Nissan 280 MOT reliability

Nissan 280s passed their MOT first time 78% of the time across 18 tests in 2025. 2 are still licensed in Great Britain.

These figures come from only 18 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.

First-time pass rate

78%

MOTs analysed

18

Still licensed (GB)

2

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

1981 petrol

4 MOTs

Passed first time 75%. Typical mileage 34,166 (most between 27,792 and 40,009).

2005: 100% → 2006: 80% → 2007: 67% → 2008: 33% → 2009: 50% → 2010: 100% → 2011: 50% → 2012: 100% → 2013: 0% → 2016: 100% → 2017: 63% → 2018: 80% → 2019: 33% → 2020: 100% → 2021: 73% → 2022: 100% → 2023: 83% → 2024: 80% → 2025: 75%

Most common failures

Track rod end: ball joint dust cover insecure so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (25.0%)
Integral vehicle structure condition: corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced (25.0%)
Chassis condition: corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced (25.0%)
Washers: provides insufficient washer liquid (25.0%)

Where 1981 280s fail

Body, structure & corrosion

25.0%

Steering

25.0%

Visibility & wipers

25.0%

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.