Lexus IS MOT pass rate & common failures

At a glance

Pass rate, adjusted for age and mileage

The IS is 12.0 percentage points above the national pass rate once age and mileage are accounted for, which is well above average. The unadjusted figure is 85.7%; the difference is what the age and mileage of this model’s fleet was hiding.

DVSA recorded wording

Most common failure items

Share of failed Lexus IS tests in which each item was recorded. One failed test often lists several items, so these do not sum to 100%.

1. 1.A tyre cords visible or damaged18.5%

   314 occurrencesTyre ply or cord exposed, or the casing separating explained

2. 2.A tyre seriously damaged16.7%

   283 occurrencesTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

3. 3.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements13.6%

   230 occurrencesTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

4. 4.A headlamp or light source missing, inoperative or more than ½ not functioning in the case of LED9.7%

   164 occurrencesHeadlamp not working explained

5. 5.Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen9.4%

   160 occurrencesWiper or washer not working properly explained

6. 6.A tyre pressure monitoring system malfunctioning or obviously inoperative8.5%

   144 occurrencesTyre pressure monitoring system inoperative explained

7. 7.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm7.0%

   119 occurrencesBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

8. 8.A tyre seriously damaged5.6%

   95 occurrencesTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

9. 9.The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements4.6%

   78 occurrencesHeadlamp aim incorrect explained

10. 10.A tyre seriously damaged4.5%

    77 occurrencesTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

Warnings without a failure

Most common advisories

Share of all Lexus IS tests carrying each advisory. The denominator differs from the failure list above because an advisory can be issued on a car that passed.

1. 1.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements24.0%

   3,673 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

2. 2.A tyre seriously damaged9.9%

   1,508 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

3. 3.Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured8.3%

   1,271 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

4. 4.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm4.3%

   653 testsBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

5. 5.Brake disc or drum significantly and obviously worn4.0%

   605 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

6. 6.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements3.7%

   558 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

7. 7.A tyre seriously damaged3.5%

   539 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

8. 8.Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded2.9%

   439 testsBrake pipe corroded explained

The rest of the record

Everything else recorded on the Lexus IS

The 20 other defects testers recorded on this model, beyond the most common listed above. Each links to what it means and what it takes to put right.

• Lamp not working3.4%
• Wheel nut, bolt or stud missing, loose or damaged2.8%
• Brake binding or imbalanced across an axle2.3%
• Suspension joint dust cover missing or split2.3%
• Parking brake efficiency too low2.3%
• Shock absorber defective2.2%
• Registration plate missing, insecure or illegible1.8%
• Engine management light on, or not working1.7%
• Suspension arm bush worn1.5%
• Wheel bearing has excessive play or is rough1.3%
• Braking efficiency below requirement1.2%
• Steering rack gaiter split, damaged or missing1.1%
• Exhaust leaking or insecure1.0%
• Road spring broken or fractured0.9%
• Suspension mounting corroded or insecure0.9%
• Lamp of the wrong colour, position or intensity0.8%
• Road wheel damaged, distorted or cracked0.3%
• Brake hose deteriorated, damaged or chafing0.2%
• Corrosion in a structural area0.2%
• Ball joint worn0.2%

How wear changes the picture

IS pass rate by age and registration year

How often the Lexus IS passes at each age, with the years those cars were first registered. Tests are from 2025, so a car aged 3 to 5 was first used in 2020–2022.

Read this as an age curve rather than a verdict on particular model years. Nearly every car passes less often as it gets older, so a newer IS outscoring an older one says more about wear than about how that year’s cars were built. Bands holding too few tests to be meaningful are omitted rather than shown as a rate.

What gets tested

The IS fleet

Average mileage recorded at test

88,286

Across examples of every age, so this is a description of the fleet rather than an annual figure.

Fuel mix of tested cars

Hybrid88.2%

Petrol9.8%

Diesel1.9%

Compare within the range

Other Lexus models

• Lexus NX — 89.3% adjusted
• Lexus CT — 85.0% adjusted
• Lexus RX — 88.2% adjusted
• Lexus UX — 93.7% unadjusted
• Lexus IS250 — 73.7% unadjusted
• Lexus RX450H — 75.1% unadjusted
• All Lexus models →

Similar test volumes

Compare against other makes

• Dacia Logan — 72.6% adjusted, ranked 136
• Jaguar F-Type — 89.3% adjusted, ranked 4
• Subaru Forester — 75.1% adjusted, ranked 110
• Citroen Relay — 68.6% adjusted, ranked 188

Common questions

Is the Lexus IS reliable?

On MOT evidence the Lexus IS is well above average. It passes 84.3% of tests once age and mileage are accounted for, against a national average of 72.3%, which ranks it 25 of 262 models with enough data for a fair comparison. This measures how often the car meets the MOT standard, not how often it breaks down or what a repair costs.

What is the most common MOT failure on a Lexus IS?

The item recorded most often is "A tyre cords visible or damaged", which appears in 18.5% of failed Lexus IS tests. Because one failed test can list several items, these shares do not add up to 100%.

What do testers most often warn about on a Lexus IS?

The most common advisory is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", noted on 24.0% of all Lexus IS tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.

What mileage does a Lexus IS usually have at its MOT?

The average odometer reading recorded at test is 88,286 miles. This is the mileage across all tested examples of every age, not an annual figure, so treat it as a description of the fleet rather than a target for one car.

Which Lexus IS years are the most reliable?

Going by MOT pass rate, Lexus IS cars first registered 2020–2022 do best at 91.6%, and those registered 2010 and earlier do worst at 70.2%. But that ordering is mostly age, not build year: almost every model passes less often as it wears, so the newest cars top this list whatever they are. A specific year looking strong here means little on its own; the failure items above, and the individual car's own MOT history, tell you far more.

Does a Lexus IS get harder to pass as it ages?

Yes. At 3 to 5 years old, 91.6% of Lexus IS tests pass. By fifteen years or more, that falls to 70.2%. Nearly every model follows this pattern, which is why comparing raw pass rates between models is misleading unless age is accounted for.

Are most Lexus IS models petrol or diesel?

Of the Lexus IS cars tested, 88% are hybrid, 10% are petrol, 2% are diesel. Fuel type affects which items tend to fail, particularly emissions and exhaust components.

How this was worked out

Method and limits

Figures come from the DVSA anonymised MOT testing dataset, published under the Open Government Licence. Only class 4 initial tests are counted: retests are excluded so a car appears once, and abandoned tests are excluded entirely. The adjusted rate is directly standardised across twenty-five age and mileage bands and reweighted onto the national distribution, so this model is compared against cars that have lived a similar life rather than against a younger or lighter-used fleet.

An MOT measures whether a car met a legal standard on the day. It is not a breakdown record, a service history or a running-cost estimate, and a pass rate is a property of a fleet rather than a prediction about one car.

Further reading

Make sense of the numbers

• How to judge reliability from evidence rather than reputation
• What counts as high or low mileage for a car’s age
• The most common MOT failures and how to avoid them
• What to check before buying a used Lexus