1991 Land Rover Defender: MOT pass rate and reliability

72.2% of 1991 Land Rover Defenders pass the MOT first time, measured across 1,729 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 142,260 miles.

How the 1991 compares

  • Against all Land Rover Defenders (73.5%, 104,958 tests): -1.3 points
  • Against all 1991 cars (75.1%): -2.9 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every Land Rover Defender model year

Pass rates fall as cars age, so the only fair comparison for a 1991 car is other cars of the same age. The full run for the Land Rover Defender:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
1990 70.4% 1,620 140,859
1991 72.2% 1,729 142,260
1992 68.8% 1,476 140,632
1993 70.3% 1,907 137,355
1994 67.8% 2,334 141,695
1995 68.3% 2,935 143,773
1996 68.3% 3,498 152,806
1997 70.5% 3,417 145,390
1998 70.3% 3,543 136,965
1999 67.9% 3,075 139,088
2000 68.7% 3,002 135,421
2001 68.4% 3,135 130,843
2002 69.7% 3,946 132,510
2003 68.9% 4,558 129,089
2004 70.1% 4,378 122,164
2005 70.7% 4,285 115,753
2006 71.4% 3,937 109,560
2007 71.4% 4,111 104,558
2008 74.2% 3,902 98,927
2009 72.3% 3,574 91,184
2010 74.6% 4,067 86,746
2011 74.7% 4,265 85,652
2012 77.6% 3,945 72,589
2013 78.8% 4,580 69,344
2014 82.9% 6,041 62,035
2015 86.7% 6,808 51,844
2016 87.5% 1,823 38,023

What this means if you are buying a 1991 Defender

The 1991 sits close to the Land Rover Defender average, so there is no strong model-year signal either way. Judge the individual car on its own history. 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 35-year-old car fails on

A 1991 car is 35 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 very high mileage. Clutches, dual-mass flywheels and head gaskets have usually been through at least one repair by this point, so ask for evidence rather than assume the car is original everywhere. On a 1991 Land Rover Defender the average at test was 142,260 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 2016 at 87.5%, and the weakest in our data is 1994 at 67.8%. That 19.7 point spread across the model's life is why comparing a 1991 car against a newer one tells you very little.

Nearby model years

All Land Rover Defender MOT data · Every model