2005 Lexus Is250: MOT pass rate and reliability

77.4% of 2005 Lexus Is250s pass the MOT first time, measured across 685 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 115,367 miles.

How the 2005 compares

  • Against all Lexus Is250s (80.6%, 9,584 tests): -3.2 points
  • Against all 2005 cars (64.2%): +13.2 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every Lexus Is250 model year

Pass rates fall as cars age, so the only fair comparison for a 2005 car is other cars of the same age. The full run for the Lexus Is250:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
2005 77.4% 685 115,367
2006 76.3% 1,835 113,776
2007 79% 1,971 109,905
2008 80.8% 1,582 105,200
2009 82.5% 1,157 96,174
2010 83.2% 1,175 93,451
2011 85.4% 745 85,247
2012 89% 419 77,312

What this means if you are buying a 2005 Is250

The 2005 is a weaker year for this model, passing 3.2 points less often than the Lexus Is250 average. Some of that is simply age, so compare it against the 2005 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 21-year-old car fails on

A 2005 car is 21 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 high mileage, so timing belts, clutches, suspension bushes and corrosion are the items worth budgeting for rather than the MOT itself. On a 2005 Lexus Is250 the average at test was 115,367 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 2012 at 89%, and the weakest in our data is 2006 at 76.3%. That 12.7 point spread across the model's life is why comparing a 2005 car against a newer one tells you very little.

Nearby model years

All Lexus Is250 MOT data · Every model