Rover 800 MOT reliability

Rover 800s passed their MOT first time 46% of the time across 24 tests in 2025. 241 are still licensed in Great Britain.

These figures come from 24 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

46%

MOTs analysed

24

Still licensed (GB)

241

Body type

Coupe

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

1996 petrol

8 MOTs

These figures come from only 8 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 38%. Typical mileage 117,099 (most between 92,771 and 129,159).

2005: 56% → 2006: 55% → 2007: 57% → 2008: 49% → 2009: 45% → 2010: 44% → 2011: 56% → 2012: 50% → 2013: 56% → 2014: 57% → 2015: 62% → 2016: 68% → 2017: 56% → 2018: 56% → 2019: 31% → 2020: 57% → 2021: 60% → 2022: 50% → 2023: 58% → 2024: 88% → 2025: 38%

Most common failures

Catalyst emissions: carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits (25.0%)
Catalyst emissions: carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits (25.0%)
Other components: leaking (25.0%)
Joints: constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (25.0%)
Catalyst emissions: hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits (12.5%)

Where 1996 800s fail

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

50.0%

Body, structure & corrosion

37.5%

Lights & electrics

37.5%

Brakes

25.0%

Steering

25.0%

Suspension & axles

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.