Mazda MX-5 reliability
MOT tests in 2025, published 22 Jun 2026. DVSA publishes a new year each summer.
74.8% of the 90,865 Mazda MX-5 cars three years and over tested in 2025 passed their MOT first time. Cars of the same ages passed 65.6% of the time, so the MX-5 did better than average.
That ranks it 14 of 248 models overall and 1 of 7 Mazda models. How the score works.
Against cars of the same age
Each year's pass rate against all cars first used that year. Bars past the tick did better than average for their age.
| Item | Mazda MX-5 | All cars that year |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 94.1% | 88.5% |
| 2021 | 94.6% | 87.2% |
| 2020 | 91.8% | 86.0% |
| 2019 | 91.4% | 83.5% |
| 2018 | 89.2% | 80.9% |
| 2017 | 89.1% | 78.2% |
| 2016 | 86.1% | 74.9% |
| 2015 | 85.3% | 71.9% |
| 2014 | 80.4% | 68.6% |
| 2013 | 79.3% | 65.8% |
| 2012 | 79.6% | 63.5% |
| 2011 | 76.1% | 61.2% |
| 2010 | 73.2% | 59.3% |
| 2009 | 71.4% | 58.3% |
| 2008 | 68.8% | 57.2% |
| 2007 | 69.7% | 57.4% |
| 2006 | 67.0% | 57.0% |
| 2005 | 66.1% | 57.6% |
Source: DVSA, tests in 2025, published 22 June 2026.
Where it fails
The share of Mazda MX-5 cars tested with a failure in each area, against all cars. For the exact items, see the Mazda MX-5 MOT check.
| Item | Mazda MX-5 | All cars |
|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 9.0% | 9.0% |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 8.1% | 10.6% |
| Brakes | 7.2% | 6.2% |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 4.7% | 3.1% |
| Visibility | 3.9% | 4.3% |
| Body, chassis, structure | 3.1% | 3.3% |
Source: DVSA, tests in 2025, published 22 June 2026.
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.