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Rover 45, Buying guide, MOT record and UK numbers

1,151 Rover 45s are licensed in the UK. In 2025 they passed 58.6% of initial MOT tests, 13.7 points below the 72.3% UK average.

Looking at a specific Rover 45? Check its finance, write-off, stolen, mileage and keeper history. £15, no account needed.

Rover 45 at the MOT

58.6% of 1,520 initial tests passed in 2025, ranking the Rover 45 503rd of 575 models.

First-time pass rate, 2025

Share of initial tests passed, retests excluded.

  • Rover 4558.6%
  • All Rover modelsThe Rover 45 is 8.5 pts behind67.1%
  • All cars72.3%

Where Rover 45s fail

Share of all failure items recorded on Rover 45 tests in 2025.

  • Suspension21%
  • Brakes17.7%
  • Body, chassis, structure17.7%
  • Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment17.3%
  • Tyres7%

The items testers recorded most often were component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (11.3%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (6.1%) and service brake performance excessively binding (3.8%).

The MOT page lists every common Rover 45 MOT failure. For one car's own results and advisories, run a free MOT history check.

Full Rover 45 MOT record

What to look at on a viewing

The Rover 45's most common failure areas, and what a tester checks in each.

  1. Suspension

    Listen for knocks over bumps, check the car sits level, and look for leaking shock absorbers and split rubber gaiters.21% of Rover 45 failure items

  2. Brakes

    Make sure the pedal feels firm, the car stops in a straight line, the handbrake holds on a slope and no brake warning light is showing.17.7% of Rover 45 failure items

  3. Body, chassis, structure

    Look underneath and along the sills for corrosion, and check for damaged or poorly repaired panels.17.7% of Rover 45 failure items

Rover 45s in the UK

1,151 were licensed at the end of June 2026. The number licensed has fallen 96% since the end of 2014.

Change since 2014
−96%from 30,438 licensed
Typical year of first use
2003half of those licensed at the end of 2025 were first used in 2003 or earlier
Declared off the road
3,54876% of those registered, under SORN

Licensed Rover 45s since 2014

Licensed at each year end and in the latest quarter.

Show the figures
DateLicensed
End of 201430,438
End of 201523,916
End of 201618,254
End of 201713,328
End of 20189,575
End of 20196,928
End of 20205,081
End of 20213,743
End of 20222,875
End of 20232,177
End of 20241,625
End of 20251,273
End of June 20261,151

How old they are

Licensed Rover 45s by year of first use.

Show the figures
First usedLicensed, end 2025
20082
20070
200612
2005144
2004282
2003259
2002232
2001194
2000141

Rover 45 engines and fuel

1.4 litre engines made up 31% of Rover 45 MOT tests in 2025, followed by 1.6 litre at 30%. Petrol accounts for 87% of licensed Rover 45s and diesel for 13%.

Engine size at MOT, 2025

Share of 1,520 initial MOT tests in 2025.

  • 1.4 litre31.3%
  • 1.6 litre30.3%
  • 1.8 litre23.2%
  • 2.0 litre15.3%

Fuel type, licensed Rover 45s

DfT licensing statistics, June 2026.

FuelLicensedShare
Petrol1,00187%
Diesel15013%

Other Rover models

The most-tested Rover models in 2025, against the Rover 45's 58.6% MOT pass rate.

All 5 Rover models

Rover 45 FAQs

How many Rover 45s are there in the UK?

1,151 Rover 45s were licensed in the UK at the end of June 2026, with a further 3,548 declared off the road (SORN), according to DfT vehicle licensing statistics.

Is the Rover 45 reliable?

MOT data does not measure reliability. It records whether a car met the roadworthiness standard on the day of its test. What it does show is a 58.6% first-time pass rate for the Rover 45 across 1,520 tests in 2025, below the 72.3% average for all cars.

What should I check before buying a used Rover 45?

On the car itself, start with the areas it most often fails on: suspension, brakes and body, chassis, structure. Then check the individual car's own records. Outstanding finance, insurance write-offs and police stolen markers are not part of the MOT record, so they take a history check.

How do I check a Rover 45's history?

Enter the registration of the specific car. A Carpeep car history check reports outstanding finance, write-off category, stolen markers, mileage history, previous keepers, MOT and tax status, import and export markers and scrapped status in one £15 report.

Already found a Rover 45?

Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.

Across the 1,548 vehicles of every make Carpeep has checked since November 2025, 19% had outstanding finance recorded and 13% an insurance write-off. More on the Rover history check.

  • Outstanding finance
  • Write-off records
  • Stolen markers
  • Mileage history
  • Previous keepers

MOT figures are aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025 (class 4 initial tests, retests excluded), which also gives the engine sizes. Licensed, SORN, fuel and registration figures are from the Department for Transport vehicle licensing statistics (VEH0120, VEH0124, VEH0160). Government data is used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT results describe roadworthiness at test, not mechanical reliability. History-check findings are anonymous counts from reports bought on Carpeep, each vehicle counted once, and are published only where at least 100 vehicles returned an answer.