1999 Land Rover Discovery: MOT pass rate and reliability

71.1% of 1999 Land Rover Discoveries pass the MOT first time, measured across 1,960 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 156,573 miles.

How the 1999 compares

  • Against all Land Rover Discoveries (76.4%, 134,136 tests): -5.3 points
  • Against all 1999 cars (68.6%): +2.5 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every Land Rover Discovery model year

Pass rates fall as cars age, so the only fair comparison for a 1999 car is other cars of the same age. The full run for the Land Rover Discovery:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
1993 74.6% 343 154,254
1994 77.2% 613 159,974
1995 74% 787 156,795
1996 75.6% 888 153,338
1997 75.8% 1,030 152,726
1998 73.8% 1,118 158,222
1999 71.1% 1,960 156,573
2000 70.2% 2,227 156,735
2001 69% 3,474 152,792
2002 70.3% 4,450 153,506
2003 70.5% 5,524 147,194
2004 69.9% 6,305 150,356
2005 70.1% 7,695 162,363
2006 69% 7,604 158,312
2007 69.8% 6,547 151,188
2008 71.2% 4,871 146,924
2009 71.7% 5,141 139,772
2010 73.9% 6,280 135,599
2011 75.8% 6,039 129,189
2012 77% 6,839 122,015
2013 77.3% 6,355 115,250
2014 80.6% 7,459 104,696
2015 82.1% 9,294 96,140
2016 83.2% 9,905 83,650
2017 85.1% 9,801 69,904
2018 88.3% 8,897 64,610
2019 86.8% 2,200 59,840

What this means if you are buying a 1999 Discovery

The 1999 is a weaker year for this model, passing 5.3 points less often than the Land Rover Discovery average. Some of that is simply age, so compare it against the 1999 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 27-year-old car fails on

A 1999 car is 27 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 1999 Land Rover Discovery the average at test was 156,573 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 2018 at 88.3%, and the weakest in our data is 2001 at 69%. That 19.3 point spread across the model's life is why comparing a 1999 car against a newer one tells you very little.

Nearby model years

All Land Rover Discovery MOT data · Every model