by Stuart
16. January 2010 10:10
1954 Land Rover defenders have nearly 50% better pass rate than 2004 Renault Megane’s.
VOSA recently published its MOT under an FOI request from the BBC. I downloaded Martin Rosenbaum’s spreadsheet from the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8456116.stm).
So comparing the 1954 land rover to some modern cars we get this:
| Make | Model | Year if First Use | Test Passes | Test Failures | Failure Rate |
| LAND ROVER | DEFENDER 90 | 1954 | 4 | 1 | 20.0% |
| RENAULT | MEGANE CLASSIC | 1971* | 1 | 1 | 50.0% |
| | | 1992 | | 1 | 100.0% |
| | | 1994 | 1 | 1 | 50.0% |
| | | 1995 | 1 | 1 | 50.0% |
| | | 1996 | 22 | 31 | 58.5% |
| | | 1997 | 127 | 132 | 51.0% |
| | | 1998 | 631 | 481 | 43.3% |
| | | 1999 | 801 | 498 | 38.3% |
| | | 2000 | 359 | 196 | 35.3% |
| | | 2001 | 327 | 140 | 30.0% |
| | | 2002 | 292 | 117 | 28.6% |
| | | 2003 | 104 | 51 | 32.9% |
| | | 2004 | 90 | 34 | 27.4% |
| RENAULT | MEGANE CLASSIC | Total | 2,756 | 1,684 | 37.9% |
| RENAULT | MEGANE SPORT | 1991 | 1 | 1 | 50.0% |
| | | 1996 | 28 | 44 | 61.1% |
| | | 1997 | 328 | 360 | 52.3% |
| | | 1998 | 1,646 | 1,643 | 50.0% |
| | | 1999 | 1,819 | 1,500 | 45.2% |
| | | 2000 | 1,981 | 1,267 | 39.0% |
| | | 2001 | 721 | 369 | 33.9% |
| | | 2002 | 198 | 83 | 29.5% |
| | | 2003 | 255 | 112 | 30.5% |
| | | 2004 | 628 | 251 | 28.6% |
| | | 2005 | 12 | 10 | 45.5% |
| RENAULT | MEGANE SPORT | Total | 7,617 | 5,640 | 42.5% |
OK – so the comparison is a bit unfair as I bet the 1954 Land Rovers are pretty lovingly cared for – but still a 4 and 5 year old cars with failure rates around 30% seems ridiculous.
Now let’s have a look at the Japanese. I’m picking the Honda Accord as I used to own one which never failed an MOT in the 7 years I had it - and a Toyota Corolla which is, I believe the most popular car in the world.
| HONDA | ACCORD | 1971* | 12 | 7 | 36.8% |
| | | 1978 | 2 | 1 | 33.3% |
| | | 1979 | 9 | 3 | 25.0% |
| | | 1980 | 9 | 14 | 60.9% |
| | | 1981 | 8 | 5 | 38.5% |
| | | 1982 | 32 | 19 | 37.3% |
| | | 1983 | 90 | 46 | 33.8% |
| | | 1984 | 60 | 49 | 45.0% |
| | | 1985 | 82 | 63 | 43.4% |
| | | 1986 | 82 | 73 | 47.1% |
| | | 1987 | 110 | 112 | 50.5% |
| | | 1988 | 166 | 167 | 50.2% |
| | | 1989 | 312 | 276 | 46.9% |
| | | 1990 | 870 | 678 | 43.8% |
| | | 1991 | 800 | 581 | 42.1% |
| | | 1992 | 887 | 638 | 41.8% |
| | | 1993 | 1,167 | 1,160 | 49.8% |
| | | 1994 | 2,195 | 2,493 | 53.2% |
| | | 1995 | 2,626 | 2,778 | 51.4% |
| | | 1996 | 4,138 | 4,298 | 50.9% |
| | | 1997 | 4,626 | 4,101 | 47.0% |
| | | 1998 | 5,768 | 4,337 | 42.9% |
| | | 1999 | 12,507 | 6,134 | 32.9% |
| | | 2000 | 16,156 | 6,721 | 29.4% |
| | | 2001 | 11,393 | 3,496 | 23.5% |
| | | 2002 | 7,781 | 1,996 | 20.4% |
| | | 2003 | 7,274 | 1,876 | 20.5% |
| | | 2004 | 11,933 | 2,526 | 17.5% |
| | | 2005 | 425 | 100 | 19.0% |
| | | 2006 | 13 | 4 | 23.5% |
| | | 2007 | 2 | 2 | 50.0% |
| HONDA | ACCORD | Total | 91,535 | 44,754 | 32.8% |
So a 2004 Accord has just a 17.5% rate compared to the Meganne Classic’s 27.4%
| TOYOTA | COROLLA | 1971* | 19 | 18 | 48.6% |
| | | 1976 | | 1 | 100.0% |
| | | 1977 | | 2 | 100.0% |
| | | 1979 | 4 | 4 | 50.0% |
| | | 1980 | 14 | 7 | 33.3% |
| | | 1981 | 12 | 5 | 29.4% |
| | | 1982 | 14 | 4 | 22.2% |
| | | 1983 | 23 | 15 | 39.5% |
| | | 1984 | 93 | 58 | 38.4% |
| | | 1985 | 203 | 166 | 45.0% |
| | | 1986 | 258 | 226 | 46.7% |
| | | 1987 | 475 | 432 | 47.6% |
| | | 1988 | 808 | 698 | 46.3% |
| | | 1989 | 1,243 | 1,157 | 48.2% |
| | | 1990 | 2,040 | 1,877 | 47.9% |
| | | 1991 | 2,331 | 2,141 | 47.9% |
| | | 1992 | 4,215 | 3,238 | 43.4% |
| | | 1993 | 6,967 | 4,684 | 40.2% |
| | | 1994 | 6,318 | 3,925 | 38.3% |
| | | 1995 | 5,615 | 3,195 | 36.3% |
| | | 1996 | 6,222 | 3,057 | 32.9% |
| | | 1997 | 9,145 | 3,779 | 29.2% |
| | | 1998 | 14,956 | 5,419 | 26.6% |
| | | 1999 | 14,017 | 4,766 | 25.4% |
| | | 2000 | 13,204 | 3,142 | 19.2% |
| | | 2001 | 14,115 | 2,866 | 16.9% |
| | | 2002 | 17,295 | 3,006 | 14.8% |
| | | 2003 | 18,958 | 2,855 | 13.1% |
| | | 2004 | 18,551 | 2,332 | 11.2% |
| | | 2005 | 382 | 63 | 14.2% |
| | | 2006 | 7 | 1 | 12.5% |
| | | 2007 | 3 | 1 | 25.0% |
| TOYOTA | COROLLA | Total | 157,507 | 53,140 | 25.2% |
Just 11.2% for a 2004 year old model but not as good and a stunning average of 25.2% despite some cars being over 30 years old!
So the lesson – if you want to “Drive the change” for a few years – by a Japanese car!
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Tags: cars
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