2004 Fiat Panda: MOT pass rate and reliability

56.3% of 2004 Fiat Pandas pass the MOT first time, measured across 2,509 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 80,172 miles.

How the 2004 compares

  • Against all Fiat Pandas (69.7%, 88,157 tests): -13.4 points
  • Against all 2004 cars (64%): -7.7 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every Fiat Panda model year

Pass rates fall as cars age, so the only fair comparison for a 2004 car is other cars of the same age. The full run for the Fiat Panda:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
2004 56.3% 2,509 80,172
2005 58.6% 2,936 81,762
2006 57.9% 3,863 82,182
2007 59% 4,977 80,518
2008 60% 4,690 77,892
2009 63.2% 9,848 71,915
2010 62.9% 8,756 70,495
2011 65.3% 5,362 66,861
2012 71.2% 6,349 63,146
2013 73.2% 7,526 62,082
2014 75.9% 7,946 56,585
2015 77.5% 7,869 49,802
2016 79.7% 4,863 42,027
2017 83.1% 3,535 35,993
2018 85.5% 2,677 30,069
2019 86.5% 2,546 25,326
2020 92.7% 1,419 20,127

What this means if you are buying a 2004 Panda

The 2004 is a weaker year for this model, passing 13.4 points less often than the Fiat Panda average. Some of that is simply age, so compare it against the 2004 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 22-year-old car fails on

A 2004 car is 22 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 2004 Fiat Panda the average at test was 80,172 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 2020 at 92.7%, and the weakest in our data is 2004 at 56.3%. That 36.4 point spread across the model's life is why comparing a 2004 car against a newer one tells you very little.

Nearby model years

All Fiat Panda MOT data · Every model