Toyota Celica MOT pass rates & common failures

Every completed first-attempt MOT on a Toyota Celica in Great Britain in 2025 — 8,421 tests. Figures cover every Celica first-tested in 2025, all trims grouped. How the Celica ages, what it fails on, and what mileage is normal, computed directly from the official DVSA record of every test.

Pass rate 2025
61.2%
11.1 points below the class-4 average (72.3%); unadjusted for age — the age-matched comparison is below
Tests analysed
8,421
first tests, 2025
Arrived with a dangerous fault
7.7%
of Celica first tests; national 7.3%

How many Toyota Celica cars are still on the road?

At the end of 2025, DVLA's register held 17,955 Toyota Celica cars that were taxed or on SORN: 7,210 taxed and 10,745 on SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification — kept, but declared off the road by the keeper). The MOT figures above count tests; these count cars, across the whole United Kingdom, cars only. Toyota Celica vans, where they exist, are counted by DVLA as goods vehicles and are not in these figures.

Still taxed, end of 2025
7,210
40.2% of the 17,955 Celica cars taxed or on SORN; 29 model variants grouped
On SORN, end of 2025
10,745
declared off the road by their keepers — 59.8% of that total

How the numbers are moving

The number of taxed Celica cars peaked at 31,932 at the end of 2014 and has since fallen by 24,722 (77.4%) to 7,210 at the end of 2025. Cars on SORN went from 5,953 at the end of 2014 to 10,745 at the end of 2025, up 80.5%. A car leaves the taxed count when it is scrapped, exported or declared off the road; the year-end counts do not say which.

Taxed Celica cars, year by year

Cars of this model taxed and on the road at the end of each year, 2014–2025.

010k20k30k40k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)Taxed Celica cars, year 2014: 32kTaxed Celica cars, year 2015: 29kTaxed Celica cars, year 2016: 25kTaxed Celica cars, year 2017: 22kTaxed Celica cars, year 2018: 19kTaxed Celica cars, year 2019: 16kTaxed Celica cars, year 2020: 14kTaxed Celica cars, year 2021: 12kTaxed Celica cars, year 2022: 11kTaxed Celica cars, year 2023: 9kTaxed Celica cars, year 2024: 8kTaxed Celica cars, year 2025: 7k7k
View this chart as a table
YearTaxed Celica cars
201431,932
201528,743
201625,276
201721,952
201818,775
201916,115
202014,073
202112,350
202210,803
20239,396
20248,227
20257,210

Celica cars on SORN, year by year

Cars of this model declared off the road at the end of each year, 2014–2025. Its own scale — for this model, cars on SORN outnumber taxed ones.

05k10k15k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)Celica cars on SORN, year 2014: 6kCelica cars on SORN, year 2015: 7kCelica cars on SORN, year 2016: 8kCelica cars on SORN, year 2017: 9kCelica cars on SORN, year 2018: 9kCelica cars on SORN, year 2019: 10kCelica cars on SORN, year 2020: 10kCelica cars on SORN, year 2021: 10kCelica cars on SORN, year 2022: 10kCelica cars on SORN, year 2023: 11kCelica cars on SORN, year 2024: 11kCelica cars on SORN, year 2025: 11k11k
View this chart as a table
YearCelica cars on SORN
20145,953
20156,758
20167,812
20178,584
20189,059
20199,561
20209,978
202110,120
202210,430
202310,766
202410,580
202510,745

Which model years survive

Taxed Celica cars at the end of 2025 by year of manufacture, and each year's share of the 7,210 taxed in all. Every build year holding at least 1% has its own row; the rest share one. 12 taxed Celica cars have no recorded year of manufacture and are not in the table, so the rows add up to 7,198. A build year's count depends on how many were sold that year as well as how many have lasted.

Year of manufacture Taxed, end of 2025Share of taxed Celica cars
20067149.9%
20051,01414.1%
20041,04014.4%
200389312.4%
20026869.5%
20015978.3%
20002573.6%
19992173.0%
19982934.1%
19972413.3%
19962403.3%
19952042.8%
19942633.6%
1992731.0%
All other build years (25 years, each under 1%)4666.5%

Population source: Department for Transport / DVLA vehicle licensing statistics, table VEH0124, updated 15 July 2026; counts of the cars on DVLA's register that were taxed or on SORN at the end of each year shown, United Kingdom, cars only, excluding cars recorded with no model name. SortedCars groups DVLA's model name CELICA under this model. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. SortedCars is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, DVLA or the Department for Transport.

How the Celica ages

First-time pass rate by vehicle age, Celica vs all cars, 2025.

Toyota CelicaAll cars
50%60%70%80%90%100%3579111315171920Vehicle age (years)Toyota Celica, vehicle age 19: 64.8%Toyota Celica, vehicle age 20: 61.9%All cars, vehicle age 3: 88.5%All cars, vehicle age 4: 87.2%All cars, vehicle age 5: 86%All cars, vehicle age 6: 83.5%All cars, vehicle age 7: 80.9%All cars, vehicle age 8: 78.2%All cars, vehicle age 9: 74.9%All cars, vehicle age 10: 71.9%All cars, vehicle age 11: 68.6%All cars, vehicle age 12: 65.8%All cars, vehicle age 13: 63.5%All cars, vehicle age 14: 61.2%All cars, vehicle age 15: 59.3%All cars, vehicle age 16: 58.3%All cars, vehicle age 17: 57.2%All cars, vehicle age 18: 57.4%All cars, vehicle age 19: 57%All cars, vehicle age 20: 57.6%Toyota Celica 61.9%All cars 57.6%
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Celica testsCelica pass rateAll cars
1986764.8%57.0%
201,19861.9%57.6%

Better or worse than the average car?

The Celica's pass rate minus the all-cars pass rate at each age, in percentage points. Bars above zero: the Celica beats the average car of that age. Below zero: it trails.

Celica ahead
-8-4+0+4+8Age 19: +7.8 points vs the average car19Age 20: +4.3 points vs the average car20Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Gap (points)
19+7.8
20+4.3

The Celica fleet on the road, by age

How many took a first MOT in 2025 at each age — the shape of the Celica fleet still in use.

05001k1k2kAge 19: 86719Age 20: 1k20Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)First tests
19867
201,198

What a Celica fails on

Where the failure items land when a Celica fails or needs a fix at test, 2025. Use it as a pre-purchase checklist: these are the areas to look at first.

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment24.0%
Brakes19.2%
Suspension18.2%
Noise, emissions and leaks13.9%
Body, chassis, structure9.0%
Tyres5.6%
Visibility5.3%
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems2.1%

Share of all failure items, 2025 — the 8 biggest categories shown (97.4% of the items); smaller categories are not listed.

The advisories to watch

Where testers most often write "keep an eye on this" for a Celica, 2025 — the faults in the post.

Suspension: 35.7% of advisories35.7%Brakes: 23.4% of advisories23.4%Tyres: 15.0% of advisories15.0%Body, chassis, structure: 9.7% of advisories9.7%Noise, emissions and leaks: 6.2% of advisoriesIdentification of the vehicle: 2.8% of advisories
SuspensionBrakesTyresBody, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaksIdentification of the vehicle
View this chart as a table
CategoryShare of advisories
Suspension35.7%
Brakes23.4%
Tyres15.0%
Body, chassis, structure9.7%
Noise, emissions and leaks6.2%
Identification of the vehicle2.8%

What mileage is normal for a Celica?

Mileage recorded at test by vehicle age, 2025. The line is the typical (median) Celica; the shaded band holds the middle half. A car far outside the band, in either direction, is worth questions the recorded history can answer.

Typical Celica (median)
0k25k50k75k100k125k150k1920Vehicle age (years)Age 19: typical 103,750 miles (middle half 78,750–128,750)Age 20: typical 113,750 miles (middle half 86,250–136,250)113k mi

Mileage values are midpoints of 2,500-mile bands.

View this chart as a table
Age (years)Lower quarterTypical (median)Upper quarter
1978,750103,750128,750
2086,250113,750136,250

More vehicles we've checked

How these figures are computed. Every number on this page is calculated by SortedCars from the DVSA anonymised MOT results dataset (every MOT test in Great Britain — 2025 for single-year figures; trend figures state their span, currently 2023–2025). Where a figure comes from a sample or uses banded values (mileage is banded to 2,500 miles), the page says so beside the figure. Test class 4 only, first tests only — retests are excluded. Class 4 is the car MOT class and also covers car-derived vans, pickups and motorhomes tested to the same standard; where this page says "cars" it means class 4. Pass rate = passes ÷ (passes + failures + pass-after-rectification): a vehicle that failed and was fixed during the visit counts as a fail. Pass rates describe fleets, not individual machines: they reflect how cars were driven, maintained and used as well as how they were built, and beyond recorded mileage none of that is in the data. A well-kept example of a model with a weak average can still pass; a neglected example of a strong one can still fail. No figure is shown for any group with fewer than 500 tests. Alias spellings of a make in the DVSA file are counted under one make name, and all trims and variants of a model are grouped under one model name, using SortedCars' grouping tables. The taxed and SORN counts on this page are the one exception: they are not computed from MOT records but taken from the Department for Transport's vehicle licensing statistics (DfT/DVLA table VEH0124, updated 15 July 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0), which count the cars on DVLA's register that were taxed or on SORN at the end of each year shown, UK-wide, cars only. They describe a model as a whole, grouped under SortedCars' model names, and say nothing about any one car. “Dangerous” is DVSA's statutory defect category (in force since May 2018): a defect posing an immediate risk to road safety — driving the vehicle before repair is an offence. What these figures are for. These statistics are general information about groups of vehicles. They are not advice, a valuation or a recommendation to buy, avoid or price any particular vehicle, and no decision about one car should rest on them alone — check the car itself and its own records. We take care over the calculations, but we cannot guarantee they are complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for loss arising from reliance on them. This does not limit any liability that cannot lawfully be limited — see our Terms & Conditions. If you believe any figure on this page is inaccurate, contact us. SortedCars is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the DVSA or DVLA. DVSA publishes the raw test records; the statistics on this page are SortedCars' own calculations from them. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.