Rover 420 MOT reliability

Rover 420s passed their MOT first time 67% of the time across 96 tests in 2025.

These figures come from 96 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

67%

MOTs analysed

96

Still licensed (GB)

–

Body type

Sedan

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

1997 petrol

13 MOTs

These figures come from only 13 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 77%. Typical mileage 79,318 (most between 48,550 and 114,866).

2005: 56% → 2006: 52% → 2007: 44% → 2008: 41% → 2009: 38% → 2010: 39% → 2011: 39% → 2012: 42% → 2013: 42% → 2014: 48% → 2015: 44% → 2016: 54% → 2017: 55% → 2018: 49% → 2019: 52% → 2020: 53% → 2021: 64% → 2022: 52% → 2023: 58% → 2024: 78% → 2025: 77%

Most common failures

Headlamp aim: projected beam image is obviously incorrect (23.1%)
Service brake performance: efficiency below requirements (7.7%)
Rigid brake pipes: excessively corroded (7.7%)
Position lamp: not working (7.7%)
Registration plates: inscription illegible (7.7%)

1997 diesel

5 MOTs

These figures come from only 5 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 80%. Typical mileage 86,624 (most between 78,826 and 87,771).

2005: 52% → 2006: 48% → 2007: 42% → 2008: 39% → 2009: 38% → 2010: 37% → 2011: 37% → 2012: 40% → 2013: 40% → 2014: 40% → 2015: 38% → 2016: 48% → 2017: 52% → 2018: 52% → 2019: 54% → 2020: 68% → 2021: 60% → 2022: 56% → 2023: 50% → 2024: 50% → 2025: 80%

Most common failures

Rigid brake pipes: leaking on a hydraulic braking system (20.0%)

Where 1997 420s fail

Lights & electrics

23.1%

Body, structure & corrosion

7.7%

Brakes

7.7%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

7.7%

Visibility & wipers

7.7%

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.