Toyota Starlet, Buying guide, MOT record, UK numbers and recalls
2,386 Toyota Starlets are licensed in the UK. In 2025 they passed 66.6% of initial MOT tests, 5.7 points below the 72.3% UK average.
Looking at a specific Starlet? Check its finance, write-off, stolen, mileage and keeper history. £15, no account needed.
Toyota Starlet at the MOT
66.6% of 2,894 initial tests passed in 2025, ranking the Starlet 408th of 575 models.
First-time pass rate, 2025
Share of initial tests passed, retests excluded.
Where Starlets fail
Share of all failure items recorded on Toyota Starlet tests in 2025.
The items testers recorded most often were joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (6.8%), shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (5.5%) and service brake imbalance across an axle (4.6%).
The MOT page lists every common Starlet MOT failure. For one car's own results and advisories, run a free MOT history check.
What to look at on a viewing
The Starlet's most common failure areas, and what a tester checks in each.
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Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
Walk round with every light on: headlights, brake lights, indicators, fog lights and the number plate lamp. Check no warning lights stay on after starting.21.2% of Starlet failure items
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Suspension
Listen for knocks over bumps, check the car sits level, and look for leaking shock absorbers and split rubber gaiters.17% of Starlet failure items
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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% of Starlet failure items
Toyota Starlets in the UK
2,386 were licensed at the end of June 2026. The number licensed has fallen 82% since the end of 2014.
- Change since 2014
- −82%from 13,577 licensed
- Typical year of first use
- 1998half of those licensed at the end of 2025 were first used in 1998 or earlier
- Declared off the road
- 3,10957% of those registered, under SORN
Licensed Toyota Starlets since 2014
Licensed at each year end and in the latest quarter.
Show the figures
| Date | Licensed |
|---|---|
| End of 2014 | 13,577 |
| End of 2015 | 11,682 |
| End of 2016 | 9,894 |
| End of 2017 | 8,386 |
| End of 2018 | 7,006 |
| End of 2019 | 5,921 |
| End of 2020 | 5,015 |
| End of 2021 | 4,218 |
| End of 2022 | 3,701 |
| End of 2023 | 3,195 |
| End of 2024 | 2,768 |
| End of 2025 | 2,487 |
| End of June 2026 | 2,386 |
How old they are
Licensed Toyota Starlets by year of first use.
- Licensed at the end of 2025
- First registered that year
A further 970 were first used before 1998.
Show the figures
| First used | Licensed, end 2025 | First registered that year |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 31 | 74 |
| 2016 | 1 | 25 |
| 2015 | 0 | 18 |
| 2014 | 0 | |
| 2013 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 0 | |
| 2011 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 0 | |
| 2008 | 0 | |
| 2007 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 0 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 404 | |
| 1998 | 894 |
Starlet engine sizes
1.3 litre engines made up 98% of Toyota Starlet MOT tests in 2025, followed by 1.0 litre at 1.4%. Petrol accounts for 100% of licensed Starlets.
Engine size at MOT, 2025
Share of 2,887 initial MOT tests in 2025.
Toyota Starlet recalls
1 DVSA safety recall launched from 1992 to October 2026 names the Toyota Starlet. Each covers vehicles built in a set period, so a recall does not mean every Starlet is affected.
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Oct 2020 R/2020/019
Takata airbag inflator may rupture on deployment
Defect and remedy
- Defect
- The absorption of moisture into the driver's airbag propellant could lead to slow deployment or inflator rupture
- Remedy
- Replace the airbag inflator or the airbag assembly. Toyota is still preparing for the development and production of the remedy parts
Other Toyota models
The most-tested Toyota models in 2025, against the Starlet's 66.6% MOT pass rate.
Toyota Starlet FAQs
How many Toyota Starlets are there in the UK?
2,386 Toyota Starlets were licensed in the UK at the end of June 2026, with a further 3,109 declared off the road (SORN), according to DfT vehicle licensing statistics.
Is the Toyota Starlet 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 66.6% first-time pass rate for the Toyota Starlet across 2,894 tests in 2025, below the 72.3% average for all cars.
Has the Toyota Starlet had any recalls?
1 DVSA safety recall launched from 1992 to October 2026 names the Toyota Starlet. The most recent was published in October 2020. A recall applies to vehicles built in a set period, so check a specific car on the GOV.UK vehicle recall checker.
What should I check before buying a used Toyota Starlet?
On the car itself, start with the areas it most often fails on: lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment, suspension and brakes. 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 Toyota Starlet'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 Starlet?
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 Toyota history check. To confirm a car's identity, see the Toyota VIN 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). Recalls are from the DVSA vehicle recalls data, with recalls launched up to October 2026. 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.