1997 Vauxhall Astra: MOT pass rate and reliability

66.2% of 1997 Vauxhall Astras pass the MOT first time, measured across 527 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 88,505 miles.

How the 1997 compares

  • Against all Vauxhall Astras (72.4%, 636,697 tests): -6.2 points
  • Against all 1997 cars (70.4%): -4.2 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every Vauxhall Astra model year

Pass rates fall as cars age, so the only fair comparison for a 1997 car is other cars of the same age. The full run for the Vauxhall Astra:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
1994 72.7% 216 96,783
1995 70.1% 338 96,154
1996 67.8% 283 92,773
1997 66.2% 527 88,505
1998 64.6% 531 96,204
1999 61.3% 1,031 102,314
2000 63.4% 1,679 101,291
2001 65% 3,176 100,899
2002 61.8% 5,659 105,377
2003 64.7% 7,379 105,409
2004 62.4% 8,175 103,850
2005 60.5% 14,970 107,782
2006 59.9% 22,465 109,409
2007 61.6% 36,405 111,033
2008 62.4% 36,976 109,294
2009 63.7% 36,652 102,277
2010 66.9% 49,379 100,710
2011 69.8% 44,296 101,936
2012 72.3% 50,636 98,407
2013 73.5% 57,655 91,822
2014 73.9% 52,110 83,173
2015 75.6% 47,340 74,931
2016 81.8% 56,168 67,455
2017 84.6% 46,294 60,887
2018 85.4% 30,445 51,929
2019 87.9% 21,002 41,873
2020 90.8% 2,446 27,252
2021 91.5% 1,713 28,093

What this means if you are buying a 1997 Astra

The 1997 is a weaker year for this model, passing 6.2 points less often than the Vauxhall Astra average. Some of that is simply age, so compare it against the 1997 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 29-year-old car fails on

A 1997 car is 29 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 1997 Vauxhall Astra the average at test was 88,505 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 2021 at 91.5%, and the weakest in our data is 2006 at 59.9%. That 31.6 point spread across the model's life is why comparing a 1997 car against a newer one tells you very little.

Nearby model years

All Vauxhall Astra MOT data · Every model