Vauxhall Nova MOT reliability

Vauxhall Novas passed their MOT first time 83% of the time across 837 tests in 2025. 746 are still licensed in Great Britain.

First-time pass rate

83%

MOTs analysed

837

Still licensed (GB)

746

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

1992 petrol

186 MOTs

Passed first time 86%. Typical mileage 53,005 (most between 24,043 and 73,957).

2005: 48% → 2006: 44% → 2007: 43% → 2008: 43% → 2009: 44% → 2010: 47% → 2011: 50% → 2012: 52% → 2013: 54% → 2014: 57% → 2015: 64% → 2016: 61% → 2017: 69% → 2018: 67% → 2019: 70% → 2020: 72% → 2021: 80% → 2022: 81% → 2023: 81% → 2024: 86% → 2025: 86%

Most common failures

Service brake imbalance: across an axle (2.7%)
Non catalyst emissions: emissions carbon monoxide content excessive (2.2%)
Integral vehicle structure condition: corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced (1.6%)
Headlamp aim: too low (1.6%)
Position lamp: not working (1.6%)

1992 diesel

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 50%. Typical mileage 65,823 (most between 34,506 and 84,293).

2005: 38% → 2006: 40% → 2007: 40% → 2008: 29% → 2009: 35% → 2010: 44% → 2011: 54% → 2012: 36% → 2013: 42% → 2014: 76% → 2015: 56% → 2016: 70% → 2017: 100% → 2018: 100% → 2019: 67% → 2020: 86% → 2021: 100% → 2022: 83% → 2023: 71% → 2024: 57% → 2025: 50%

Most common failures

Service brake imbalance: across an axle (25.0%)
Service brake performance: efficiency below requirements (25.0%)
Registration plate lamp(s): inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps (12.5%)
Headlamp aim: projected beam image is obviously incorrect (12.5%)
Exhaust system: system insecure (12.5%)

Where 1992 Novas fail

Lights & electrics

7.0%

Brakes

5.4%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

5.4%

Body, structure & corrosion

4.3%

Visibility & wipers

2.2%

Suspension & axles

1.6%

Seat belts & other equipment

1.1%

Wheels & tyres

0.5%

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.