The most recent MOT entry dates to 10 November 2009 at 75,270 miles, meaning the vehicle has held no valid test record for over sixteen and a half years as of June 2026. The maintenance trend is therefore impossible to classify as stable, improving, or worsening from the available data; the record simply ends. What can be said is that the final test was a pass, but only after a failure on the same day for an offside front headlamp aim fault and a corroded offside rear brake pipe, both of which were rectified before the afternoon retest. That corroded brake pipe first appeared as an advisory in the morning failure and remained a live item in the pass, indicating surface corrosion on a hydraulic pipe that was not replaced, merely noted. No subsequent inspection exists to confirm whether that pipe, or any other component, has been addressed since.
The mileage trajectory is unusually flat. Between the December 2006 pass at 65,308 miles and the February 2008 failure at 70,676 miles, the car covered roughly 5,368 miles in just over thirteen months. Yet from February 2008 to November 2009, a period of nearly twenty-one months, the odometer moved only from 70,676 to 75,270 miles, a gain of 4,594 miles. The annualised average sits at approximately 2,788 miles per year, which is low for a vehicle of this type and age. Such a pattern suggests either very light local use, extended periods of being parked up, or a combination of both. A buyer should be aware that prolonged standing can cause its own problems, including seized callipers, perished rubber bushes, flat-spotted tyres, and fuel system deterioration, none of which are directly evidenced but are consistent with the usage profile.
The 2008 failure is the most technically revealing entry and warrants close attention during any in-person inspection. The tester flagged an insecure offside front constant velocity joint gaiter, a rough nearside rear wheel bearing, a broken offside rear brake cable, and a rear parking brake operating below required efficiency. These are not minor cosmetic issues. An insecure gaiter allows grease contamination and water ingress, which accelerates joint wear and can lead to catastrophic driveshaft failure under load. A rough wheel bearing suggests advanced internal pitting or brinelling and will only deteriorate. Broken brake cables and a weak parking brake point to corrosion in the rear braking circuit, a concern reinforced by the corroded rear hydraulic pipe noted in 2009. Any prospective buyer should jack the rear of the car, check for play on both rear wheels, inspect the condition and security of all brake cables and flexible hoses, and examine the underside for corrosion to the rear brake lines and floor pan.
Suspension components also show a pattern of gradual wear. The 2008 test identified slight play in the offside front top suspension mounting and a leaking offside rear shock absorber, both flagged as advisories rather than failures. Neither item appears in the 2009 record, but without a later test there is no way to confirm whether the shock absorber was replaced or simply left to degrade further. The front top mount, if still original, is now likely twenty-seven years old and may have deteriorated beyond the slight play recorded in 2008. A physical inspection should include a check for knocking over bumps, uneven tyre wear, and visible corrosion or cracking around the front strut tops and rear damper mounts. Given the complete absence of any MOT record since late 2009, the vehicle must be treated as unroadworthy for legal use on public roads until a fresh test is completed.