRO. Mileage percentiles and individual failure rankings are unavailable for this combined group.

Most common failures

Brake fluid : significantly below minimum mark (4.8%)
Headlamp aim: too high (4.8%)
Headlamp aim: too low (4.8%)
Non catalyst emissions: emissions carbon monoxide content excessive (4.8%)
Non catalyst emissions: emissions hydrocarbon content excessive (4.8%)

Where 1988 Metros fail

Lights & electrics

14.3%

Brakes

9.5%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

4.8%

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.