74.6%
Land Rover Discovery
Land Rover Discovery MOT pass rate and common problems
The Land Rover Discovery passed 74.6% of its initial MOT tests in 2025, 2.3 percentage points above the 72.3% UK average. The item testers recorded most often was pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn.
Checking a specific car? Its own results, advisories and recorded mileages are in a free MOT history check.
How the Discovery compares
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded. A car that failed and was repaired at the test station counts as a fail.
77.3%
Land Rover average
72.3%
UK average, all cars
The Discovery runs 2.8 points behind the Land Rover average. It is 6th of the 8 Land Rover models in the data. The average Discovery arrived at its test 13.6 years old with 116,222 miles recorded.
A pass rate records whether cars met the roadworthiness standard on test day. It is not a reliability score, and part of any gap reflects how old the tested cars were.
Discovery MOT pass rate by age
The same 2025 tests split by the car's age at test.
Land Rover Discovery cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 87.2% of MOT tests. For cars aged 11 years and over that fell to 67.9%, a drop of 19.3 percentage points.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate | vs UK average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years | 15,893 | 87.2% | 14.9 pts above |
| 6 to 10 years | 43,853 | 81.6% | 9.3 pts above |
| 11 years and over | 81,364 | 67.9% | 4.4 pts below |
That is a steep decline with age, so the headline rate flatters older examples. The UK average of 72.3% covers cars of every age, so compare like with like.
Where Discovery failures cluster
Every failure item recorded on Land Rover Discovery cars in 2025, grouped into the DVSA's test areas.
Suspension and lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment together account for 42.3% of recorded failure items. These are recorded failures across the model, not faults every car has.
The 10 most common Discovery MOT failures
Specific items recorded on Land Rover Discovery cars that failed their 2025 MOT, as a share of all recorded failure items.
Together these 10 items make up 31.7% of everything testers recorded against failed Land Rover Discovery cars. The rest is spread across many smaller items, and one failed test often records several at once.
What to look at on a Discovery
The recorded failures above, grouped by area, biggest first.
1
Suspension
Recorded most often: pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn, ball joint excessively worn and ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt. 11.7% of failure items.
2
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
Recorded most often: position lamp not working, registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps and stop lamp not working. 8.7% of failure items.
3
Brakes
Recorded most often: rigid brake pipes excessively corroded and brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick. 6% of failure items.
4
Tyres
Recorded most often: condition has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords. 2.8% of failure items.
The car's own MOT history matters more than any model average. A free MOT history check shows whether a specific Discovery has failed on these items before, or had them noted as advisories. Buying one? See the used Land Rover Discovery buying guide.
Already found one?
Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.
Land Rover Discovery MOT FAQs
What is the Land Rover Discovery MOT pass rate?
74.6% of Land Rover Discovery cars passed their initial MOT first time in 2025, from 143,479 tests. That is 2.3 percentage points above the 72.3% average for all cars, and ranks 272nd of 575 models.
What does a Land Rover Discovery most commonly fail its MOT on?
The item testers recorded most often on Land Rover Discovery cars failing their 2025 MOT was pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn, on 7.2% of failure items. Next were position lamp not working (3.8%) and rigid brake pipes excessively corroded (3.1%).
Which area causes the most Land Rover Discovery MOT failures?
Across every recorded failure item, the largest area was suspension at 21.4%, followed by lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 20.9%.
Do older Land Rover Discovery cars fail their MOT more often?
Land Rover Discovery cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 87.2% of MOT tests in 2025, against 67.9% for cars aged 11 years and over.
Does this mean every Land Rover Discovery has these problems?
No. These are the items testers recorded across every Land Rover Discovery that failed in 2025. They show where the model most often needs attention, not the condition of any individual car.
How do I see a specific Land Rover Discovery's MOT history?
Enter its registration on the free Carpeep MOT history check to see that car's own test results, failures, advisories and recorded mileages.
MOT figures are aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025: class 4 initial tests, retests excluded, with failure items from failed tests (advisories and minor defects excluded), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT results describe roadworthiness at test, not mechanical reliability.