Lotus Elise MOT pass rate and common faults
MOT tests in 2025, published 22 Jun 2026. DVSA publishes a new year each summer.
5,070 Lotus Elise cars had an MOT in 2025 and 86.1% passed first time. That is above what cars of the same ages scored (63.6%).
Find the year your car was first registered below, then check the faults it is most likely to fail on.
Pass rate by year
Each year's first-time pass rate, with a tick for all cars first used that year. Years with fewer than 300 tests, and cars over 20 years old, are left out. Years with 1,000 or more tests link to a page of their own, with that year's common faults.
No single year has enough tests to show, or the cars are over 20 years old.
Common failures
The share of all Lotus Elise cars tested that failed on, or had fixed at the station, each item. Worth checking before the MOT or before you buy.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Catalyst emissions: Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits | 1.9% |
| Position lamp: not working | 1.3% |
| Catalyst emissions: carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits | 1.3% |
| Headlamp aim: too high | 1.2% |
| Washers: provides insufficient washer liquid | 1.1% |
| Washers: not working | 0.9% |
| Catalyst emissions: carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits | 0.9% |
| Headlamp aim: too low | 0.8% |
Source: DVSA, tests in 2025, published 22 June 2026.
Common advisories
Advisories are things the tester noticed that were not bad enough to fail. They often turn into failures later. What advisories mean for the next MOT.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened | 4.8% |
| Tread depth: worn close to legal limit/worn on edge | 4.6% |
| Play in steering rack inner joint(s) | 3.5% |
| Brake pads: wearing thin | 2.9% |
| Condition: slightly damaged/cracking or perishing | 2.8% |
| Coil spring: corroded | 2.8% |
| Shock absorbers: has light misting of oil | 1.5% |
| Registration plates: deteriorated but not likely to be misread | 1.4% |
Source: DVSA, tests in 2025, published 22 June 2026.
Typical mileage
Recorded mileage at the MOT. A car well above the range for its age has done more work than most; one far below is worth a closer look at its MOT history.
| Age | Low | Typical | High | All cars, typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6-8 years | 8,800 | 13,400 miles | 20,000 | 51,800 |
| 9-11 years | 16,600 | 23,800 miles | 35,600 | 73,500 |
| 15-17 years | 25,800 | 39,800 miles | 53,500 | 101,600 |
| 18-20 years | 28,600 | 44,100 miles | 59,800 | 106,700 |
| 21+ years | 34,100 | 52,700 miles | 73,200 | 99,200 |
The middle half of cars fall between the low and high figures. Source: DVSA, tests in 2025, published 22 June 2026.
Reliability and recalls
- No reliability score yet: that needs 20,000 tests on cars aged 3 and over, and the Lotus Elise had 5,070. Why we set the bar there.
- 10 recalls for the Lotus Elise, from the DVSA recalls list.
- Check if a Lotus has been recalled on GOV.UK, using its registration.
- All Lotus models and the Lotus vehicle history check.
Checking one car?
These figures describe groups of cars. A vehicle history report shows the full MOT history, mileage, outstanding finance, write-offs and stolen records for one registration.
Figures from the DVSA anonymised MOT testing data for MOT tests in 2025, published by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. Analysis by Motoring Insider. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. How we work out these figures.
Every dataset we use is listed on our data sources page, with the credit lines on our attribution page.