MOT pass rate · 2025 data
Mazda RX-8 MOT pass rate
The Mazda RX-8 passed 73.56% of its 2,519 initial MOT tests in 2025 — below the 77.3% average across all cars tested that year. That is 3.7 percentage points worse than average.
How the Mazda RX-8 holds up with age
Every car fails the MOT more often as it gets older. What matters when you are buying is how steeply that happens for this particular model. These are the 2025 pass rates for the Mazda RX-8 grouped by the vehicle's age at the time of the test.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| 11 years and over | 2,519 | 73.56% |
Why the Mazda RX-8 fails its MOT
Across every Mazda RX-8 that failed its 2025 MOT, the most common area of failure was noise, emissions and leaks, accounting for 24.35% of all recorded failure items. These are the areas worth having checked before you buy, and worth budgeting for on an older example.
| Failure area | Share of failure items | Recorded items |
|---|---|---|
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 24.35% | 532 |
| Suspension | 21.19% | 463 |
| Brakes | 14.55% | 318 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 14.32% | 313 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 7.32% | 160 |
| Tyres | 7.14% | 156 |
How the Mazda RX-8 compares
Ranked on pass rate, the Mazda RX-8 sits 458th of 651 models in this data , and 9th of the 10 Mazda models covered . Mazda as a whole averaged 82.19%, so this model runs 8.6 points behind its own brand average.
What this means when buying a used Mazda RX-8
A pass rate is a population average, not a verdict on the specific car in front of you. The average Mazda RX-8 came to its 2025 test at 66,180 miles and 18.6 years old. Most examples tested were petrol.
The useful check is the individual car's own MOT record: how many times it has failed, what for, and whether advisories keep reappearing. A recurring advisory on corrosion, suspension or brakes tells you far more than a model-wide average, and a mileage that does not move consistently between tests is a warning in itself.
Check a specific Mazda RX-8
Run the registration through a free MOT history check to see that car's test results, advisories and recorded mileages. For the risks an MOT never covers — outstanding finance, insurance write-off records, stolen markers and ownership history — a full car history check brings them together in one £15 report.
Also useful: mileage check · write-off check · free car check
Other Mazda models
- Mazda MX-5 78.56% pass rate · 89,385 tests
- Mazda CX-5 83.22% pass rate · 69,486 tests
- Mazda CX-3 86.56% pass rate · 24,807 tests
- Mazda CX-30 93.71% pass rate · 18,666 tests
- Mazda Bongo 60.91% pass rate · 9,488 tests
- Mazda 2 GT 94.27% pass rate · 5,377 tests
Models with a similar pass rate
- Ford Fiesta 72.78% pass rate
- Ford Focus 74.62% pass rate
- Ford Transit 74.63% pass rate
- Volkswagen Polo 73.12% pass rate
- Nissan Qashqai 73.5% pass rate
- Nissan Juke 74.48% pass rate
Figures aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025, class 4 initial tests only, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Retests are excluded, so these are first-time pass rates.