2009 Abarth 500: MOT pass rate and reliability

69.4% of 2009 Abarth 500s pass the MOT first time, measured across 759 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 84,150 miles.

How the 2009 compares

  • Against all Abarth 500s (72.4%, 5,456 tests): -3 points
  • Against all 2009 cars (66.1%): +3.3 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every Abarth 500 model year

Pass rates fall as cars age, so the only fair comparison for a 2009 car is other cars of the same age. The full run for the Abarth 500:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
2009 69.4% 759 84,150
2010 68.7% 946 78,697
2011 70.3% 885 73,174
2012 71.5% 762 70,301
2013 74.3% 538 66,253
2014 75.7% 774 58,475
2015 78.8% 718 53,479

What this means if you are buying a 2009 500

The 2009 is a weaker year for this model, passing 3 points less often than the Abarth 500 average. Some of that is simply age, so compare it against the 2009 figure for all cars above rather than against newer examples. Check the exact car with the free MOT history checker before you buy, and run its VIN and mileage through our free VIN decoder and clocking check.

What a 17-year-old car fails on

A 2009 car is 17 years old now, and age drives the failure mix more than the badge does. Across all cars tested, these are the categories that actually cause failures:

  • Lights and electrical: 10.36% of all cars tested
  • Suspension: 8.65% of all cars tested
  • Tyres: 6.23% of all cars tested
  • Brakes: 6.1% of all cars tested
  • Visibility: wipers, washers, glass: 4.65% of all cars tested
  • Body, chassis and structure: 3.18% of all cars tested

That is above average, the point where suspension bushes, drop links and exhaust corrosion start showing up as advisories before they become failures. On a 2009 Abarth 500 the average at test was 84,150 miles, so treat anything far above that as a car that has worked harder than its peers, and anything far below as one worth checking for the faults that come from standing still.

The strongest year for this model is 2015 at 78.8%, and the weakest in our data is 2010 at 68.7%. That 10.1 point spread across the model's life is why comparing a 2009 car against a newer one tells you very little.

Nearby model years

All Abarth 500 MOT data · Every model