Land Rover Discovery years to avoid — 368,256 MOT tests ranked

Inspect most carefully: 2019. Strongest in the data: 2010 or 2011. The ranking uses 368,256 MOT tests across 19 registration years (2023–2025) and compares each year with all UK cars of the same age.

Every Discovery year, ranked

The age-adjusted MOT index sets 100 as the pass rate of all UK cars registered in the same year and tested in the same calendar year. Higher is better. This prevents an old car being labelled a “bad year” simply because it is old.

RankYearIndexVs same-agePass rateTests
1 2010 Strong 107.0 +7.0 pts 74.3% 18,812
2 2011 Strong 107.0 +7.0 pts 76.2% 17,817
3 2012 106.2 +6.2 pts 77.4% 20,130
4 2003 106.1 +6.1 pts 71.2% 16,601
5 2008 106.1 +6.1 pts 71.3% 14,477
6 2004 105.9 +5.9 pts 70.3% 18,765
7 2005 105.7 +5.7 pts 70.2% 22,854
8 2009 105.6 +5.6 pts 72.0% 15,227
9 2007 105.2 +5.2 pts 70.3% 19,470
10 2013 105.2 +5.2 pts 78.6% 18,827
11 2014 104.8 +4.8 pts 80.6% 22,068
12 2006 104.6 +4.6 pts 69.0% 22,563
13 2002 104.6 +4.6 pts 70.3% 13,376
14 2015 104.2 +4.2 pts 82.9% 27,303
15 2016 102.9 +2.9 pts 84.3% 28,875
16 2001 102.9 +2.9 pts 69.6% 10,510
17 2018 101.5 +1.5 pts 87.9% 25,076
18 2017 101.2 +1.2 pts 85.2% 29,046
19 2019 Inspect 99.7 -0.3 pts 88.1% 6,459

Why 2019 rank lower

The 2019 cohort passes 88.1% of tests (-0.3 points versus same-age cars) at a median 53,498 miles, with tyres the leading failure system. This is population-level evidence, not a known-fault list: service history, engine version and the individual MOT record can outweigh the registration-year average.

How to use this before buying

  • Rankings describe the cohort, not the car. A cherished 2019 example beats a neglected 2010 one — always run the specific reg through the free MOT history check.
  • Read the advisories. Repeated notes for the same component across years mean the owner has been ignoring it. Decode them in our advisory library.
  • Scan before you pay. A 2-minute OBD scan reveals stored faults the dashboard hides — see our scanner guide.

FAQs

Which Discovery years should I avoid?

Based on 368,256 MOT tests adjusted against cars of the same age, 2019 are the lower-scoring outliers. That is a prompt for closer inspection, not proof that every car from those years is bad.

What is the best Discovery year to buy used?

2010 and 2011 lead the age-adjusted MOT ranking. The score compares each registration year with all UK cars of the same age; the specific car's history and condition still take priority.

Is the Discovery reliable overall?

Across 368,256 tests, the median age-adjusted index is 105.2 (100 equals the pass rate of all cars registered in the same year). Use the spread between years as one signal, then check the individual registration.

Methodology: index = 100 + the model-year cohort’s MOT pass-rate difference versus all UK vehicles registered in the same year and tested in the same calendar year. Class 4 initial tests only; retests excluded; at least 1,500 tests per page. “Inspect” years are below both the same-age baseline and the model’s median index by at least 2 points. Association is not proof of a model-year defect. DVSA anonymised data 2023–2025, OGL v3.0.